Rise of the Fungi

It’s an escape room, it’s a video game, it’s a musical — it’s a delight. ‘Rise of the Fungi’ builds upon the world of ‘The Keeper and the Fungus Among Us’ by offering a glimpse into Paxillus’s villain origin story. Loaded with funky music, delightful JRPG-esque aesthetics, mechanics, and puzzles, the game shines as a showcase of all the wonderful things an escape room specifically designed for an online platform can achieve. I feel incredibly fortunate to have played both fungi games. The awards are well deserved.

If you loved Keeper, you’ll have a great time. If you’ve not played Keeper, you’ll have an even better time! I think this game ups the production value, but the humor and songs are not at the same level as Keeper. Still, it’s a joy to play. Joel is such a kind and creative soul.

a very charming prequel to “Keeper” with lots of interesting new concepts and moments that keep me thinking “wait, how did he do that?” well throughout the game. play it before it’s gone for awhile!

Such an amazing and fun experience. Part escape room, part RPG, part theatre, etc. Puzzles are entertaining and creative. The only negative I could think of is that I kept forgetting what was in our inventory (I should have written it down which I did later on in the game), but that was on me just trying not to interrupt the game for a reminder (which they are more than willing to show your inventory on request like in a video game). Would gladly do another one of these anytime.

We were so thrilled to get in before this charming prequel closed - it was such a fun, quirky, creative experience to guide our little mushroom friend through his adventures. The music was well-written and well-played, I wish I could get a Spotify link of the playlist! It's very clear that this was built and designed and operated with an incredible amount of love for the craft of puzzle-making and storytelling. I cannot wait to see what's around the corner for Headlock Escape Rooms - we'll be the first in line!

This is a virtual escape room that is the prequel to The Fungus Among Us. We played the original back in 2021 and it was one of my top virtual rooms I played. You can tell the creators put a lot of time and effort into the storyline and making it all work in a virtual environment. This game contains a couple of sets (4-5) and there was never any dead air time. It flowed so well, which must not be easy in a live environment. The puzzles were pretty straightforward. We played with a group of 4 enthusiasts and we finished in about 45 minutes. They give you 90 minutes to play, which I think is so every team has the chance to see the entire story, even if they struggle with a puzzle here or there. This was definitely a winner in my book! If you have a chance to play this while they’re still running the live zoom, you should!

One of the most extraordinary experience I have in a while. Combining puppets, music & puzzles. Was blown away specially with the musical parts and also the creativity of the puzzles. Cannot recommend it enough.

This was our second virtual escape room, and we booked this just hours after finishing our first one, which was this game’s sequel. Again the puzzles, story, flow, and cut scenes were great and gave us another great experience. I hope both of these games come back in some form or fashion.

Even better than the first! Entertaining puzzles, excellent music and performances by all the characters. I would recommend this to anyone! And you do it over Zoom so you can play with your friends and family anywhere in the world.

An extraordinary, unique experience. I think we actually enjoyed this one even more than the Keeper—the puzzles were a bit more straightforward. For the amount of work that goes into this, it’s amazing value for money. Recommended!!