Hi everyone
In November-December 2024, I headed off on a trip to Europe
to play as many escape rooms as we could possibly fit in both Athens (for one
week) and then all over Spain (over the following two weeks). With me on this
trip was my fellow-escape room enthusiast (and some would say
rhythmically-challenged), Aaron. We also played a number of rooms with Aaron’s
friend Selina who joined us in Spain.
I had heard wonderful things about rooms in Athens and Spain
(and quite honestly, we picked Athens and Spain because of anywhere in the
world, they hold the largest number of top TERPECA rooms). I did however have a
genuine concern about the scarier rooms (particularly in Athens), as I had
heard from other owners in Europe that the horror rooms in Athens and Spain
involve multiple actors running at you, touching you and all kinds of ‘fun’. I
was particularly concerned because we were going to play most of the rooms as a
team of 2, which I thought would be much scarier than in a team of 4. I was
right…..but more on that later.
We flew into Athens early in the morning and after some food
and caffeine, the first escape rooms business on our trip was The Paradox
Project. They have 3 rooms, which we played over 3 different days on our trip
(but I will review all 3 together in this blog post).
Paradox Project boasts (as far as I am aware), the longest escape rooms in the
world. I had always been intrigued by really long escape rooms and what they
would be like. They sound great right? The ability to play rooms for hours in a
row. I am no stranger to playing a lot of rooms in a single day (with our
current record being 13 rooms in a 24 hour period). However, the Paradox
Project rooms vary between 180 minutes and 200 minutes. Yeah, that’s between 3
hours and 3 hours and 20 mins per room!
Dimitri, the owner, was a great host. One of the biggest
issues we found in booking rooms in Athens (and to a lesser extent Spain) is
that so many escape rooms are only open in the afternoon and evening.
Helpfully, there were a few owners who let us play rooms during the day
(including Paradox Project).
Paradox Project is well-regarded in the ER enthusiast world,
with many Europeans describing their rooms as the best puzzle rooms in the
world. Here is what we thought of each of the 3 rooms at Paradox Project:
The Mansion – Room 322
The Mansion was their oldest room. There wasn’t really much
in terms of set design – the room’s theme was an old mansion and we played the
room in an old multi-storey building in Athens. Similarly, the props were very simple
(somewhere between a Gen 1 and a Gen 2 room).
The highlight of the room though was the puzzles. Whilst
some were simple hide and seek puzzles, there were others that were more
intricate, including some that were multi-part puzzles. There was a little more
tech towards the back end of the experience, but overall I would describe it as
relatively simplistic from a design and theming perspective. There was also a
little wear and tear (although that did not detract from our experience). The
experience was long, particularly after 30+ hours of travel, but I didn’t feel
too tired by the end of the experience.
The Music Academy – Room 329
The Music Academy is the newest room at The Paradox Project.
I could see a significant difference compared with The Mansion. There were many
elements of The Music Academy that I liked. I agree with other enthusiasts that
the strongest element of Paradox Project’s rooms are the puzzles. There was a
really nice variety of puzzles. Some of my favourite puzzles were those that
required a really keen eye for detail, as well as others that were
multi-layered. When I think back about this room, my main memory is the sheer
scale of the rooms that we traversed. I think the backstory was also pretty
strong and made sense. There was some nice misdirection and a nice character
interaction as well. There was one particular puzzle that I did not like (I
think it is not intuitive and that it let down what was otherwise a strong
experience).
The Bookstore – Room 338
This was our favourite room at Paradox Project. I also
thought it was their most challenging room. Again, the sheer scale of the
experience was amazing (I have lost count of how many spaces we travelled through).
We had to scratch our head a number of times with some of the puzzles, but we
got there in the end. The variety of puzzles was enormous and I 100% get why
puzzle lovers enjoy this room so much. Whilst we found the puzzles challenging
(particularly as a team of only 2), we had a lot of fun and we took our time to
enjoy the experience. That being said, The Bookstore is their longest room (and
certainly the longest room we had ever played) at around 3 hours and 20 minutes.
We needed every bit of that time to escape and we needed a few hints along the
way. But this was definitely my favourite of their rooms.
Overall thoughts
Paradox Project is revered by many escape room enthusiasts,
particularly those based in Europe. I think it especially stands out in Athens,
where to be quite honest, I did not find the quality of puzzles to be very
strong (especially compared to Australia and to the phenomenal rooms in The
Netherlands and Belgium, for example). Escape rooms in Athens (and many parts
of Spain) are more geared at the horror market. We played many of the scarier
rooms and in those experiences, the puzzles take a backseat to the jump scares.
So I think for that reason Paradox Academy’s rooms stand out in Athens.
That being said, I think The Bookstore is a fantastic escape
room – great puzzles, great theming, great storyline and its sheer scale. And I
think it deserves its TERPECA spot (#57 at the time of posting this review). Being
honest though (as I always try to be on this blog), I think all of Paradox
Project’s rooms would benefit from some editing and refining. I think they are
too long (and I don’t think their length is necessary, particularly if they
were streamlined).
Which brings me to my final point, which relates to the duration of each of their rooms. I love escape rooms and before I played their rooms, I thought nothing could be better than a really long escape room. But having played all 3 of their rooms, I can confirm that I do not think players can focus and remain fully engaged for more than about 2 hours. Whilst Paradox Project offers players a short interval, this was still not enough for me to remain engaged. I enjoy playing many rooms in a single day, but I think the difference is that when playing many 60 or 90 minute rooms in a day, players have a chance in between rooms to have a mental break, debrief about the last room, get some caffeine and then, importantly, be challenged by a completely new theme and storyline.
Also, there were some puzzles in the Paradox Project rooms that do not
perfectly fit the theme or the backstory and I sincerely think they could be
removed to make way for a more streamlined 2 hour experience. I honestly think
players would enjoy the shorter experience.
Where: 93 Harokopou & El. Venizelou (Theseos) and
All Saints 92
Kallithea, 17676, Attica
Duration: 180-200
minutes
TERPECA: Bookstore #57
in 2024 (previously #2)
Music
Academy #100 in 2024 (previously #12)
Mansion
(previously #70)
Themes: 3
themes
Overall Rating: The
Bookstore was the stand out
More details: https://paradoxproject.gr/
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