マダム･ルクレールの交霊会 [Madame LeClaire and the Seance of Death]

Having played the Studio Escape’s other two rooms before this, I would say that expectations were set pretty high given the nature and unbelievable quality of both “Shadow Zen” and “For Queen & Country”. They were both easily some of the best, if not THE best escape rooms I’ve played anywhere in the world. “Madame LeClaire” is inspired, well produced, and thoughtfully crafted, but isn’t as smooth, engaging or as seamless an experience as the aforementioned two. Let’s start out with the pros. It is an elegant affair, with spaces nicely realized, moody settings and great special effects. Clues are cleverly doled out within the space in “on-theme” ways (which I won’t spoil). It’s a period piece set in the 1920s/1930s, where you’re investigators tasked with solving a mystery. The story flows quite uniquely and well, at first. It has all the elements that make it a very engaging escape room for about two-thirds of the way through. The main issue is that toward the end, the story begins to sort of fall apart, the twists don’t make a whole lot of sense and the flow of the experience hits several hiccups along the way as some puzzles straight up out don’t make any logical sense, and are difficult to solve without guidance (a few being nigh impossible without flat out being given the answer in a clue). I don’t know if that was because some things were not set up properly in our play-through, but we hit some metaphorical brick walls in the puzzle solving process, and it hampered a lot of the flow. Still, those caveats sound worse than they really are. The experience overall is a very positive one, and I’d say it’s still much MUCH better than a majority of rooms we have played in the past. You might just feel spoiled by Studio Escape’s other two experiences if this is the third room you play. It’s still a lot of inspired, spooky, well made fun and you should absolutely check it out if you’re in Osaka. This iteration is only running until the end of 2023 before it relocates and finds a new home. It’s still leagues beyond the majority of escape rooms in the world!

This was my first escape room outside of the US, and it was on the 11th floor of a high-end hotel, so I didn’t know what to expect. We were met by Edd, the owner and gamemaster. One point he made is that the room was not just an escape room but also immersive theatre and to pay attention to the dialog. Doing so added a nice cherry on the top. The room was in perfect English. It was clear it wasn’t a translation of a room that was originally in Japanese. I’d say the puzzles weren’t the most mind-blowing, but that was OK because the puzzles blended in with the theme and you really felt like detectives trying to solve a mystery. And there are a couple the surprises you really need to see for yourself. After the finale, Edd graciously explained the background of the room and his thought-process behind it. I’ll be trying to figure out how to visit his other rooms before I leave. If you’re in Osaka, give this room a go whether you’re a beginner escape room artist or a veteran.