Crazy Train: The Ballad of Skeemin' PlotzDoldrick's Escape RoomEscape roomIRLSo much fun. Incredible decoration; looks like you’re inside an old-timey cartoon. Perfect cartoony atmosphere and props. Puzzles are solid and well-clued. Game is fairly easy and linear, recommend for small groups.
Heresy: 1897Doors of DivergenceEscape roomIRLExcellent overall. I loved the theme and the atmosphere. Having an actor and branching story paths is a really novel idea. They also have side quests. I didn’t feel a tremendous sense of agency about my choices / it wasn’t clear what the results would be, very “choose your own adventure” vibes where you don’t know what will happen until you make the choice. I never got a chance to replay before they closed, but apparently there’s two fully distinct paths of puzzles depending on your story choices! 5/5
The BirdMyssTic RoomsEscape roomIRLAs expected from mysstic, quite a strong room. A few really great magical moments. Great for small teams. There were a few frustrating/confusing moments, but these didn’t detract too much from the experience 4/5
Madness: 1917Doors of DivergenceEscape roomIRLA replayable, choose your own adventure escape room with live actors. This concept is great, but unfortunately Madness didn’t quite live up to my expectations after Heresy. It’s still quite a fun time, but I preferred the theming and atmosphere of Heresy. 4/5
Ghost LightMyssTic RoomsEscape roomIRLUnique theme: a haunted theater. The story is interesting and the environment fits the story well. Puzzles are largely good. The final sequence is quite memorable. The unique story/theme didn’t quite click with me — this is actually my least favorite of MyssTic’s three rooms. (It’s still quite good though!) 4/5
PlaygroundThe Escape Game - New JerseyEscape roomIRLI love the theme. Great sense of childhood whimsy. A few really fun physical elements to the gameplay. One physical puzzle was a joy with two people and really made me feel like a kid again. Lots of things to do in parallel, so a pretty good challenge for small teams. 5/5
Fall Harvest13th Hour Escape Room - WhartonEscape roomIRLStylistically similar to 13th hour’s other rooms. Lots of content/puzzles; pretty difficult. Fun actor interactions!
cQ OrigenesclueQuestEscape roomIRLNovel concept: shrink down and explore a room at tiny size! A neat idea and executed pretty well. A few puzzles that I didn’t love, but overall quite good. I have no clue why it’s called “cow Origenes” instead of something normal like “shrink ray” 4/5
Montauk ProjectMyssTic RoomsEscape roomIRLReally fun room. Legally distinct stranger things theme. The sets were engaging and unique. Very cinematic ending. When I played we accidentally skipped some steps towards the end but GM quickly helped us understand this error without detracting from game flow. A few times I wondered “is this really allowed?” and it was! I enjoy that out-of-the-box, boundary-pushing feeling 5/5
Prison BreakThe Escape Game - NYC MidtownEscape roomIRLRoughly average The Escape Game room. We accidentally skipped a few puzzles by carefully observing the game space, but the GM quickly intervened and this didn’t interrupt game flow. Multiple rooms with varied themes/designs, which I enjoyed 4/5
