Chapter 1: Occam's Apartment

Chapter 1: Occam's Apartment

Overwhelmingly positive (444 ratings)

  • Escape room
  • IRL

Mark as done to rate

Your dear friend Detective William Occam recently passed away while investigating a case about a 10-year-old missing girl, Nina. Following his death, you received a mysterious letter. Addressed to his closest friends, a single message was left behind: “There are two sides to every man, the one that you see and the one hidden behind the scenes. I can only be the real me when I go fishing on the lake. Memories I will never forget.”

  • 2-6
  • 105 mins
  • Spooky

Awards

Ratings

All (444)

Overwhelmingly positive

Gameplay
Overwhelmingly positive
Atmosphere
Overwhelmingly positive
Customer service
Overwhelmingly positive

Reviews

@UndercoverBlobfish
UndercoverBlobfish

100 escape rooms

This room was great! We played as 2 people and took up the entire time with only 20 seconds left, haha. We actually played all 3 chapters this week and this was my favorite of the 3. One of the funner rooms I have experienced. Great storytelling, great puzzles, and fun surprises. I also thought that it was pretty novel how they save your decisions and progress and use those to influence the storytelling in the future chapters if you come back and play. It definitely makes me more interested in the story than I normally am in a room where you don’t really impact or influence it. I will definitely come back to continue the story and see how it all plays out!

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Gameplay

Fun and challenging puzzles that I hadn’t seen before.

Atmosphere

One of the best sets I’ve ever played on because it felt like a realistic size, not a squashed down version of an apartment. It was great!

Customer service

Very friendly GM!

Particularly interesting or different

Yes

Several unexpected elements that I haven’t seen used in other escape rooms before.

Story

Much better told than most. I am actually curious to see where it goes in the next room, which is not something I usually care about in escape rooms.

Difficulty

Hard

Lots of outside the box thinking.

Game tech

High tech

Ideal number of players

2

I think most people would say 4 people, but we enjoy just playing as 2 and getting to be fully involved in every puzzle, which held true for this room.

Scary

Not scary

Minimum age

10

Was anything broken?

No

Live actors

Yes

Physically active

Not at all

Accessibility

There is a passageway you have to duck through several times, so that could be a challenge for someone with mobility challenges.

Easy to find location

Yes

Parking

Easy

More than enough.

Sep 1, 2025 | Experienced Sep 1, 2025

p

playnasc

22 escape rooms

Probably the most immersive, high tech escape room in the Bay Area! There were so many puzzles we haven't seen before, and the way each puzzle is integrated into the story (and the vibe of the room) is fantastic. We didn't escape in time (we had 1 puzzle left), but the unique thing is that they'll save your progress so you can pick up right where you left off! Massive props to the OTC team, the whole experience was worth the trip. We will definitely be back to finish this off!

Gameplay
Atmosphere
Customer service
Particularly interesting or different

Yes

Story
Difficulty

Hard

Game tech

High tech

Ideal number of players

4

Scary

Spooky

Moments of suspense, tension, but no jump scares

Minimum age

16

Was anything broken?

No

Live actors

Yes

Physically active

Somewhat

Easy to find location

Yes

Parking

Easy

Aug 24, 2025 | Experienced Aug 23, 2025

c

chuxtina

69 escape rooms

Definitely has become one of my favorite rooms. Also really like the team behind this series!

Gameplay

I really enjoyed this game and the philosophy behind enjoying the storyline!

Atmosphere

Super impressive room!

Customer service
Physically active

Not at all

Aug 12, 2025 | Experienced Aug 9, 2025
@swissjen
swissjen

91 escape rooms

It’s taken me a few days to come back and write this review because I wanted to do this room (and Off The Couch Games in general) justice. I was fortunate to be able to play all three of the available chapters in one marathon day with a fantastic group of enthusiasts, and I found the whole adventure from start to finish to be truly outstanding. Our GM and everyone who helped us at the front desk were so helpful and welcoming, and that set the tone from the start. Each of the three chapters is unique, and yet the storyline is cohesive in a way that makes you feel invested. Interesting and unique tech was refreshing (I don’t remember a single padlock), and the lighting design was unlike anything I’ve experienced. The character interaction woven throughout the storyline made it so much fun, and honestly, I want every escape room experience to be more like this! For me, this is a new benchmark for what an escape room experience can be, and I’ll be among the first in line to do the newest chapter that will be opening up soon.

Gameplay
Atmosphere
Customer service
Particularly interesting or different

Yes

Story
Difficulty

Hard

I’d say it falls between medium and hard. It’s definitely going to be easier for an enthusiast, but even with many games played between us, we interacted with our in-game helper to get a couple of hints when we felt stuck

Game tech

High tech

Ideal number of players

6

For the first chapter, you could get away with fewer players. I feel like 6 was ideal for the Morgue

Scary

Spooky

A couple scary moments. Not kid friendly content

Minimum age

14

Was anything broken?

No

Live actors

Yes

Physically active

Not at all

A tiny bit of climbing over a low barrier

Accessibility

Some minor stepping over a barrier. Not all players need to participate in that part, but you’d miss a portion of a puzzle and some key interactions

Easy to find location

Yes

Parking

Easy

Jul 13, 2025
@katedrennan
katedrennan

49 escape rooms

Loved this first chapter! Loved the way clues were given. The way this escape room operates is how all escape rooms should operate. Love the tech, the story line, the immersion, just everything! Putting this room in my top 10!

Gameplay
Atmosphere
Customer service
Particularly interesting or different

Yes

Story
Difficulty

Hard

Game tech

High tech

Ideal number of players

3

Scary

Not scary

Was anything broken?

No

Live actors

Yes

Physically active

Not at all

Easy to find location

Yes

Parking

Easy

Jul 13, 2025 | Experienced Jul 12, 2025

a

augustsha

37 escape rooms

One of the craziest, most well thought-out rooms I've ever done. Challenging puzzles without any cheap locks, really well done set, and really novel ideas.

Gameplay
Atmosphere
Customer service
Ideal number of players

4

Can be parallelized to factor around 2x.

Jul 7, 2025
@UsagiHo
UsagiHo

60 escape rooms

𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 �𓅝𓃄 �𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿 𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 𓂨𓅝𓃄 𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿

Jun 30, 2025 | Experienced Aug 11, 2024
@TheMadPenAndQuill
TheMadPenAndQuill

37 escape rooms

Absolutely stellar experience. The story and setting were incredibly immersive—felt like we were in the apartment, not just playing in a set. Puzzle flow was smooth and purposeful, pushing the story forward in all the right ways. Big props to the GM system: hinting came from an in-world NPC, integrated perfectly with the narrative and never broke immersion. Hints nudged us just enough without spoiling anything—textbook execution. The whole staff was top-notch, from the welcome to the intro to the post-room debrief. Everyone clearly loves what they’re doing, and it showed. The variety of puzzle types—some familiar, some wildly original—kept things fresh, and the light tech integration was seamless and thematic. We played as a duo, which worked great. With more players, you’d move faster, but honestly, smaller is better here—you’ll want time to savor all the layers. Not scary, but definitely unsettling in places. Too sophisticated and cerebral for kids, though. Bonus: you interact with live actors during the game, which adds even more depth. Highly recommend—this one’s easily in my top 3 of all time. Can’t wait for Chapter 2!

Gameplay

Super immersive story and setting. Great flow to the puzzles to progress through story and room completion. Excellent system for GM hinting via an NPC you can contact that fits into the story as well.

Atmosphere

So good. You feel like you’re in the apartment you’re meant to be in. Excellent immersion!

Customer service

From staff that greeted us, to the hand off to a host that intro’d us to the room & story, to our GM who took the part of a character in the experience and debriefed us after, everyone was cool and treated us great and did their jobs and roles really well. It’s clear they’re loving what they do!

Particularly interesting or different

Yes

Love the connected storyline, love the immersive room, love the interesting intro/set up, love the different modalities employed for the puzzles (some familiar some totally unique!).

Story

Can’t wait to get to Chapter 2 and see where this is going!

Difficulty

Hard

Maybe expert level? A few things we got straight away. A few we struggled with then got. A few things we got some prodding from our NPC counterpart, but was all very good hinting that didn’t just point out the solution or hit you over the head with clues - let you still discover the solutions yourself. Really well done!

Game tech

Mechanical

Some tech but not a ton. Still so seamlessly executed and on-point for the story and setting that there is no issue at all with the level of tech incorporated.

Ideal number of players

4

We had two. Certainly could have been quicker with more people. But there’s so much good stuff to experience in this room, I’d recommend against a larger group so you don’t miss out on opportunities to get your hands on all the puzzles and your mind wrapped around all the intricacies of the story.

Scary

Spooky

Not scary at all. But be ready to be a little unnerved.

Minimum age

13

Too long, sophisticated, and cerebral/disturbing for kids. Not terribly disturbing overall but no reason for younger kids to experience this particular stuff.

Was anything broken?

No

Live actors

Yes

During the intro and gameplay you do interact with actors. Not overwhelmingly scary or anything but some of it you want to steel yourself for just a little.

Physically active

Somewhat

Easy to find location

Yes

Parking

Easy

Jun 1, 2025 | Experienced Mar 3, 2025
@missmisschelle
missmisschelle

36 escape rooms

Off The Couch is absolutely a 10/10 experience. Not only are the staff members friendly, but they are extremely professional, kind, and attentive as well. My boyfriend and I started on Chapter One today and were SO happy about our experience that we booked another session with them right away - especially because we are from out of town and can't go here as often as the locals. The difficulty of the puzzles were just the right amount of challenging - aka they were manageable, logical, and not impossible to solve. Additionally, I love how the "hints" are given in a different way - aka not a direct verbal hint, but there will be other "elements" in the game that push you towards the right direction. I also love how you can save your progress and revisit Off The Couch at any time - it truly makes this experience so much more enjoyable than a "rushed" 60 minute escape room session because you can come back to solve OTC at any time.

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Gameplay
Atmosphere
Customer service
Story
May 25, 2025 | Experienced May 25, 2025

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Editorial

  • For puzzle lovers, Occam’s Apartment is a solid start to an intriguing 12-part series.

    Room Escape Artist
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