Review of Mission Escape - Vampire Castle Theme

My group (of 4 adults) checked out Mission Escape Sydney back in September, not too long after they had opened.  We had all previously tried out Sydney Escape Hunt and were excited to see what other escape room outfits had to offer in Sydney.

Firstly, they can be a little tricky to find (although we had no problems).  You enter through glass doors on Pitt Street into a small foyer area between a hairdresser and a Vodafone store.  You then take the lifts up to level 3.


The atmosphere there is cool.  When you arrive, you sit down in a small waiting area where you are given instructions.  We did the Vampire Escape theme.

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about Mission Escape Sydney:

• to be honest, I had some initial concerns (based primarily on their website) that language barriers might have been an issue for us.  However I can confirm that I worried for nothing and this was all fine;
• the atmosphere was really cool.  To be fair, this place was not run nearly as "professionally" as Escape Hunt Sydney in that they had much less staff members than other outfits (but I found this a plus).  We had a lot of fun.  We were blindfolded and had to walk from the waiting room into the hunt room - which was both silly and fun (and a nice way to start the room);
• the quality of the puzzles was far better and more high tech than I had envisaged.  In fact, we spent too much time thinking about the puzzle mechanisms (and how they worked) rather than just getting on with the puzzles; 
• we had a heap of fun even though we didn't escape in time.  What I really liked was that the owners let you keep playing beyond the clock and give you hints so that everyone can see how to escape the room; and
• the theme was incredibly well done.  I can't overstate this enough.  It was eerie, at times scary and the high tech puzzles made the over all theming 100% perfect.  

Now, for what could have been improved:

• to be honest, not much could be improved here;
• the only item we had issues with was one puzzle, which has a delay before it activates.  This was confusing for us because we had it all correct, but when we didn't get an immediate reaction, we assumed we were wrong and tried different things.  After some time, we realised that we had it right all along, but there was about a 10 to 15 second delay before the puzzle reacted.  This was frustrating, because it was the very last puzzle and if we had not taken so much time on this one, we would have easily escaped in time; and
• the only other negative here is the price, which is the highest of all escape rooms in Sydney. The price of the Dr M theme in particular is very steep (at $45 a head).  It is a little hard to justify $90 a couple for a 70 minute escape.  I think if their price on each room dropped by $5 to $10 per person, they would increase their patronage.

This outfit was my favourite escape room in Sydney, hands down (at least of those that I have tried as at 18 December 2014).  I've already booked in for their next room, Dr M in January and can't wait!

Their tripadvisor reviews also rank them as the best escape room in Sydney, which was completely unsurprising to me.  

If you think that you might only ever do one escape room, then I would choose either this one or ParaPark (although I bet that if you try Mission Escape, you will get the bug and will come back too!)  

Where:                   Suite 301-303 Pitt Street, Sydney

Duration:               60 to 70 mins (depending on theme)

Themes:                 Currently 2 (Dr M and Vampire Castle)

Cost:                       $35-45 each (4 players)

Overall rating:      4.5 out of 5 stars

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

Review of Mission Escape - Dr. M theme

My group (of 4 adults) checked out Mission Escape Sydney back in September, not too long after they had opened and we did their Vampire Castle theme.  We then returned in January 2015 to do their longer Dr. M theme.  It was our eighth escape room in Sydney and it was one that I had been looking forward to for months.  It did not disappoint (and I think it is the best escape room in Sydney)!

Firstly, they can be a little tricky to find (although we had no problems).  You enter through glass doors on Pitt Street into a small foyer area between a hairdresser and a Vodafone store.  You then take the lifts up to level 3.

The atmosphere there is cool.  When you arrive, you sit down in a small waiting area where you are given instructions and a few puzzles to solve to get you warmed up for the main event.  

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about Mission Escape Sydney's Dr. M theme:

• the atmosphere was really cool.  They only had 3 staff members when we were there (unlike other outfits like Escape Hunt Sydney which have 8 staff members), but this seemed to be perfect (mainly because the staff were attentive, particularly while we were in the room and asked for a hint).  We had a lot of fun.  We were blindfolded and had to walk from the waiting room into the hunt room - which was both silly and fun (and a really nice way to start the room);
• having already done their Vampire Castle room, I knew that the quality of the puzzles was going to be very high tech.  They did not disappoint.  The puzzles were all perfectly designed and perfectly executed - they all worked without any delay and all completely matched the theme.  All of the puzzles and mechanisms were bespoke and home-made, which I absolutely love;
• you are allowed 80 minutes to escape the Dr. M room.  As far as I am aware, this is the longest escape room in Sydney.  We had a heap of fun and managed to escape with about 19 minutes left on the clock.  We then spent another 5 minutes walking back through Dr.M again, mesmerised by the quality (and quantity) of puzzles that we had managed to solve; and
• the theme was incredibly well done.  I can't overstate this enough.  It was eerie, at times scary and the high tech puzzles made the over all theming 100% perfect.  

Now, for what could have been improved:  honestly, nothing.

I accept that they are expensive at $45 per person, but the escape is 80 minutes long, which is 20 minutes (or one third) longer than most rooms and 30 minutes (or more than one half) longer than some rooms in Sydney.  The money is worth it.  Dr.M is honestly the best escape room in all of Sydney (of those that I have tried so far as at January 2015).

I wouldn't recommend this room to first timers - it's difficult and I think much better suited to experienced players.  I would suggest trying other easier places first before trying to tackle either Vampire Castle or Dr. M. 

Where:                   Suite 301-303 Pitt Street, Sydney

Duration:               80 mins

Themes:                 Currently 2 (Dr. M and Vampire Castle)

Cost:                      $45 each (4 players)

Overall rating:      5 out of 5 stars

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

Mission Sydney - Intruders Review (Sydney)

Hi all

In October 2023, my usual team of 4 returned to Mission Sydney to check out their latest room, Intruders.  They kindly invited us to return some months before, but it took us that long to sort ourselves out (as this was certainly not a room that we could bring our daughters to).

Intruders was the only Mission Sydney game to date that I hadn’t yet played.  In fact, our second ever game way back in September 2014 was Mission Sydney's Vampire Castle.  You can see my review of that room,  here (and the room is still available to play today).

Some 226 rooms later, Intruders was our 228^th escape room. The summary of the room from their website is as follows:

A hospital outside a town was mysteriously abandoned a few years ago and the local council has ordered the hospital to be demolished in the early hours of this morning. There have been reports of alarms sounding at night from inside the hospital and the initial investigation team disappeared for an unknown reason.  You have heard that a YouTube director who investigates paranormal activities has organised an urban exploration before the hospital is demolished. For your own personal reasons, you asked if you could join as part of his film crew.  You only have 90 minutes to sneak into the hospital to discover why the hospital was abandoned before the demolition crew arrives.

Here is what I thought of Intruders (apologies if it’s a case of TLDR…):

·        Intruders was genuinely fantastic.  Before we started, our game master said that she really hoped that we would like the room, but noted that it was different to a typical escape room. And she was right – Intruders is not your typical escape room.  There are probably only half a dozen traditional style escape room puzzles in Intruders, but that’s not the main drawcard here;

·        Intruders is described as “escape room theatre”, which is exactly what it is.  Some of my favourite experiences over the past 9 years have been immersive theatre experiences set in an escape room (or adjacent) world, such as Monroe & Associates (a superb spy-themed experience set in a caravan) and Art Heist (a brilliant art heist-themed room set in an art gallery).  But these were temporary, pop-up offerings only. Whilst a few permanent escape rooms have included a game master NPC actor inside the space, I wouldn’t describe any of those as true immersive theatre;

·        I am genuinely happy to confirm that with Intruders, Sydney-siders have a permanent immersive theatre offering.  The experience begins standing outside of an abandoned hospital. You are part of a YouTube crew looking to get some footage of some paranormal activities going on inside the hospital;

·        our YouTube director was “George”, a young up and coming director with high hopes for his future career (which hadn’t quite taken off yet).  George’s performance throughout was brilliant – he ensured that all 4 of us were engaged and involved, pushed us all at different times out of our comfort zone, cracked jokes, made weird music references and gave us nudges in the right direction where needed (without spoiling anything at all).  Immersive theatre experiences like these are only as good as the actor that players get to interact with and George was as good as they come;

·        the theming throughout this experience was of the incredibly high quality that we have come to expect from Mission Sydney rooms.  Despite being in an escape room on George Street, we felt like we were really inching our way through an abandoned hospital in the middle of nowhere.  Lighting and cool strobe effects, music, and other audio were used to really ramp up the level of immersion;

·        a question I suspect many of you are asking is well, just how scary is Intruders?  At the time of writing this review, I have played probably 10 or so scary rooms around the country (and some in LA).  Usually in scary rooms I am the member of my team who is pushed into dark corridors or cupboards, etc because it doesn’t usually phase me to any great extent.  I enjoy jump scares too, so they don’t normally bother me too much.  However, I was f*%&ing horrified in Intruders;

·        after having thought about it for almost a week after playing, I think there are a number of elements that resulted in me being petrified.  Intruders f*&@s with your mind – it’s not just a matter of there being 100 jump scares, but it’s more of an art of selecting when to scare you.  The room design is also incredibly clever – by assigning players different roles, players are then forced to perform certain tasks that they need to do (so there is no avoiding getting involved).  As far as room flow goes, there are also clever moments where players are funnelled into certain spaces which require them to be brave.  You would also think that having George with you the whole time might make you feel a little safer, but you would be wrong;

·        I have never been so scared in an escape room, period. I have also never sworn at an actor as much as I did in Intruders – George was great, but I lost count of the things I called him by the end of the experience ;-)

·        as with all immersive experiences I have played before, the greatest fun for me is derived from making actors break character.  I consider it my personal challenge.  I am pleased to report that on at least 2 occasions, I secured a decent laugh from George :-)

Intruders is pretty expensive compared to some other rooms, but please take my word for it when I say it is 100% worth the money.  Not only is it a 90 minute experience, part of the fee includes paying for multiple live actors.  If you don't want to take my word for it - check out Mission Sydney's reviews (particularly of Intruders) on TripAdvisor - so many 5 star reviews and for good reason.

This room, as well as Mission Sydney's various other rooms, shows just how far they have come over the past 9 years since their Vampire Castle room. Despite being well known for their high tech and visually spectacular rooms, Mission Sydney do not just make the same type of room – their rooms are really quite different and varied.  This is certainly the case with Intruders, given that it is much more of an immersive theatre experience than it is an escape room.  It was so good, I wish I could go back and play it again (but honestIy, I’m too f(#*ing scared to).

After the experience, my daughters asked my wife what we thought of Intruders.  Her response was “your father almost pooped his pants”.  Truer words were never uttered.

Where:                        Mission Sydney (George St)

Duration:                    90 minutes

Themes:                      8

Cost:                           $87 per person (assuming team of 4)

Overall Rating:           Brilliantly immersive and horrifyingly scary

More details:              https://www.missionsydney.com/

 

Updated Summary of all ten escape rooms I have been to in Sydney (as at February 2015)

I have now been to ten different escape rooms in Sydney, so I thought now would be a good time for me to give a quick summary of my thoughts on each room.   See the table below.  

It’s really difficult to compare all 10 rooms and rank them (as they are so different – it really is like comparing apples and oranges).  However:

• for advanced players, my favourite rooms are PanIQ Room’s Supercell 117, Mission Escape’s Dr M and Parapark Sydney’s 9A Gateway; and
• for beginners, my favourite rooms are Parapark Sydney’s 9A Gateway and ClockLocked’s Dexter.

I'd be really interested in receiving any feedback or comments that you have on any of the Sydney escape rooms (good or bad and whether or not they appear in this list). 

Here's the table - I hope it is useful!

Place	Website	Room Theme	Comments
PanIQ Room (The Rocks)	Click here.	Supercell 117	This room was fantastic!  It has a great mix of high-tech and low-tech puzzles, the theming and props are flawless and the room design is the best I have seen.  I think this room is a little tricky for first-timers (that’s not to say that you wouldn’t enjoy it, but you might not get out in time).  Personally, I’d do a couple of other simple rooms before tackling this one.  It’s suited to kids and groups of up to say 6 people.  See my full review here.
Mission Escape (Sydney CBD)	Click here.	Dr M	I LOVED this room!  It is the most high-tech room in Sydney – the puzzles are largely home-made and very original and the theming is excellent.  It’s a little pricey (up to $45 per person) but definitely worth it.  They are ranked the number one escape room in Sydney on TripAdvisor for good reason.  The room is too scary for kids (probably best suited to say 12yo+).  I would try other rooms before tackling this one (as it was pretty tricky – I doubt most first-timers would escape in time).  See my full review here.
ParaPark Sydney (Macquarie Park)	Click here.	9A Gateway	This is another fantastic room.  The quality of the puzzles and theming were excellent (and many of the puzzles are home-made and very original).  Of all of the rooms, I think this is a really good option if you are a first timer or an advanced player (both would enjoy this room).  It can be a little scary for young kids, so I would suggest not bringing kids who are under say 10yo here.  Check out this room – you will love it.  Macquarie Park is only 15 minutes from the city – it’s definitely worth the trip! See my full review here.
Mission Escape (Sydney CBD)	Click here.	Vampire Castle	This is a great room.  It was the first high-tech room we had done and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for several days after.  It was my first taste of a great escape room in Sydney.  We didn’t escape (we missed it by a couple of minutes), but I was well and truly hooked after this room. As with Dr M, the puzzles are all high tech and the theming and props are excellent.  Again, it’s a little scary for kids under 12yo. I think this is a good room for beginners and advanced players alike.  See my full review here.
Escapism (King Street Wharf)	Click here.	Forensic	We all very much enjoyed the Forensic room, but jeez it was difficult (my group says it wasn’t that hard, but they are wrong – trust me, it’s very hard).  The game master told us that less than 5% of all groups escape this room! There wasn’t much ‘hunt and seek’ in this room but instead it was all mind-bending puzzles.  Once we figured out a few puzzles, we got on a roll and we managed to escape with about 6 minutes left on the clock (much to the surprise of our game master). They also only give you 50 minutes to escape (rather than the standard 60 minutes), which makes it that much harder.  The theming is great and the quality of the puzzles is excellent. This room is definitely not for first-timers .  Don’t do this room unless you have first tried at least a handful of other rooms.  See my full review here.
Clock Locked (Ultimo)	Click here.	Dexter	We all really enjoyed Dexter.  The puzzles were all very original, the theming was great and there was a really great atmosphere in the room.  We got stuck on the ‘hunt and seek’ element, which my group always falls down on. Personally, I was a little disappointed with one aspect of this room (but I can’t say anything more about it here without spoiling the room).  That being said, none of the other 3 people in my group were disappointed by this aspect. The room is too scary for kids and it is not big enough for groups bigger than 4 people. I would recommend either room for first timers and advanced players alike (and they are often on Groupon and Scoopon at 50% off).  See my full review here.
Clock Locked (Ultimo)	Click here.	Da Vinci	We all really enjoyed Da Vinci, for the most part.  Our only disappointment with this room was that one particular puzzle has an error in it (the issue related to a difference of opinion as to how letters and numbers are written (this seemed to have been a cultural issue as I think European letters and numerals are written differently than here)).  I think this issue might have been rectified now.  Their theming is great and the puzzles are all fun.  The room is too scary for kids and too small for corporate groups.  I would recommend either room for first timers and advanced players alike (and they are often on Groupon and Scoopon at 50% off).  I wouldn’t do this room with a group of more than 5 people maximum.  See my full review here.
Escape Hunt Sydney (Sydney CBD)	Click here.	Murder in the Pub	I didn’t love this room, despite it being the first escape room that we did in Sydney.  They had some faults in their puzzles, we were given a bad “hint” by the game master and one of the chains came away in our hands (even though we hadn’t yet found a key).  That being said, we went on their opening weekend and hopefully some of the problems and issues we faced have been fixed by now.  However, their biggest issue is theming, which is amongst the worst we have seen in Sydney.    Their rooms are aimed at corporate groups (as they have 6 rooms in total (ie 3 different rooms each duplicated).  These rooms are suited to first timers, corporate groups and those with kids (but not advanced players or those who appreciate fine theming and a fully immersive experience). See my full review here.
The Mystery Puzzle (Sydney CBD)	Click here.	Pirate Adventure	My group had fun at the Pirate Adventure, but it’s a simple room and it isn’t suited to advanced players. We escaped in 39 minutes and were told that this was the average escape time for all groups (which confirms my view that the room is too easy).  Pirate Adventure is a big room but it isn’t filled well.  There is too much “hunt and seek” and not enough puzzles.  Most disappointing is that the theming and props are very poor.  They don’t make sense in the space – it is as though the owners have picked up cheap things at an op shop just to fill the space.  I would however say that these rooms are suited to kids, first timers and corporate groups.  They are often on Groupon/Scoopon at 50% off.  Steer clear of this place if you have done an escape room before (because I suspect you will find it far too easy and boring like we did).  And definitely don’t bother doing both rooms.  See my full review here.
The Mystery Puzzle (Sydney CBD)	Click here.	Casino Revenge Thriller	I really didn’t enjoy this room at all. It was an ok room, but again the theming and props were very poor and it was just too easy – there weren’t enough puzzles to fill an hour worth of escaping.  The props made no sense at all – lots of items were there just to fill the space.  There were errors in the puzzles too. But what we found most disappointing about this room was that it was incredibly similar to their other room, Pirate Adventure (which we had already done).  Almost all of the puzzles and the various mechanisms were identical.  We escaped in 26 minutes and left bored and very underwhelmed.  Personally, in light of the lazy design between the 2 rooms, I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.   However, like the Pirate Adventure room, this is geared at first-timers, kids and corporate groups.   And with a groupon or scoopon, I’m sure many people would enjoy this room. See my full review here.

Escape Club (aka Room Escape) at Kingsford

Also, although I haven’t yet been there, anecdotally I have been informed that Escape Club (based at Kingsford) is nothing special.  I have read a lot of consistently bad reviews on TripAdvisor.  I also know someone who went there who described it to me as dirty, run down and having poor instructions in some of the puzzles (perhaps due to a translation issue).  This person I know had booked to take his children to the Harry Potter room, but when they arrived they were told that there were lots of broken elements in the Harry Potter room so they instead were given a different room to do.  This left me with no confidence at all about this place, which is why I haven’t been there yet.

They often have Scoopons/Groupons for some of their rooms (but not their new rooms).  Although I haven’t been there, I have heard enough bad things about this place that I would not recommend it to anyone.  Read the reviews on TripAdvisor and form your own view though.