Room Escape Games Reviews

http://sherlockgame.ru/quest/2 Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4000 .

Our time — 33. Our team — 3 people. Dexterity tasks — no. Technology — 10. Complicity — 5. Overall impression — 6.

The game is suitable for English speaking players.

The Falling Sky is the second quest of From Siberia With Love series. I should say that Sherlock’s games make a strange attraction on me. It’s very difficult for me to evaluate these games.

Photo from sharlockgames.ru

The point is that Sherlock's games has an ideal setting. The Interior is so amazing, so well thought, has so many details that it takes your breath away. Even a smell in the room seems relevant to the setting. In the Falling Sky you feel like you are among the ruins of Mayan’s pyramids at least two minutes later the door was closed. If you hadn’t just heard the doorbells which had returned you to the real world.

Now about tasks. They are very technological. Elements are connected to each other. There are magnets, mechanisms and magnets once again. But the problem here is that tasks are absolutely illogical. Many tasks are not related between themselves. It doesn’t seem that you untangle the case when you solve this tasks one by one. Instead you run from one technical installation to another. One more problem is that there are at least two tasks that you can’t solve without operators tips. That is the fact. After passing the game we asked: “How should we have understood, what to do?”. The answer was “There is an operator”. Okay. The game doesn’t have any sense. At some point the Door just opens after some actions. Why did the secret agents scour around the ruins? This is a mystery.

More over I can’t understand the whole idea of the series. According to the legend players are secret agents, who search for a stollen vaccine all over the world. Secrets, mysteries, forgotten legends and forbidden rituals are waiting for agents during the investigation. However all Sherlock’s games are self-sufficient and except for this similar description at the beginning of the game nothing tells you about the vaccine.

In conclusion, some positive moments. The game in spite of described disadvantages is very atmospheric. It makes you immerse into an adventure film. And there is another cinematic stamp. This stamp makes you heart beat faster and your brain frantically think, even it’s not real.

http://phobia.ru/14/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500 .

Our time — 48. Our team — 2 people. Dexterity tasks — no. Technology — 8. Complicity — 6. Overall impression — 8.

The game is suitable for English speaking players.

We ended up at Bunker#1 game accidentally. We arrived to the Albatross Travel Agency game an hour before and Bunker was available. This was the first game, only the two of us participated.

The Bunker looks like the real bunker, with a round door, iron floor and other details. Tasks are not so hard but logical. There are too many details in the game and the main difficulty in two people playing alone was that we couldn't find required objects immediately. For example, we couldn't understand what to do with a key for a long time. We just didn’t see the door, which the key opened.

The quest gives different impressions to girls and boys. In my opinion this is an average game averagely difficult, averagely interesting and averagely involving. But Sasha liked this game for mechanics of tasks, theme and interior.

http://phobia.ru/89/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500 .

Our time — 56,44. Our team — 4 people. Dexterity tasks — yes. Technology — 8. Complicity — 7. Overall impression — 10.

The game is suitable for English speaking players.

The Pirate’s Hut pleased us with amazing decorations. Guys from Claustrophobia don't stop to impress people. According to the legend you get in the pirate’s trap and as usually you have only 60 minutes before he comes back.

Photo from 

Exploring hut is a very fascinating activity. Tasks are mainly to search for objects and hints, so you need to be extremely attentive. Since you don’t need to spend much time for solving puzzles but for scouring hut you have enough time to look around. There are a lot of things to pay attention to. In my opinion, here is full immersion into the legend.

I can’t say that the game is very difficult. Also there is one typical for Claustrophobia’s games task. It’s the most surprising that I can’t remember the mechanics of this task. Always I do it as if it was the first time. We even had to take a hint.

When you are solving one of the final tasks, you need to be accurate. We successfully dealt with it only at the fourth try. Honestly I still couldn’t tell with confidence that we had done this task right. Maybe the equipment didn’t work properly and the operator launched necessary action for us. In spite of this the game gets strong 10 points for general impression due to authentic interior and enchanting final.

http://phobia.ru/92/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500 .

Our time — 37,17. Our team — 3 people. Dexterity tasks — yes. Technology — 8. Complicity — 4. Overall impression — 8.

The game is suitable for English speaking players.

The goal of Museum of Modern Arts game is to rob a museum. It is funny that there is one more virtual player, your sidekick which leaves you hints in this game.

Photo from phobia.ru

In my opinion, the decorations don’t give you the idea of a museum but they the are ideal for robbery’s storyline. However what decorations may there be in the museum of modern arts? There are tasks with unusual mechanics like in other Claustrophobia's games. In general puzzles are’t that hard but you enjoy them. There are no math tasks at all. We passed it without any difficulty, it was our first game which we solved without any hints and so fast. That is why we felt a little unsatisfied. It felt like we had’t play enough. It must be the price of time records.

The game is good for first-time players. Experienced players may be bored. However one part of the game can surprise you.

http://phobia.ru/20/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500 .

Our time — 60+. Our team — 4 people. Dexterity tasks — no. Technology — 9. Complicity — 7. Overall impression — 9.

The game is suitable for English speaking players.

Fans of escape games know a phrase that is often said during the briefing: floor and ceiling aren’t part of the game. However for submarine it's not true. Even the photo from the website shows the decorations. Everything is made so beautiful and luxurious that you want to spend some time examining the interior, but I advise you not to waste your time.

Photo from phobia.ru

First of all, I must say, that we didn’t escape from the room, but got a lot of impressions. I’d like to repeat that the decorations is awesome and tasks are rather unusual. Developers of Claustrophobia have good imagination, but in this game they excel themselves and in some tasks they are even oversmarted themselves. I think that tasks are not very difficult, but time consuming and annoying because of this. It means that you know what to do, but you waste much time to solve them.

So It was the time that let us down. We didn’t have enough time to finish all tasks. Also this was the first game where the equipment didn’t work properly. One of the elements in the game didn't work correctly and operator had to tell us the result. However it didn't help us. Certainly it affected our impressions. I think if I had written my review right after the game, it wouldn’t have been so positive, and the score wouldn’t have been 9. But now I can say that this game is worthy. I hope that after the game is moved to new place, all equipment will work properly.

I can’t recommend the submarine for first time players. First, because some tasks are very long and it is difficult to plan your time. Secondly the decoration may distract you. Thirdly if you play for the first time you want to participate in every task, but to overcome the Submarine you need to do all tasks simultaneously. In my opinion this game for experienced players.

http://www.m-quest.ru/map/1/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4000 .

Our time — 45. Our team — 3 people. Dexterity tasks — no. Technology — 4. Complicity — 5. Overall impression — 7.

I’m not sure if tis game is suitable for English speaking people. Please check before coming.

The x-files opens a series of games with common storyline. Players are journalists who want to find proof of UFO existence . But they couldn’t remain unseen and were arrested by militaries — as it is said on the website of the game. Obviously, the main point of the game is to escape from the military base.

Decoration is quite authentic. It’s worth mentioning that it is the decoration not just the building interior. Operator says that decoration was created by professional cinema interior designer.

Quest is completely linear. It useless to start a new task, without solving previous one. You need to be very attentive if you want to solve tasks. We were inattentive so we asked for two hints. There are no skill, logical or math tasks but too many distractions.

In this game there is one quite unexpected moment. It is not connected with tasks but it creates the right mood and atmosphere of the game. Start of the game is also quite unexpected.

The game isn't very difficult if you are attentive to details. In my opinion, it is excellent for the first time. Tasks can seem boring for experienced players, but the atmosphere and interior are definitely deserve your attention.

http://rosquest.ru/#quests Number of players — from 2 to 5. Price — from 2500 to 4000 .

Our time — 35. Our team — 4 people. Dexterity tasks — yes. Technology — 9. Complicity — 6. Overall impression — 10.

I’m not sure if tis game is suitable for English speaking people. Please check before coming.

«Over the edge» is one of two Rosquest consecutive games based on related stories. Professor who studied parallel worlds created a portal into the other universe. But he cannot escape from the new world and you must help him. In «Over the edge» game the task is to search professor’s house and to find all necessary stuff to turn on the portal.

The quest is great. Decorations are quite simple (even if it is a professor’s house it’s still just a house) but with some interesting details. There are a lot of tasks. We escaped in 35 minutes but there was no feeling that it wasn’t enough. Most of the tasks can be done at the same time that’s why in this game the number of players is important. Most of the tasks we did in parallel.

There is one very unexpected wow-moment in the game. It’s impossible to describe it without spoilers unfortunately. But when it happened to us we’d got a second breath. It was a real fun. There are dexterity and figurative thinking tasks. I think they can be time consuming. We tried to do such tasks in turn. In general I noticed that the rule «if you can’t do something at once, let another player a try» helps a lot in such games.

The quest is not difficult but interesting. It is good enough both for the beginners and for experienced players.

http://phobia.ru/93/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500.

Our time — 51,7. Our team — 3 people. Dexterity tasks — yes. Technology — 10. Complicity — 8. Overall impression — 10.

Game is suitable for English speaking people. 

Professor Zlykh is the first Shtrana series game that we’ve visited. Shtrana is an unreal universe created especially for a series of quests. The main peculiarity of the series is extremely colorful, absolutely unreal, cartoon or comics like decorations and large amount of technical installations. Due to it every game of the series makes you feel inside a computer game. This series is my favorite one.

Photo from phobia.ru

Professor Zlykh is the main bad guy in the universe. The task of the game is to stop a missile launched by the professor to the capital of Shtrana. The quest is bright, unusual and very exciting. There is a beautiful decoration that helps you immerse into the game.

All tasks are logical ones, rooms offer many details so every team player has something to do. In this quest you need to be careful. Several tasks need team work. During the game we asked for one tip, only because we weren’t attentive enough. Still players number is important. There were three of us, and we could use one more player.

In my opinion, this game may be advised for beginners. Although this game isn’t quite easy, you get a lot of positive emotions, even if you can’t escape.

http://www.deadrooms.ru/#!komnata-krasovski/cc7y  Number of players — from 2 to 6. Price — from 2500 to 3500 .

Our time — 60+. Our team — 6 people. Dexterity tasks — no. Technology — 2. Complicity — 6. Overall impression — 1.

I'm not sure if tis game is suitable for English speaking people. Please check before coming.

We decided to visit this game because we wanted to play in a team of 6. The description was also attractive for me. The plot is based on Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted. The video from the website was also inspiring. Later we realized why.

http://youtu.be/5Tg17qrKkKs (video is in Russian, but you can just watch for impression of the decorations).

The game is located in the cellar of a building on the territory of an old brewery close to the center of Moscow. So the decorations of the game are authentic.

Game creators didn’t have to spend much money on it. It is a real cool and wet cellar with brick walls, old loos, tubes and all this stuff. They installed a bath full of «blood» to add some spice and that’s it. To be honest such interiors create right mood for the game and dive you into it, but unfortunately there was a hole to the meeting room in one of the quest-rooms. So when we were ransacking this room we heard some talks and it was a real comeback to reality. 

We didn’t pass this game just because of our stupidity. We forgot something important for the game in one of the rooms (the cellar is big). All six team members just forgot about it.

http://phobia.ru/40/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500 .

Our time — 50 minutes. Our team — 4 people. Dexterity task — no. Technology — 9. Complicity — 7. Overall impression — 8.

Game is suitable for English speaking people. 

I don’t like esoteric themes and plots that’s why after this game I didn’t feel very excited. But still the game is very interesting. Decoration is nice and witchy. The mood is also created by sounds. The most impressive are special witch installations. I haven’t seen any similar tricks in any other quests. Everything worked properly without fails.

Photo from phobia.ru

I think that the very first task of the game is the most unclear. After it the game became a little bit easier and more interesting, the tasks started to go on and on logically.

This game is a must if decorations and mood are important for you. If you like theatricality and wow-effects. There are no dexterity tasks and logical or mathematical ones.

Tha game is not so difficult, but still we needed some hints. By the way I think that it is good enough as a first game.

http://phobia.ru/17/ Number of players — from 2 to 4. Price — from 2500 to 4500 ₽. Our time — 49 minutes. Our team — 4 people. Dexterity task — yes. Technology — 7. Complicity — 8. Overall impression — 9.

Game is suitable for English speaking people.  Car service is our very first game. And we had great emotions. Lots of people consider Car service to be uninteresting (лучше boring, коряво звучит неинтересный на англ) but I can't agree with it. There are also some reviews saying that this game is too complicated. I think it because of specific theme of the game. To pass it you should repair and start the engine. I'm not a sexist but it may be less interesting for some girls than to some boys. Decorations are good enough for a service but clean and comics-like. Car is also real, painted in matt pink.

Photo from phobia.ru

The quest seemed not so easy. We needed several hints during the game. And not all the tricky moments could be easily passed even with my current experience. Some tasks could be solved in parallel so every team member would have something to do. At the end, when we solved all the puzzles we didn't notice that the door had opened, so we went on searching. It was funny. During our game all the elements of the quest worked perfectly. In my opinion the game is a bit difficult for the very first playing. But it’s perfect as second or third game.

Once I went to room escape game and I found it so exciting that I played 24 games in 4 months in 4 countries and 6 cities. From time to time people ask for my advice about some room escape game or to give them my personal rating of games or something like this. Every time I have to recall the games I played, range them in my mind and write some descriptions. So I decided to systematize my experiences in this blog. Anyway I always wanted to have one but could never think of a good topic. 

One interesting point. I Russia such games are called «quests» or «offline quests» or «quest in reality», so don't be surprised :-) I’ll try to make my reviews short and as informative as possible and of course to avoid any possible spoilers. And I’ll make a new post for every game. May be I’ll even make a rating sometimes but now I have no idea what it could be. And an important disclaimer. My review is my personal opinion. Sometimes it depends on the moon phase, sometimes on the mood and on the millions of other factors. That’s why a game I liked may seem boring for you and vice versa. By the way I tried to invent some evaluation scores:

Time. Obviously it’s my passing time. If we failed the game, it will be marked as 60+.

Dexterity tasks. I think it’s an important criteria because it may be not interesting to through a ball to a glass instead of solving puzzles.

Technology. There are games with many complicated installations and games with keys and locks only. I’ll give 1 point to games with just keys and locks. But this 1-point rating should not be considered as negative. Games with locks and keys may be rather exciting and on the other hand there is always a risk that something goes wrong with technologic puzzle and spoil you all fun. From 1 to 10.

Complexity. Absolutely subjective personal evaluation. Doesn’t depend on time of passing. From 1 to 10.

Overall impression. Also a subjective personal evaluation. Doesn’t depend on complexity, decoration or passing. Highest points go to games after which I felt personal wow-effect. From 1 to 10.