Past Forward

Puzzles were very intuitive. We did it with no hints required. Some interesting mechanics.

Fantastic room by newcomers to the escape room scene. The rooms were very well done and thematic and our family enjoyed the use of physical locks and object manipulation. Plenty of things for everyone to do, including our two kiddos who went with us. The owners were super nice and friendly. Would definitely recommend!

Great game!! We had a really fun time. Thank you Masha for being an awesome game master!!

Past Forward was a solid game from a new company in the Bay Area! I enjoyed the theming, decor, and the majority of the puzzles. There were a couple highs and a couple lows, but nothing that felt unfair or broken, and a couple things I actually hadn’t seen before. This is a great room to scratch the itch, and an enthusiast duo would be the perfect amount of people.

Great experience here. The puzzles are very straightforward and easy to comprehend. There is literally ONE game master on staff, and she’s very good at monitoring the games. We had no moments of “but we did that already!”. Each game has a TV with the timer.

All time record! Solid thumbs up! Of their two rooms, this one was more refined and I really liked the puzzle quality in this one. There’s some really cool out of the boxing thinking (not in the frustrating, out of reach way, but in a really fun unique way I hadn’t seen before). There were also a couple puzzles I hadn’t seen anywhere else before. The theming was great and the story was fun how it flowed between past and present. Overall, a really fun and enjoyable room!

For an avid lover of solving puzzles and exploring mysterious and mind bending escape rooms, 404 Escape Room is a goldmine. Tucked away in the up and coming Irvington neighborhood of Fremont, this unassuming spot took me and my 2 friends by surprise. As we walked in, we were greeted by a boisterous group of people who were celebrating a bday party and were thrilled with excitement having solved the mystery game just in time, that energy was contagious. The escape room crew were super awesome and gave us a mystifying introduction which amp’ed up our excitement. The game “Past Forward” that the 3 of us signed up for, was not merely a nostalgic visual delight, but an absolute masterpiece that gives time travel a new definition. The transcendental experience takes you into dawn of time, something we only read in books giving you a first hand experience of what past looked like. The puzzles were so much fun to solve, some mathematically enchanting and some visually appealing. The difficulty is real…. I think 3 of us were too few and we barely made it out in time even after seeking clues. We are surely gonna come back for their other game “Stabbin Cabin”. If you are looking for the next great escape room experience, 404 Escape Room is going to give you a run for your money.

We played during the first week and the GM was welcoming and fun. We had a great time. The GM was attentive and gave hints that were small puzzles of their own which made the experience fun. Overall I'd say the escape room was easier than most that we've done (easiest 25%?). I'd recommend 2-4 players for it. It's definitely beginner and family friendly as well so it's fun for everyone. For more experienced players, I would also recommend trying to not use hints or at least relaxing and chilling to enjoy the room more. We did end up using a few hints, but in hindsight we should have tried to solve more. The storyline was better than most escape rooms (top 10%?) but isn't really that relevant to completing the puzzle. If you don't care about the story it's still great. Overall the theme was excellent and the puzzles were good. Of course some puzzles you'll see in other escape rooms just like other escape rooms. I don't think there were any particularly unique puzzles. I wouldn't say the escape room was perfect by any means, but was definitely solid and well above average (top 15-25%?) compared to other escape rooms in my overall experiences.

Came with my boyfriend for date night to try and spice up the weekend. Escape room is local to us and popped up so we decided to check it out. Absolutely loved it, some of the puzzles were very unique. Overall it was a really fun room, good balance of story and solving. The set design was amazing and the music was great! Don’t underestimate a good track in the background, makes the atmosphere more interesting and alive. You can tell a lot of care and time was put into this room. The host was sweet and tried hard to make it the best for us. Thanks to her for that. If asked for a hint she didn’t straight up give the answer and even tried to make some of them into jokes/riddles. Had a little chat about escape rooms in general after as well! Made us come back for the 2nd room they opened. This time with friends, was fun as well!