SEN3ES

As my first experience with Paniq Room, I didn't really know what to expect when I booked SEN3ES but I ended up having a decent time overall. It was only after arriving were we told SEN3ES was the first room ever designed at the venue which made a lot of sense (ha) considering the basic nature of the puzzles, props and story. The flow got a little muddled towards the back half of the game as we were required to go back and forth between certain areas despite being told beforehand that that wouldn't be the case? I don't know. It was sometimes hard to tell what our general objective was or the purpose behind our actions, the story and environment did little to assist with this. An original room (hooray) with some fun moments but nothing to write home about. I understand Paniq also have as many as 3 Indestroom offerings which I don't think are super inspired. Boo.

A really interesting design with multiple tests for your senses. It can be really cool when a room bases around a central idea like this. The puzzles were decent, a bit more on the classic lock and key side but this is their oldest room so that’s to be expected I suppose. The set design felt a bit cluttered and strange, not really a great deal of cohesion and quite a few red herrings. I don’t really know what the story was here? Something magic but also Illuminati adjacent? Idk. A cool idea for a room but perhaps leaves a little to be desired in execution.

This is Paniq's first room and after having done every other room, you can definitely feel its age. The room does hold up as a solid escape room and one that is still worth doing. Keep in mind though, people who are hard of hearing, have eyesight problems or trouble smelling may have difficulty completing parts of this room.

6.5/10

5/10

Can't help but feel that these guys are resting on their laurels, location, and tourism. Disappointing room with lots of illogical puzzles. Emailed management to give feedback, no response.

Things started off well as we were greeted by a smiling staff member on a gloomy Saturday night. We were welcomed in, and as usual, we arrived early, fortunate enough to be inside when the rain started again. While not the largest pre-lobby, it made excellent use of the available space, with two other teams waiting alongside us. Sen3es marked our team's 30th room, which we managed to navigate through with a couple of hints and a slight time extension. The room itself wasn't particularly remarkable, feeling somewhat dated compared to many others out there. Given that it was first released close to 10 years ago, its age was evident. While many puzzles made sense in the space, there were a few red herrings thrown in that our team thankfully didn't spend too much time on, as well as some genuinely challenging puzzles that fit well with the theme. The flow through the rooms felt a bit like an arm-wrestle at times, with instructions to move through the rooms closing doors behind us and taking nothing, only luckily remembering that we were told we needed to take a couple of items back after finishing the third room. The communication system utilized a "Voice of God" setup where you talk to the walls, and they respond. While this system worked well overall, there were moments when I personally felt our Gamesmaster may have been distracted or not following as closely as we would have liked. On one occasion, he gave us a hint on a puzzle that we had already partially completed, and on another, it seemed he may not have heard us properly.

We were told by the GM when we went into this it was one of the best in Sydney. We were disappointed to say the least