CONDEMNED2: The Box

Very cool and challenging!

If you're looking for a top-tier escape room that truly deserves the term "premium experience," look no further than "The Condemned 2: The Box" at NorCal Escape Co. This game is nothing short of amazing and stands as a masterclass in immersive design. From the moment you begin, the atmosphere is absolutely incredible. The set design, soundscape, and lighting work in perfect harmony to pull you into its deep and engaging story. Speaking of which, the narrative and lore are fantastic—clearly presented and easy to follow, which makes every puzzle feel meaningful and drives you forward with purpose. The gameplay is where it truly shines. The tech is seamless and impressive, but more importantly, the puzzles are wonderfully varied. You won't find repetition here; each challenge feels fresh, unique, and logically tied to the story. This variety inherently increases the complexity in the best way, requiring different modes of thinking. Communication is absolutely key—this is not a room where you can split up and work in silence. The puzzle flow and the sheer amount of tasks make it perfect for a team of 6 to 8 players. With that size, everyone will be engaged, collaborating, and contributing to the victory. And let me just say... there is some bonus content that I won't spoil for anything, but it is 100% worth the extra effort to discover. It’s the kind of special touch that shows the creators went above and beyond. The awards and accolades plastered on Morty for this game? They are no joke. This experience delivers on every single promise. From the initial mystery to the final moments, it is a brilliantly crafted, heart-pounding, and intellectually satisfying adventure. A final note: I actually played this room in mid 2025, and it took me this long to write the review because I couldn't quite shake the experience or find the words to do it justice. That lingering "wow" factor is the highest praise I can give. Final Verdict: 10/10. "The Condemned 2: The Box" is worth every penny and then some. You will not be disappointed. Gather your best team, communicate constantly, and prepare for one of the best escape rooms you'll ever do.

This was a really fun room even thou we did not escape but still a lot of fun… must do if in the area…

Awesome room! Definitely a must do room with insanely unique puzzles and a fantastic theme. The staff is welcoming and I would love to come back. If you’re ever in the Yuba City area, this is a MANDATORY stop!

While NorCal Escape's other games are on the easy side, this swings the other direction and is one of the hardest games I've ever played, anywhere. Our team of 5 enthusiasts barely finished (including the optional extension) and had to take a few hints to get there. I like the idea of optional bonus content as a way to give strong teams lots of content while allowing weaker teams to have a sense of accomplishment. The set is appropriately creepy and unusually large, I would have easily believed we were actually in an abandoned basement of a warehouse or something; the creators clearly spent a lot of time on it. A good chunk of the game is a split start, though not enough that I feel the need to replay the other side. I suppose it might work out well for teams that don't finish and want to rechallenge. After some initial teamwork, there's no interaction between the sides, which feels like a missed opportunity. There's also a bit of awkwardness after rejoining - you have to communicate what, if anything, is still unused in the pre-split areas, and if both halves don't get to the merge point at the same time, what has been done in the common area; this definitely wasted some time. I prefer split starts that don't have this ambiguity. There were some rough spots that could be sanded down - a couple places where we did the right thing but needed better feedback to encourage us to keep doing it, or where we found a reasonable interpretation of a clue that didn't work at all.

This was the best escape room I’ve done to date. All of the puzzles were original and engaging. This room is extremely challenging. We had a group of 8 and opted for the hard ending but failed on the final puzzle. Can’t recommend this one enough, even if it’s a bit of a drive it’s well worth it if you’re an enthusiast. Definitely not a beginner friendly room.

This room is way to hard for even 6 people. Way too dark inside with only 1 flashlight.

A top 5 room for me and I REALLY want to go back and play the west side (we played east). The set design is spectacular. Yes it’s dark BUT it adds sooo much to the spooky factor and dark rooms don’t bother me. I’m all about the set design and immersion, without that I just can’t get into the puzzles. With that said the puzzles were also amazing and were appropriate for the storyline. There were A LOT of puzzles and a few of them I had never seen before. We are a group of 4 enthusiasts and we would have escaped if we chose the easy exit, BUT we were stubborn and chose hard mode and unfortunately did not escape, which just makes me want to go back and play the other side that much more. There were a lot of surprise elements that I didn’t expect which just added to the immersion. Teamwork and communication is an absolute must in this room.

This room definitely goes on my top 10 list. The split start was unique in that the two groups were not in the same space, but had to effectively communicate to progress. The set is second to none. I was really impressed. The puzzles were diverse and challenging and once the two groups reconnect, there are a couple of nice surprises. Our GM, Jamie, who is one of the owners of, is a great host. It even has some replay-ability as you can start on the opposite side the next game and see a whole new set of puzzles from your first play. There’s a reason that this is a Terpeca finalist. It really is an amazing room.

This was a great game, wonderful split start, a beautiful set, lots of innovative puzzles, just everything done exactly as it should’ve been. I have nothing but good things to say about this game and about NorCal as a whole.