All 20 rooms that we played in Athens, Greece in 2024

Hi everyone

Here is the long list of all 20 rooms that we played in Athens in November/December 2024. I have put together detailed reviews of those rooms that I really enjoyed (and short comments only for those I didn’t enjoy quite so much).

Here is what I thought:

The Mansion (The Paradox Project) – Room 322

This was a decent (and very long) puzzle room, but it shows its age compared to more modern rooms. See my more detailed review of all 3 of The Paradox Project Rooms here.

The Sanatorium (Lockhill) - Room 323

We were a little underwhelmed with The Sanatorium. You can see my more detailed review of The Sanatorium here.

Woman in Black (Coven Escape) – Room 324

This was a beautifully-designed by very scary experience (which we loved). You can see my more detailed review of Woman in Black here.

Don’t Take a Breath (Verone) – Room 325

This is probably the most unique escape room we played on our trip. You can see my detailed review of Don’t Take a Breath here.

M’ama (Suspense) – Room 326

I was disappointed by this room, which is currently TERPECA 101 (but was formerly TERPECA 43). There were some half decent puzzles and what many Athenians described as ‘cinematics’ (which I would describe sort of like cut scenes in the experience where at certain moments, there are things to see that can be visually/audibly impressive). However, this was one of the clearest examples I can recall in our trip of an escape room that is only about 25% focused on puzzles and the remaining 80% is all about jump scares and INCREDIBLY loud music/noise. I covered my ears at times and had a headache by the end. You can check out M'ama here (although I read online that it will be closing shortly). 

Lethal Decision 2: Hell Awaits (EscapeClue) – Room 327

This room is currently TERPECA 64 (and formerly TERPECA 21). The theming and quality of the build in this room is very impressive. The pure scale of the room was enormous, as were the cinematics. There were also some pretty tricky puzzles, including some courage tests and a large number of interactions with actors. We enjoyed this room, although our GM/actor at the start told us to run if we saw any creatures for fear of ‘dying’ from the game, which we took to mean we might end the experience if caught – this didn’t turn out to be correct. The ending to this one was incredibly impressive.You can check out Lethal Decision 2 here.

Sherlock Maze 2 (Sherlocked Homes) - Room 328

This was one of my least favourite Athens rooms - I really did not enjoy it. I had heard some enthusiasts say wonderful things, but for me it was a miss. The theming was reasonably well done and there was one ‘woven’ puzzle that was truly unique and a standout, but there were just so many things I did not like about this room. There were puzzle elements in places that made no sense (at all), there were some puzzle elements that were very imprecise and there were a number of logic jumps. In fairness, I was tired when we played this room (it was after midnight at the end of a long day of rooms), so maybe I did not come at it with the right level of energy. But after about the third or fourth issue I had with the room, I lost faith in the room and its design. It did not help that the owner/GM was entirely closed off to any of the feedback that we provided. This room is TERPECA 146 but I think it should rank much lower. You can check out Sherlock Maze 2 here (although I wouldn't).

The Music Academy (The Paradox Project) – Room 329

There was a really broad variety of challenging puzzles in this room. See my more detailed review of all 3 of The Paradox Project Rooms here.

Hide and Seek (Brainiac) – Room 330

This was, and still is, one of my favourite rooms in the world. It is a perfect example of how a real escape room can also be a (very) scary room. It is TERPECA 22 but I think should be a top 10 TERPECA room. You can see my detailed review here.

Stigmata (Dark Maze) – Room 331

This room was a little older than some of the more modern Athens rooms, but I thought it was done really well and was scary as hell. You can see my detailed review of Stigmata here.

The Sculptor (Freaky Minds Escape) – Room 332

This room did some things really well, but there were safety concerns and some pretty rough treatment from the actors. You can see my detailed review here.

Creepy Store (Escapepolis) – Room 333

Unfortunately this was another room that I just did not enjoy. The quality of the theming and props were high, but there were a number of issues with the room. The storyline was weak. The game relied at certain times on the GM watching what players had done, so when the GM missed one aspect of what we had thrown in a cauldron, the game didn’t trigger the next step (which was pretty confusing). By far the most annoying part was that the GM tried to put on a character voice, but he spoke like the microphone was embedded in the back of his throat. His English was fine, but we just couldn’t understand anything. Given this was the main way to interact, it was incredibly frustrating. We had planned initially to return the following night to play 2 more rooms, but after our experience with the Creepy Store, we cancelled the other bookings. you can check out Escapepolis here.

Truth or Dare (Clock Escape Rooms) – Room 334

This was one of the better quality escape rooms that we played in Athens, based purely on puzzle design. You can see my detailed review here.

Chapel and Catacombs (Lockhill) – Room 335

This was a magical (and incredibly scary) room that currently sits at the 8^th place on TERPECA (and for good reason). You can see my detailed review here.

Prometheus (Clock Escape Rooms) – Room 336

This was a straight-forward spaceship-themed room. There were some nice puzzles, but overall it was pretty simple. We had fun but it was more of an average room, which you can check out here.

Rebellion (Clock Escape Rooms) – Room 337

This was a fun room, mainly because of the actor interactions. The theming was nicely done and the puzzles were all pretty interesting and quite varied. I would definitely recommend this room, which you can check out here.

The Bookstore (The Paradox Project) – Room 338

This was our favourite room at The Paradox Project. See my more detailed review of all 3 of The Paradox Project Rooms here.

Wanted: Dead or Alive (No Exit) – Room 339

This was probably the most light-hearted, joyful rooms that we played on the trip. You can see my detailed review here.

Omerta (Last Wish) – Room 340

Wowsers I really did not like this room. It had been recommended to us by local GMs and I sincerely wish we had gone somewhere else that evening. This room was a shambles – so many aspects just did not fit the space (at all). There were puzzles that were illogically linked together, each space did not link to the previous space and it felt like the designers had a bunch of puzzle ideas which they haphazardly slapped together into this escape room. This experience was a perfect example of props being shoe-horned into puzzle elements where they just made no sense. I don't understand how this room was ever voted in the top 300 TERPECA rooms. It was a hard pass from me. In the unlikely event that you would like to look further into this room, you can do so here.

Death Row (No Exit) – Room 341

This was a great room. I really enjoyed the mix of puzzles and crawling around. My playing partner had less fun – he had been handcuffed at the start and due to broken handcuffs, remained handcuffed for about the first 15 minutes. We still had fun (and really liked the ending). This room debuted at 56 on TERPECA – it’s clearly showing its age now, but it is still a really solid and fun room.You can check it out here.

Final thoughts on Athens rooms

Overall, I would describe the rooms in Athens as being most-suited to players that love horror and jump scares above all other aspects of a more traditional escape room. While there are some more traditional puzzle rooms (like Truth or Dare and the rooms at The Paradox Project), the vast majority of rooms in Athens are incredibly loud (you really have to play them to know just how loud I am talking about) with jump scare after jump scare. There are a select few though that are fantastic (like Hide and Seek, Chapel and Catacombs and Verone) that blend great puzzles, enormous rooms scale and great actor interactions), which is what puts those rooms ahead of the pack (and which I am sure is why they all top 25 TERPECA rooms). 

Also, a tip when booking Athens rooms. Confusingly, many of the Athens rooms use a central booking website (and some don't even have their own individual website). The central website is called "Escape All" - you can check it out here. I also found it helpful to contact rooms directly when I had questions about the rooms and available time slots, or the scare factor, etc. Many of them did not respond to my emails, but they were pretty responsive on Facebook Messenger.