Mark as done to rate
Permanently Closed - The Second Chapter in the Paradox Cycle. Hollow Grove Sanitarium… or is it Sanatorium? Reality is beginning to fracture, and memory grows hazy. Either way, what was once a place of healing now teeters on the edge of madness. As you enter, you know something is not right here- the building is aging unnaturally, and the staff hides secrets you cannot discern. But what truth will you uncover? Disowned children who seek their birthright? A soul that cries out from the hell it was trapped in? A Great War perpetuated by a creature of supernatural origin? Or perhaps an experimental breakthrough that perverts the nature of medicine itself. Only you can say for sure: the choices made in 1897 will continue into 1917, as your story enters its second chapter. But one thing is guaranteed: what happens inside the decaying halls of Hollow Grove will defy even your wildest expectations.
All (81)
Overwhelmingly positive
o
110 escape rooms
A 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
t
49 escape rooms
Insane experience. Doors of Divergence just takes it to a whole new level of immersion. It is hard to describe. You’re basically inside a movie. The actors are top notch and really put their hearts into it. The story, from start to finish, including the bar, is just impeccable. The combination of this room and Heresy 1897 dethroned The Exit Games two games as our groups favorite escape rooms ever played (we have played over 100 together, collectively hundreds). Also, the clues were great. I don’t remember a single number lock. No time drains etc. Very unique clues and excellent use of environment/room props. You can spend anywhere from 1.5-2 hours in each room experience, and we really loved every second of it. Again, we have played top TERPECA and Morty rated games all over the US, and Doors of Divergence was just special. They pushed the limits on what an escape room is. Unfortunately they are temporarily closing, but we will be eagerly awaiting their opening so we can close out the story with chapter 3.
Spooky
No
69 escape rooms
Definitely one of the most unique escape rooms I’ve done! I’ve since described it as an Escape Room meets Sleep No More. If you detest experiences with live actors, I wouldn’t recommend this. But if you can open your mind to it, the result is really intriguing and fun, and perhaps the densest backstory and plot I’ve seen go into an escape room There are currently Two Parts at Doors of Divergence: Heresy 1897, and Madness 1917 This review is about Madness: I loved Heresy overall, but I actually think Madness was a step up even further in puzzle design! However, they were puzzles that led to significant frustration though given one of the big ones we spent so much energy on only to discover via the game master that we did it right, but it didn’t trigger properly. No exactly an issue unique to this room and I’ll still take it over lock and key haha It’s really cool how different the structure of this room is to Heresy. Whereas in Heresy you went back and forth through multiple rooms frequently, Madness traps you in one spot with your party divided in two. As you complete puzzles and advance the plot, the actors reveal elements to you that allow you to conquer the puzzles you couldn’t prior After the massive amount of exposition leading into Heresy, I was surprised how quickly we ended up actually doing puzzles in Madness by comparison. Also evidently, the whole set up of Madness changes based on your Heresy ending. All in all, I thought the synthesis of plot and puzzles was more effective than Heresy, but I can’t divorce the experience of Heresy from Madness either Although not Haunted House scary, I would not recommend the faint of heart. The story goes to pretty dark places and is more claustrophobic perhaps than other rooms out there I do hope Doors of Divergence finds its new location soon! And that their rumored third room opens along with it
Yes
Hard
Mechanical
4
Split into two rooms most of the time!
Scary
If there is something between spooky and scary, I’d put this there! Not jump scares per se but sometimes the actors appear around corners and relish your reaction not noticing them right away. Also the plot elements and set are more horror genre than Heresy 1897
16
Yes
One of our puzzles was correctly performed but our game master had to manually trigger the release for it
Yes
Very
Lots of pack and forth and reaching through doors and holes and compartments
Lots of puzzles involving light, colors, sound, and reading messages low to the ground
Yes
Medium
Not the worst place to park in BK!
D
34 escape rooms
Absolutely amazing. Wish it wasn’t closing so I could do it again.
E
7 escape rooms
This broke me. It’s beyond. I’ve played twice with different puzzles and storylines. There is nothing like this out there.
Spooky
569 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
62 escape rooms
Absolutely brilliant sequel to Heresy, just as strong as the first.
Easy
79 escape rooms
Definitely book heresy first. This is just as good. Set design, attention to detail, acting. All of it. I’m completely blown away
209 escape rooms
Just as incredible as the first chapter! The spookiness is raised up a little in this one but it’s still not too bad if you’re worried like I was. It was awesome to see how our actions in Heresy played out in this game. It’s a split game, but a first for me in that we were split for the entire game, although could still hear and talk to each other. Like the first game, the basic escape room rules are delivered in a way that I’ve never seen done before that fits perfectly with the story. There are opportunities for one on one moments with the actors and I will surely not forget mine any time soon!
Yes
Medium
High tech
4
Spooky
16
No
Yes
Not at all
Yes
Easy
V
10 escape rooms
This was our 86th room and instantly our favourite. The whole team from reception to the actors made this an experience not to be forgotten. So rarely do we see rooms that work seamlessly and are exciting from start to finish. Can’t wait to come back for part 3 and then do the whole series again!
