Xcape Sydney - Review of Ching Chiu Palace [CLOSED]

Hi there

Ching Chiu Palace was the fifth and final room we tried at Xcape during a single day when we tried 5 of their rooms back to back in December 2017.

The room summary for Ching Chiu Palace is as follows, taken from Xcape's website:

Hidden deep within the holy mountains of Qingqiu, hides the ancient tombs of those who ruled over the Qingqiu palace over more than 5000 years ago in ancient China. Partake in the role of a tomb raider to unravel the secrets within the ancient tombs. Be wary though as the ghosts of those who failed before you shall stalk your every movement. Raid the tomb before others get to it first, a race against time. Only those who dare will reap the profits and escape triumphant.

We were a 3 person team.  Ching Chiu Palace was our 70th room in Australia (and our 57th room in Sydney). 

So, here's what I liked about Ching Chiu Palace at Xcape:

• again, like most of their rooms, the production value of Ching Chiu Palace was very high.  Some parts of this room are like a movie set;

• there are some aspects of this room that we had never seen in an escape room before;

• as with all of their other rooms, there is a lot of tech in this room (and it all suits the theme pretty well);

• there is one particular puzzle in this room that from a design point of view, I really liked.  It was truly novel and very well done.

Unfortunately, there were a a lot of things in Xcape's Magic Painting room that I did not enjoy:

• there are some real safety concerns in this room.  There is one particular section that is really cool but my friend nearly lost a finger.  There are also sections of concrete (both above your head and below your knees) that need to be covered in something soft to protect players' heads/knees.  And as a general comment, there are sections of Ching Chiu Palace that I have concerns about from an evacuation point of view - in the event of a fire, I'm not sure how players could easily (and quickly) escape;

• a pretty major concern I have with this room is that I think it is really only suited to Chinese players (rather than English players).  English players are provided with a scroll which is supposed to help players with deciphering chinese characters throughout the room.  However, many of the Chinese characters in the room are "old" or traditional characters, which are not exactly the same as the new Chinese characters in the scroll.  In my view, this made it impossible to decipher.  It wasn't helped by the fact that there are props with Chinese characters on them that are very poorly lit;

• we had a number of technical issues in this room.  There were 3 different puzzles that did not work as they were intended to work (and we needed the game master to enter the room to help us).  Part of the problem related to the Chinese characters, but other issues were technical issues.  I know we were beta testing this room, but there was one puzzle that contained a pretty major error (which the owner said he would get fixed);

• this room is very expensive at up to $60pp.  It is also an 80 minute room, but despite having a number of technical issues and other problems deciphering Chinese characters, we still escaped with a lot of time left over.  

Overall, this was my least favourite room at Xcape.  Many puzzles were just frustrating because we couldn't decipher Chinese characters.  Some of the tech was cool but at times pretty illogical.  The production value was high - many aspects were like a movie set, but this wasn't enough to overcome the various other issues.

Where:                   18 Queen Street, Chippendale 

Duration:               80 minutes

Themes:                 6 currently

Cost:                       $50pp (or $60pp on weekends/evenings) (but we played at the kind invitation of Xcape)

Overall Rating:       High tech but only suited to players who can read Chinese characters

More details:          http://www.xcapes.com.au/

Xcape Sydney - Review of Magic Painting [CLOSED]

Hi there

Magic Painting was the fourth room we tried at Xcape during a single day when we tried 5 of their rooms back to back in December 2017.

The room summary for Magic Painting is as follows, taken from Xcape's website:

Returning to your home, the kingdom of mist. You and your group of comrades have raised suspicions as mysterious things have happened since you’ve been away. People are behaving weirdly, a sense of witchery and black energy surround the kingdom and its populace and the sudden disappearance of the King and Queen have raised alarmed bells. Suspicions point to the King’s most loyal henchman who has a love for witchery and black magic. You take on the role as Prince Ryan and now the Kingdom crown is under threat, you seek to reclaim what is rightfully yours and investigate the sudden happenings. But be wary, sometimes those who you trust most will often scheme your downfall.

We were a 3 person team.  Magic Painting was our 69th room in Australia (and our 56th room in Sydney). 

So, here's what I thought of Magic Painting at Xcape:

• this was one of my favourite rooms at Xcape;

• there are some aspects of this room that we had never seen in an escape room before;

• as with all of their other rooms, there is a lot of tech in this room (and it all suits the theme pretty well);

• again, the production quality of the room is very strong.  I think the theming is also pretty strong;

• there is a nice storyline to this room (and there's more I'd like to go into on this, but can't without giving spoilers).

There were a few things in Xcape's Magic Painting room that I think could be improved:

• there are some safety concerns that my team members had with one particular aspect of this room.  I'm not sure whether this would pass a WH&S test to be honest;

• there is one high tech puzzle that is pretty cool, but it is not 100% clear on how you need to solve it.  We eventually figured it out but there was a little bit of a logic jump to get there;

• this is an 80 minute room but we were out in less than half of that time.  I therefore think that this room should either be changed to a 60 minute time limit or about 3 or 4 additional puzzles included to warrant an 80 minute time limit.  Also, at a cost of up to $60pp, this is a very expensive room.

Overall, I think this was my second favourite room at Xcape.

I liked many aspects of the room.  This room would definitely appeal to those players who love high tech rooms.  Xcape's rooms remind me a lot of Mission Sydney's rooms - they are high production value and full of high tech.  I don't think I saw a single padlock in any of their rooms.

At the time of writing this review I have now done 90 rooms.  I have come to enjoy totally immersive rooms with clever puzzles and theming.  I like high tech but equally, I enjoy low tech rooms provided that the theming is there.  I don't think any of the rooms at Xcape are at the same level as several other Sydney rooms when it comes to level of immersion.  However, Magic Painting is one of Xcape's better rooms.

Where:                   18 Queen Street, Chippendale 

Duration:               80 minutes

Themes:                 6 currently

Cost:                       $50pp (or $60pp on weekends/evenings) (but we played at the kind invitation of Xcape)

Overall Rating:       A room suited to those who love high tech.

More details:          http://www.xcapes.com.au/

Xcape Sydney - Review of Casino Royal [CLOSED]

Hi there

Casino Royal was the third room we tried at Xcape during a single day when we tried 5 of their rooms back to back in December 2017.

The room summary for Casino Royal is as follows, taken from Xcape's website:

Does the word prodigy define you?  Do you seek to challenge the house against all odds?  Have a skill set unmatched by others?  If that is you, then prepare yourself for the ultimate casino royal challenge.  Armed with a full arsenal of state of the art equipment, you will take on the rol of a master in trickery and deception in a quest to unveil the secret within the Casino Royal and obtain the legendary heart of Cirilla.  

We were a 3 person team.  Casino Royal requires 4 players, so again Max from Xcape came along with us for the ride (a silent fourth player).  Casino Royal was our 68th room in Australia (and our 55th room in Sydney). 

So, here's what I thought of Casino Royal at Xcape:

• this was a fun room.  Each player takes on a different role as part of the mission to break into the casino and to find and remove the prized necklace.  There were some really fun (and funny) moments, particularly at the beginning of the escape;

• each player has a special "skill" that comes in use at some point during the escape.  Players are equipped with a "smart phone" that is used to provide clues and to use each players' special skill.  I thought this was a really interesting idea (and something that I have not seen done before);

• again, the production quality of the room is quite strong.  I think the theming is not quite at the same level as the other Xcape rooms, but it is still strong;

• there is some well-concealed high tech.  One of the puzzles in particular is quite cool tech that requires all players to work together.  This was my favourite puzzle in the room.

There were a few things in Xcape's Casino Royal room that I think could be improved:

• there was one puzzle that I did not like.  I can't go into too much detail without giving spoilers, but it relates to a dice game.  The instructions didn't make sense and the solution therefore didn't make much sense to us.  In hindsight, we understood the logic behind the puzzle but it was not strong;

• there is another puzzle, which relates to blackjack, which has a number of possible solutions.  I agree with the solution, but it is not the only solution and it does require a little guessing to get there.  We discussed with the owner that by slightly changing the puzzle, this issue could easily be resolved;

• we had one tech issue with this room (where one of the mechanisms didn't work straight away) - but this was brief;

• I think the room is quite expensive at $50 per person on a weekend or evening.  The average price for an escape room in Sydney is around $40 per person (assuming a team of 4 players), so I think $50 is quite steep.  

Overall, I think this is one of Xcape's best 2 rooms.  

Each player having a different role is fun.  The idea of using smart phones for each player to communicate and the use of special player-specific skills is really unique.  There is a nice amount of tech in this room (and it's well concealed).  

I personally don't particularly like casinos as a room theme (it doesn't do much for me and it is probably the least appealing to me of each of the room themes at Xcape).  That being said, I enjoyed myself and had fun in this room.  I think with some tweaks to a couple of puzzles, this could be a solid room.  

Where:                   18 Queen Street, Chippendale 

Duration:               60 minutes

Themes:                 6 currently

Cost:                       $40pp (or $50pp on weekends/evenings) (but we played at the kind invitation of Xcape)

Overall Rating:      A fun room with some nice tech and a different approach

More details:          http://www.xcapes.com.au/

Xcape Sydney - Review of Artificial Intelligence [CLOSED]

Hi there

Artificial Intelligence was the second room we tried at Xcape during a single day when we tried 5 of their rooms back to back in December 2017.

The room summary for Artificial Intelligence is as follows, taken from Xcape's website:

In a world where computers and artificial intelligence have become inseparable parts of our lives, where do we draw the line?  You operate a company specialising in computerised technology, making humanoid robots and programs to replace humanity.  A miscalculation in your company's programming system has allowed the computerised humanoid robots to self develop and defy orders, which leads to chaos beginning with the lockdown of your company building.  Can you and the remaining survivors of your company escape the building and outsmart the program which you built?

My initial thoughts on reading this room summary was that this sounded a lot like the movie I, Robot (and I was right).  

We were a 3 person team.  Artificial Intelligence requires 4 players, so Max from Xcape came along with us for the ride (a silent fourth player).  Artificial Intelligence was our 67th room in Australia (and our 54th room in Sydney). 

So, here's what I thought of Artificial Intelligence at Xcape:

• the production quality of the room is very strong.  The room theme is futuristic and high tech and the props and theming does that theme justice.  Xcape have clearly spent a lot of money on the production value of each room;  

• every puzzle in this room is high tech - there are no padlocks or keyed locks of any kind to be seen.  I often say that many designers use high tech for the sake of high tech (even when it does not suit a theme at all) - however, the tech in this room is well concealed and in any event, perfectly suits the room theme;

• some of the tech in this room is new to Australia (at least as far as I am aware).  It's hard to go into too much detail on the particular puzzles without giving spoilers, but one of the puzzles in particular was really high tech, really fun and I thought perfectly suited this theme - and it just happened to be something I had never before seen in an escape room (note though that my team did not enjoy this puzzle as much as I did - see my comments below in that regard).

There were a few things in Xcape's Artificial Intelligence room that I think need to be improved though:

• there are a couple of puzzles that I think are just too difficult for most players to solve.  One puzzle that comes to mind is set in an elevator at the very start of the escape - the clue was so subtle that we missed it several times and needed help to start.  When we were given the solution, we weren't "wow"ed;

• one puzzle in particular requires, in my view, external knowledge (or at least a very good understanding of binary).  Luckily, one of my team members had that knowledge but I can imagine that teams without that skill would never solve this puzzle.  Another aspect that is a problem with this puzzle is that there is far too much for players to remember (clues are given for a fleeting moment, requiring players to remember a long string of information).  We suggested to the owner that they might like to include a whiteboard and marker for teams, which hopefully they will implement;

• there is another puzzle that requires teams to rely heavily on their memory skills.  I think this puzzle is easier to solve (eventually) than the binary puzzle, but I can see teams having difficulty with this puzzle (and it could easily become a chore).  I personally really quite enjoyed this puzzle, but my team mates did not.  We also had a lot of technical problems with this puzzle, requiring game masters to come in several times to reset the puzzle.  The owner told me that they would fix this though before the rooms are open to the general public;

• there is a puzzle that requires external geography knowledge.  This can be solved by a process of elimination, but external knowledge (albeit reasonably commonly-held external knowledge) is relied on; 

• I do not think that there are enough puzzles in this room for a full 60 minute escape room.  My team of 3 succeeded in significantly less than the allowed 60 minutes, so I think Artificial Intelligence needs at least 2 or 3 more puzzles;

• I think the room is quite expensive at $50 per person on a weekend or evening.  The average price for an escape room in Sydney is around $40 per person (assuming a team of 4 players), so I think $50 is quite steep.  

Artificial Intelligence is a room that is very high tech with a lot of money having gone into the production and set design.  Despite this, the level of immersion is not as high as it could be.  There are also some issues with puzzles that could be improved quite easily by the inclusion of a whiteboard and marker.  Hopefully the technical issues we had during beta testing are resolved now that the rooms are open to the public.

Where:                   18 Queen Street, Chippendale 

Duration:               60 minutes

Themes:                 6 currently

Cost:                       $40pp (or $50pp on weekends/evenings) (but we played at the kind invitation of Xcape)

Overall Rating:      Suited to players favouring high tech over strong, immersive puzzle design

More details:          http://www.xcapes.com.au/

Xcape Sydney - Review of Akame Room [CLOSED]

Hi there

Happy New Year everyone!

I recently learned about a new escape room that is opening up in January (2018) called Xcape.  They invited my team to come and try all of their rooms back to back between Christmas and New Year.  The rooms hadn't opened to the public at that stage, so we were beta testing the rooms for them.  They told us that we were the first English-speaking team to go through the rooms.  We tried 5 of their 6 rooms on the day (their Prison Break room wasn't ready for us).

The first room we tried at Xcape was Akame, which was our 66th room in Australia (and our 53rd room in Sydney). 

Akame is a 30 minute room.  It is unlike any escape room that I have tried before.  So different is it in fact that I wouldn't describe it as an escape room, but more of a jump scare room.  These kind of scary rooms are cropping up in Sydney lately - some have heaps of puzzles and some are more about the jump scares.  The purpose of this particular room is simple - it is aimed at scaring the crap out of you. 

The way it works is that in each room within Akame, you are given 2 minutes and 30 seconds to solve a single puzzle, following which the next door opens.  If you solve the puzzle early, you can move on to the next room earlier than the 2 minutes and 30 seconds time allowance, but if you don't solve the puzzle, the door opens anyway and you move on.  

The backstory to Akame is that you are a supernatural investigator trying to help a young girl (whose father sold her organs on the black market and has since died in this house) to move on to the afterlife.

According to their website, this room involves what is known in the industry as "NPCs", or "non-player characters".  So, picture an escape room employee who chases you through the rooms, jumps out at opportune moments, etc. If any of you have been to Halloween Horror Nights at any of the Universal theme parks in the States, then you'll know what I'm talking about.  It's not as scary as that, but in the same vein.   

Akame is a very large room - I think there are eleven different spaces in total to work your way through.  It's probably one of the largest escape rooms I have been to (and each room is really quite intricately themed).  There were many elements of Akame that I liked - some of the jump scares were very cleverly done (with the use of really nice high tech), there was a variety of puzzles (although we had seen all of the puzzle types before, they were varied throughout the rooms) and the quality of the theming was very strong - they have spent a lot of time and attention on the props.

But is Akame an escape room? No, not really.  About 90% of the room is focused on the jump scares and theming, with the remaining 10% focused on puzzles.  The puzzles aren't overly clear in many instances (and you get to move onto the next room whether or not you solve each puzzle within the 2 minutes and 30 seconds anyway, which means it is easy to give up and wait for the door to unlock).  We only solved about a quarter of the puzzles - some due to our not seeing what was in front of us, but most weren't really our fault.  

I would recommend this room more to those looking for a scary experience, rather than a more traditional escape room.

Where:                   18 Queen Street, Chippendale 

Duration:               30 minutes

Themes:                 6 currently

Cost:                       $23pp (or $33pp on weekends/evenings) (but we played at the kind invitation of Xcape)

Overall Rating:      A very scary room with a heap of jump scares (but not a true escape room)

More details:          http://www.xcapes.com.au/

Scram Escape Rooms - The Doll House Review

Hi all

My usual team of 4 checked out Scram Escape Rooms' second room, The Doll House, in early December 2017.  We had previously been to Scram to try their first room, The Wizard Chambers, back when it opened around Easter 2017.  You can read my separate review of The Wizard Chambers here.

The Doll House at Scram was our 52^nd room in Sydney and our 65^th room in Australia.  Here’s what we liked about The Doll House:

• they have some nice tech in the room - there are a number of electro-magnets used so that when puzzles are solved, things magically open or are revealed;  
• I think they have a simple voice of God hint system (they did with their other room when we were there last time - I don't think we asked for any hints this time though);
•  the start of the room is quite interesting and a little different to most (but not all) escape rooms (sorry for being cryptic but I'm trying to avoid spoilers);
•  they have a dedicated game master watching each players’ every move, which is fantastic;
• there are a couple of well-timed jump scares that added to the dark and scary theming of the room, as well as some gross props ;-)
• after our escape, the game master stepped us through each puzzle in the room, which was a nice touch (particularly when certain puzzles were solved by my team members before I had even seen them);
• it’s really impressive that the owners designed the rooms and all of the puzzles themselves.  This is no easy feat (with more and more escape room companies in Sydney opting to purchase room designs or puzzle elements).  Scram has done a great job on this front;
• they have a great location – they are close to Westfield and the train station, which is really convenient;
• I think this room is of an intermediate difficulty level.  We managed to break the current record - we got out in a little under 40 minutes (and to be honest, we weren't rushing like crazy, so I suspect the record won't last long).  None of the puzzles are impossibly hard – I think this room would suit newer players or players of any experience level who like a scarier theme; 
•  there are some jump scares in this room and it is quite dark, so I wouldn't recommend it for children or immature teens.  However, on their website Scram states that they can make the room child-friendly, so that could be an option for some groups;
•  they have recently increased their pricing to around $38 per person (for a team of 4), but this is about on par with the average cost of an escape room in Sydney.

Even though it is a strong room, I didn't enjoy this room as much as I enjoyed their Wizard Chambers room.  I think this was in part due to the fact that my team are are all Harry Potter fans, so the theme of the other room appealed to us all much more than the theme of The Doll House.  I also think the Wizard Chambers has better room flow, a larger variety of high and low tech puzzles and more interesting puzzles generally.  They had some really novel ideas and puzzle design in The Wizard Chambers, whereas the puzzles in The Doll House were not, at least in my view, as creative.  

And at the risk of sounding like an old fogie, I honestly think that The Doll House is too dark (and I mean that literally rather than figuratively).  I get that they are trying to create a scary atmosphere, but it was too dark to see what we were doing and to differentiate colours (which was necessary in solving some puzzles).  

The Doll House is a blending of an escape room and a jump scare room.  I can see (mature) teens in particular loving this room.  

Where:                   48/2 O’Connell Street, Parramatta

Duration:               60 minutes

Themes:                 2 currently

Cost:                       $38 each (4 players)

Overall Rating:      A "dark" escape room with jump scares - best suited to adults or mature teens

More details:          http://www.scramescaperooms.com.au/

Elude Escape Rooms - Review of Perpetual Motion room

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 Hi all

I learned on a Facebook escape room enthusiasts group that a new escape room had opened up in Galston.  For those who don’t know where the heck Galston is (I confess I hadn’t heard of it either), it’s not far from Dural, which is about 30-40 minutes north west from the CBD.

I got in contact with the owners, Julia and Darren, and they kindly invited my team to come and try out their room.  Julia and Darren are situated on acreage and they are in the process of converting a long row of bricked garages into escape rooms.  They have just the one room open for now, but they have already started construction on rooms 2 and 3.  

Their first room is entitled “Perpetual Motion”.  The room summary from their website is as follows:

A revolutionary breakthrough is set to change the course of history following claims than an engineer has modified a petrol engine to run on water.  Oil industries have publicly ridiculed the concept.  However, following the sudden disappearance of the engineer, the police believe that he was kidnaped to obtain the secret of his invention.  The only chance of saving him is to recover the Capacitor, but time is running out.

This was our 51^st escape room in Sydney and our 64^th escape room in Australia.

Here’s what we really liked about Perpetual Motion:

·         now I will start off by saying that there is a major element to this room that is off the charts, frickin’ awesome.  It is unlike anything that has been done in Australia (to my knowledge) – it is beyond brilliant and brings a smile to my face now just thinking about it;

·         after having done almost 70 rooms at the time of writing this review, I can honestly say that there aren’t too many new rooms that we have tried that have brought something truly new to the escape room market.  I am uber happy to report that Elude have designed a room that is truly unique.  I really am dying to say more but I can’t;

·         when I heard that Elude had made an escape room from their home, my initial thought was that it might be average or less professional than a more traditional escape room (ie a room set in a commercial office building).  I was very wrong – this room is as well-designed and contains puzzles that are as clever and challenging as any of the best escape rooms in the city;

·         the room is very family-friendly – there is nothing scary or dark at all about the room.  The room itself is very large and could accommodate larger teams of maybe 6 or so (although as always, my personal view is that all escape rooms I have tried have been best suited to a team of 4 – this room is no different);

·         I would describe Elude as more of a low-tech experience, but I think low tech really suits this particular room and the spaces within it.  The room flow is really well considered – it’s a non-linear room with points of convergence.  Our team was able to work separately on different puzzles and then come back together for certain key puzzles in the room;

·         in addition to the uber  awesome aspect of the room that I can’t talk about, there were a number of other puzzles in the room that were unlike anything we have seen in other Sydney rooms.  I love seeing new puzzles and new ideas in escape rooms;

·         as always, my measure of a room is how much fun  we had . I am really pleased to report that I truly loved this room. 

Julia and Darren are true escape room enthusiasts.  They have travelled through Europe and have tried about as many rooms as I have tried here, so they bring a large amount of experience and new ideas to the Sydney market.  We spent a lot of time afterwards sitting with Julia and Darren discussing their room and escape rooms generally.

Julia and Darren are currently constructing their second and third rooms which will open next year.  Darren tells me that he has loads of puzzle ideas ready for the next 2 rooms!

I have nothing to report on the negative side at all.  Elude have designed a cracker of a room – it’s unique, cleverly designed, challenging and most important of all, fun.

Where:                   11e Mid Dural Road, Galston, NSW

Duration:               60 minutes

Themes:                 1 (but 2 others currently under construction)

Cost:                       $45pp for a team of 4 (but we played at the kind invitation of the owners)

Overall Rating:       A truly unique and clever room - go and check it out!

More details:          http://www.eludegames.com/