msilcox

Quite a lot to do for a player playing alone, but very manageable with a few little nudges!  The abbey location is really very cool--a wonderful idea to bring the rest of the world to Ireland.  If you enjoy things a bit scary, maybe try this with the lights off at night. 

Definitely on the easier end for an experienced player, even doing it alone.  But a very successful translation of a physical room to a digital experience.  I liked the little video cut scenes showing the locks being opened etc.--it made it seem more like an actual room.  A pleasant experience!

As with the other Remote Avatar games that we've done with The Escape Game company, this was a very well orchestrated experience.  We had the full attention of both the avatar, and a GM, and there was an excellent inventory system.  These rooms are expensive, but you can see why in light of the staffing and infrastructure involved.  I really wish I could have played this room in person, because the set was extraordinarily immersive, and some of the puzzles involved physical elements that didn't translate that well.  The puzzles were on the easier side, but the integration with the story was strong.  All in all a pleasant experience.

A hugely imaginative game, with a really clever set that created atmosphere with a relatively simple build and a lot of creative use of props.  We had a great time with the GM, who was very personable with a good sense of humour!  There was a lot to do, but it was very manageable within the 75 minutes allotted.  As a scientist I particularly enjoyed some of the science related puzzles.  They are apparently hoping to turn it into a point and click game--if so, it should work really well.  Recommended!!

An extremely immersive and very cleverly designed set that we were sorry not to get to experience in person.  The translation to online worked okay, although there was one section in the middle of the game when things got slightly mysterious because our avatar seemed to disappear.  Some very cool physical puzzles that we haven't seen before, and good integration with the theme.  There weren't any jump scares, but the set was certainly heavy on the skulls and effectively creepy. 

Our GM was very sweet, and it was a cool experience to do our first virtual game in the Philippines.  The puzzles were very basic and homegrown.  There was one legitimate jump-scare--otherwise there was just a minor sense of unease.  Glad to have done it, but not really a challenge to experiences escape gamers.

We really enjoyed this game.  It is a unique premise (searching for an iconic can of beer!) with some unique elements that we haven't seen before.  The host was very pleasant, and there were oodles of tie in with the beer/bar theme.  None of our group are heavy drinkers (indeed one doesn't drink at all), and yet we all had a really good time.  Recommended!

We are still a bit confused as to how the details of this room relate to the description we read.  But oh well!  A very pleasant host and some good puzzles.  Would have really benefited from using Telescape for some elements, although we did appreciate that they provided images of hard to see elements that we were allowed to screen-shot.  I personally found the pace a little frustrating, but I am an extremely impatient person.  If you do this, embrace Italian time!

It seems like the early bumps some players experienced have been worked out, so the game flowed very well, with successful integration of movie and computer elements.  The set is like literally this guy's apartment, so not fantastic, but there are some very clever puzzles, and the interaction with the host was really fun. 

Probably a super duper cool room to do in person, with an extremely immersive set.  In the live avatar version we struggled with the lighting--one puzzle was rendered nearly impossible because it was just too dark.  The telescape elements were very helpful, and we particularly appreciated that there were puzzles that team members could break off and do while the rest of the team were exploring.  A very pleasant host who definitely helped to make the game fun.  And with amazing green nails ;)

Among the best remote avatar games we've played.  The integration of cut scenes was absolutely seamless, and really elevated this into a cinematic experience.  The set was wonderfully spooky, and there was a good assortment of puzzles, with few traditional locks.  The usual mix of light-hearted and bloody-minded hosting that we experienced with these folks' other games.  Absolutely a "must do" for fans of online escape rooms.

As a fan of Shakespeare's plays I definitely enjoyed all the references to his work.  This was definitely on the easier end, but I think would be a great one to do with kids who are learning about Shakespeare in school.  Nicely done sets, and a couple of clever elements we haven't seen before.

Another charming experience from the folks in Lanzarote.  Helena's wonderfully upbeat hosting is a huge part of what makes playing games with them fun.  This is a room with a LOT to do.    We did technically escape even though we didn't complete all the tasks.  Probably would be more doable as an in person room, since players could split up to work on different tasks.  They have set it up so you get a lot of moments of positive reinforcement, though, and she very kindly took us through the puzzles we didn't get too.  All in all a lovely experience.

A Sherlock inspired room with a nice set and some clever puzzles.  We overthought one puzzle which ended up being a bit frustrating, and there was one puzzle where the connection between the clue and the lock was not very clear.  But otherwise a pretty straightforward, entertaining room.  Jess was a lovely host, who passed the critical "will she wear the prop hat" test with flying colours.  Worth a try!

We've really enjoyed all the remote avatar escape games we have done with Immersia.  We were apparently the first people to do this one in English, and apart from one clue that was a bit confusing, everything worked very well.  The premise is a neat one--basically you are traveling back in time to find anachronisms in different time periods (not going to give away too much by revealing which ones!).  As with all the Immersia games the sets were very immersive, and the puzzles straightforward, but varied and quite clever.  Recommended!

A Christmas re-brand of their Ghostly Galleon game--fortunately we had forgotten most of the details, so this came up fresh.  Some clever puzzles, and nice Christmas integration.  A piece of advice--you don't necessarily need to fill out the whole chart, and definitely shouldn't bother if you're pressed for time.

This must be an absolutely amazing game to do in person.  The set is remarkably immersive. All of the detail made the translation to online a bit difficult--there were a lot of elements that were purely set dressing that made finding those elements you could actually interact with a bit frustrating.  An enjoyable experience nonetheless, with a delightful absence of combination locks.  Totally playable by those without knowledge of Warhammer.

At this point I've done a lot of online Escape Games, and I have come to recognize that avatars have two responses to a team (like ours) that is pretty experienced and efficient.  Some avatars let us go with it, and don't worry if the game ends up taking a lot less than an hour, while some avatars feel it necessary to add "ambience" to the experience by spinning the game out so that we'll finish close to the allotted time.  My VERY strong preference is for the first kind of avatar.  I am totally fine if we smash the time record for a game--indeed being told we have done so adds to my enjoyment of the experience. 

The avatar in this game was very much of the second model.   I wanted to lunge through the screen and throttle him!  The ultimate moment came when he opened a book safe, and took several minutes to notice that the key was taped to the lid of the locked portion.  I mean really.

So whether you enjoy this game will very much depend on how you feel about these two avatar types.  The room itself is fine--there are some neat wine related clues, and one or two things that are fairly clever.  But if you are going to book, settle in with a glass of wine and accept that things are going to proceed SLOWLY.

This is the second game we've played from The Escape Game Online.  Although this one was ranked as a bit more difficult than the Gold Rush game, we actually finished it even more quickly.  As with this company generally the inventory system is excellent, and the hosting is strong, with both an in-room host, and a GM keeping an eye.  A generally enjoyable experience, but most of the puzzles were of types pretty familiar to escape room regulars.  We had a good time nonetheless, and felt a warm fuzzy sense of superiority that we finished so quickly ;)

This room was a bit easy for our team of fairly experienced players, but we had a very good time nonetheless.  Props to Host Bernadette and Prospector Harlen for infusing their enthusiasm in the experience.  A good range of puzzles with some elements I'm very sorry I didn't get to experience in person.  On the expensive side, particularly in light of how quickly we finished, but there were a lot of higher end finishes, like a very effective inventory system.

This is a perfectly fine first generation room with a good assortment of puzzles.  There is clear evidence of the experience these folks have gained in running remote rooms in the use of the inventory system.  In addition to the usual 360 views, there are several puzzles that can be manipulated in  Telescape, and a useful list of locks (there are a LOT of locks!).  I do have to admit that I missed Jayson--he was the avatar for the other Fuzzy Logic rooms we did, and he just made everything that much more fun.  The avatar we had was perfectly pleasant, but he lacked Jayson's magic.  My only complaint is that this was expensive for what it was--it seems they have put their prices up since they've gone back to offering remote rooms on the weekend.  Nonetheless, a very enjoyable hour.

A very solid remote avatar room, with a pleasant host.  A good assortment of puzzles that made good use of the strengths of all of our team members.  The camera work was a bit "swoopy" (i.e., nauseating), but improved once we asked him to stop with the swooping.  Rather a lot of codes to enter, but the inventory system did work well.

We really enjoyed this game.  It is a pretty basic room with quite a lot of traditional locks.  But the avatar is super pleasant, and kept the action moving along.  The puzzles are pretty traditional, but there was enough variety that they played to the strengths of all the members of our team.  Definitely on the easier end of things.  But after an ignominious defeat last weekend, we needed a fun, feel-good experience, and this definitely fit that bill.

There is a lot to like about this game.  It's very immersive, with puzzles that are clearly tied into the narrative.  The use of video cut scenes was imaginative, and there was a good variety of puzzles.  Having said that, it felt overthought to us, with too many elaborations and twists, which made it a bit bewildering.  We also found it quite frustrating that we didn't know how much time we actually had, since there were multiple clocks that appeared for different parts of the game, with no explanation attached to each. There were also several puzzles that felt like we didn't have enough information to get to the first step of an answer, making for a certain degree of frustration.  And clues that seemed to point to more than one puzzle, which meant we wasted a bunch of time doing things that seemed to make sense, but ultimately didn't help us get closer to the denouement.

I sure there are folks who will love this.  But we would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been a bit more doable in the time.

Our interactions with the very pleasant host really made this experience.  There is a LOT to do, so make sure that you keep moving along in the game.  In particular, the last "act" had more to do than we expected, which is why we technically did not finish in time (the host very kindly less us finish up).  One nice aspect was that it was possible for team members to work independently on some of the puzzles, which is rare for a remote avatar game.  And it was very much necessary, or we would have been even more over time!  A good mix of puzzles, which made use of our group's various strengths.  Definitely recommended!!

A fairly standard set up, although the use of video cut scenes did add to the intensity of the game.  Our avatar was very game to do whatever we asked of her (including lying on a table at one point!) which we really appreciated.  I find it a bit frustrating when remote avatars pull the "oh no, I'm so scared, I will burn through some of your time while I hesitate to do this" thing, but perhaps I'm just overly impatient.  A solid basic room, with one puzzle at the denouement that I thought was quite clever and original.

This is really an experience like no other.  It is very important to suspend your cynicism and bemusement going in and just enjoy.  The amount of imagination and care taken to create the little world of the game really is quite extraordinary.  Definitely a must try!

We really enjoyed having a chance to explore this historical site.  A very pleasant host who was good at giving subtle nudges without giving too much away.  Nice tie between the puzzles and the setting (a brickworks museum).  My team-mates found the camera motion slightly nauseating--I think it worked better for me because I was on a bigger monitor.

We really enjoyed this game--more even than their more highly ranked Immersia Hotel game (although that one is also worth checking out).  One of the puzzles in particular made very good use of the strengths of our group, so we were very fast to finish.  A good, immersive set, with a very neat transition from one room to another, and one or two types of puzzles and locks we haven't seen before.  The "final act" was slightly creepy, but not to an extent that most kids would be scared (particularly over Zoom!).

We’ve done both of the remote rooms offered by this company.  They are a bit basic and bashed up, but the avatars in both cases were such nice folks that we couldn’t help but enjoy ourselves.  There were lots of fun food tie-ins with this one, and a couple of neat and very imaginative physical puzzles that I’m really sorry we didn’t get to play in person.  There was a good variety to the puzzles, so I felt the room played to everyone’s different strengths.  Quite a lot to do, but I think it would be a good one to do with kids so long as you didn’t get bogged down in any particular puzzle.

This must be a very cool game to play in person.  It occupies a large space with lots of creepy details.  They have done a solid job of translating it into a remote experience, although we struggled with the telescape interface for one puzzle.  We had a few frustrations with the GM because of a bit of mismatch of styles--her acting got in the way of our very systematic approach.  The overall premise is a bit weird--basically a serial killer is helping you escape his house.  It didn't make a lot of sense to us, and made it hard to trust that the things coming from the serial killer were honest clues!  Nonetheless a good experience, and recommended if you like things a bit scary.

An extensive and well-decorated set make this a very immersive experience--kind of sorry we didn't get to play it in person!  We found the game on the easier side of things, but to be fair we've done a lot of remote escapes at this point.  Extremely pleasant hosts who definitely added to the experience.  Recommended!

We really enjoyed the Brazilian content to this game--we learned some things!  And appreciated the very pleasant GM, who was patient with our terrible Portuguese pronunciation.  A fairly basic game, but still a very enjoyable hour.

The high point of this room was the very personable GM, who agreed to wear not one, not two, but three hats!  The decor is basic and the big denouement very “homegrown”.  But quite a few clever puzzles.  Lots to do, so manage your time carefully.

This was one of my favourite Escape Room experiences of all time.  The games at Casa Loma all combine a really immersive atmosphere with great interaction with the actors.  And they are tough!  I played this one with my lab--we had some experience doing games together, so we were actually doing really well until the last puzzle. And then we just got totally stuck!  Fortunately one of the other folks playing with us figured it out.  A truly triumphant moment! 

For visitors to Toronto, this is a great opportunity to see a more interesting side to one of the standard tourist attractions.

Some nice dinosaur tie-ins that I appreciated as a paleontologist.  The room was a bit limited by the space, so that a lot of our job was to just notice things that needed to be interacted with.  Nonetheless an enjoyable experience, with some good cross-over humour between Jurassic Park and Back to the Future.  There are 2 possible endings, which is kind of cool.

A game definitely elevated by a very enthusiastic and engaged GM.  Matthew even did a little jig when we successfully escaped!  The conversion to online was a bit clunky, and there was 1 piece of equipment that apparently had been broken that day.  But we enjoyed it nonetheless.  A good choice if interaction with the avatar is a big part of the fun for you (as it is for us).

A very cool room with some really inventive interfaces that we are sorry we didn't get to experience in person.  As a minor Doctor Who nerd, I appreciated the integration of the Tardis into the room!  A very friendly host who was game to do any (reasonable) thing asked of him.  Including wearing the hat prop!  It's always so much more fun when the host also seems to be having a good time.

These folks were kind enough to set up a time for us to play their room remotely from Canada, which was a bit challenging with the 16 hour time difference!  On the easier end of things for experienced enthusiasts, although with one mechanism for a puzzle we haven't seen before.  We particularly enjoyed the New Zealand tie-ins--I'm still embarrassed I incorrectly identified the kakapo!

This game isn't quite like any of the other remote games we've played (having done around 60).  It starts with a first set of puzzles that are played entirely through a webpage, and then moves through four different physical rooms, with a couple of puzzles in each.  There is also a puzzle played through the web interface that requires co-operation by the various members on the team.  So a real Swiss smorgasbord of different experiences!

I found the  first puzzle a bit frustrating (although one of my other team members really liked it), and we took way too much time on it.  But the rest of the game worked really well, and the GM (who was amazingly the only person running the game) did a wonderful job of keeping things flowing along and juggling all the different roles she had to play.

Overall a very imaginatively designed experience.  Recommended!

This is only the second online room that my friends and I haven't finished in time.  Fortunately the host let us sort through the last puzzle, so we got to see the denouement.  But tbh, without her nudges, I don't think we would ever have gotten there with that puzzle.  We were definitely glad to have 3 people working together on this game, because each of us figured out the needed leap of logic for at least one puzzle that the others wouldn't have gotten alone.  A very nice host, and a set with a few neat features, but I generally prefer more immersive games with puzzles that are more integrated into a narrative and less about engaging in a logical exercise for it's own sake.

This game has all the makings of a wonderful experience.  The narrative is novel, the set is immersive, and there is a good assortment of puzzles.  Through particularly clever integration of cut scenes, it seemed like there was a whole cast of actors involved.  Like the Pursuit of the Assassin Artist and Miss Jezebel this game incorporated some neat "out of Zoom/Telescape" elements.  I am confident that most fans of those games will really like this one.

Unfortunately it also included my very least favourite online escape room trope--the naive or idiot avatar.  Or, in this case, the cowardly avatar.  Everything we asked the avatar to do was questioned and pushed back against because of the character that he was playing.  It was tremendously frustrating!  I simply do not have the patience to have the "no really go through the freaking door" conversation that many times.  I don't know if the actor was playing it up in particular because we were moving through the game quickly.  But I would personally have preferred to spend less time on the experience, but not be super frustrated! 

So if you are a more patient person than I, and like the theatrical style of escape rooms, you'll probably think this room is amazing.  But if you don't enjoy wanting to kick your avatar in the bum 20 times in an hour, perhaps this one is not for you!

Quite a lot to do in this room, which had a cooler set than I was anticipating in light of the story.  Some use of video clips to help deal with elements that could not be replicated online, which was quite clever.  A very nice host who did a good job of gently moving us along in the right direction, and avoiding wasting time.  Some neat elements that we hadn't seen before.  All in all a good experience!

A very cool and imaginatively designed set that we're sorry we didn't get to experience in person!  I have ranked this one "quite difficult" even though we had lots of time left because it was one of those rooms that had more elements than you are expecting.  Make sure you watch your time and take good notes!  A very friendly and pleasant GM.  All in all, it made us wish we could go to Malta!

Another really pleasant experience with the folks at Island Quest.  A lovely GM who kept things moving along.  A fairly traditional room with quite a lot of locks, but some very good tie-ins with the theme.  We were also really interested to hear about the speculation that Lanzarote is the real site of Atlantis!  I would rank this one a little below their really excellent magic market game, but both are definitely worth doing.

Rest assured that this game is available in English!  We had a few very minor audio/communication issues, but they really did not negatively affect the game.  The GM was very game to try anything we asked.  An extremely immersive set with some neat physical puzzles that I'm sorry we didn't get to try in person.  Good value for money for a game with this much to do, and both a GM and a camera person.  Recommended!!

Just a quick edit--an earlier review noted a lack of an inventory system.  I'm happy to report that they are now using Telescape, which definitely helped to make a rather difficult game more manageable.

A fairly traditional room with quite a lot of locks, but a few puzzles with a particularly clever premise.  The GM was excellent--personable and fun to play with!  One minor irritation with a puzzle that we figured out a very logical way to solve, that was nonetheless wrong!  But overall a good experience.

Probably my favorite of the Harry Potter clone games that we've played.  A really cleverly designed and immersive set, with one "reveal" that we have never seen before.  There was quite a bit to do in 60 minutes, with a good variety of different types of puzzles, and relatively few actual locks.  The GM was lovely and game to do everything we asked of her.  We also appreciated that she was in costume!  Would be a fun one to do with kids.

Another very immersive and entertaining room from Lost Escape.  An excellent set, with only a single traditional lock, and a couple of very cool elements that we haven't seen before.  We found this one a bit easier than their other games, but still a very full 56 minutes of stuff to do!  I would put this game third from this company, after their Steampunk and The End? rooms, but before House of Wizard.  But still a fun experience.  Recommended!

This was a very clever adaptation of a live room into something that can be played without an avatar.  The cut scenes with an actual person unlocking locks etc. were a clever way of moving the game along while making it feel like you were participating in something "real".  There were two clues that I never ended up using, but I think I may have (somewhat unintentionally) "brute forced" one of the puzzles.  A little confused.  In any case, an enjoyable 75 minutes for a person playing alone.