Omescape : The Red Admiral

	Upper Unit 1187 Kennedy Rd Scarborough, ON M1P 2L2
	60 Minutes
	4-8 players
	$28.20 per person – student/social media discount
	Unlimited hints
	Omescape
	647 800 8038

           

Hello everyone, I'm finally back! Talk about slacking. I promise there will be a lot more room reviews coming soon (yes, I have done A LOT during this blog mia). Before I start this review, I just want to thank everyone for the views and support! I can't believe there are actually so many people reading these reviews! Alright room addicts let's begin!

Pre-Room Experience:  If you haven't read my Omescape series, please go ahead and read those first! Our pre-room experience with Omescape has always been a pleasant experience. Although their Scarborough location lobby is a lot quieter than their Markham location, there are still board games around for you to play! So we learned our lesson from last time and waited a bit before we tried out their newest room and compared to "Shut Down" there were no tech failures!

Room Quality:  *SPOILER AHEAD*  Let's be real when does Omescape ever disappoint?! I would say for their new location each room has gotten better and better! I'm not exactly sure how to put this into words without spoiling too much, but lets just say "WOW". One thing I love about these rooms designed by Omescape is how their rooms expand. The tech was VERY IMPRESSIVE in this room (then again when are they ever not lol). Ok, I'm going to spill the beans - there are lasers in this room!! Not going to go into details with that but I'm sure it's enough to get you wanting to play this room. The theme for this room is set place during the cold war era. Although, in comparison to Castle Loma's Station M this room was not as "old" looking. I wouldn't say that killed the theme as Omescape still did a very good job in designing it. I guess it just wasn't AS "authentic".  Regardless with that being said there are so many aspects in this room that connected very well with it's theme.

Puzzle Design:  Where do I even begin? I would say for this room there are a lot of abstract thinking and a lot of thinking outside of the box. Puzzles were unique and very different from what you would experience in a regular escape facility. Lockboxes were almost non-existent in this room, so if you are a fan of those you won't be seeing it in this room. Puzzles all connected to one another and although you needed to finish one puzzle to get to another, each puzzle was fun and entertaining. TEAMWORK is the key to this room. I love how Omescape made that the key factor to almost all their rooms, but especially to this room. Without wanting to spoil too much, this was probably the only room that gave me the suspense of wanting to finish a certain puzzle. The quality of each puzzle was also very well designed. With all this being said this room was a much more advanced room. I would say groups that have never experienced room escapes before might be lost, but for us we had a blast! I would say don't enter this room thinking it's another escape room, puzzles are much more advanced, much more high tech and much more fun than anything! TRUST.

Overall:  Impressive like usual. The wow factor of Omescape is always there. I personally feel like the quality of Omescape rooms only get better and The Red Admiral has proven so. With a group of 5 people, I thought the size was perfect but even with the maximum group size (8) I wouldn't think this room will be too crowded. It was definitely spacious and no hovering over one puzzle. However, like I mentioned above, I wouldn't recommend this room for beginners as it was a bit challenging and a lot of puzzles were more advance. It wasn't impossible, but for beginners you can easily get confused on what o do. If you're an addict like us, 2 words: High Tech and Lasers! LOL

Happy Escaping!

 Omescape : Shut Down

	Upper Unit 1187 Kennedy Rd Scarborough, ON M1P 2L2
	60 Minutes
	4-8 players
	$28.20 per person – student/social media discount
	Unlimited hints
	Omescape
	647 800 8038

           

Hello everyone, I'm back! Sorry for slacking off these few days and I know some of you were anticipating the review for the new Omescape room. So here we go - the newest and latest room from Omescape Scarborough!

Pre-Room Experience:  Being a huge fan of Omescape, we decided to try out their new room the week it was launched. About an hour before our room I received a called from them saying one of the pieces was broken and it would take around 45mins to put it back together.  We already pulled into their parking lot so I said let's talk about it when we get in. Basically, one of the tech pieces was broken and had to be replaced so one of the staff had to go over to the Markham location to get it. Our room was at 10:30pm and we were told they might not be able to let us in until ~11:00pm. Half of us had work the next day and because we lived a bit further North, this was bad news. I was quite disappointed how they didn't offer us anything to make us feel a bit better, even though they knew we were a huge fan of theirs. Luckily they were able to fix the room around 10:45 so it wasn't too long of a wait.

Room Quality:  Yep, it was super impressive like always. With this room we got split into two groups. I can't speak much of the other room but for the room I was in, my first impression was quickly "wow". I realized the one thing I don't like about these room splitting is that we never get the full experience. For example, their Joker room when I asked my team about the other room they didn't really like it as it was just a room with all the information. The overall concept of this room was really impressive though. Definitely on the higher end of the rating and connects with the theme VERY well.

Puzzle Design:  Alright on to the puzzle design. This is where I thought some aspects had a downfall. As we were split into two groups after spending around 15 minutes solving our puzzle me and my teammate were left confused on what to do next. That's when their staff buzz in and said we were done everything and was just waiting for the other side now. My teammate and I were just talking and it eventually got boring - major downfall as there was nothing in our room left to keep us entertained. There was also nothing in our room that can help the other team either. After we finally rejoined each other the rest of the experience was entertaining until the last part. Before we get into that aspect, I have to give credit to their new puzzle though. I don't want to give it away too much, but this wasn't your typical room. When I say this, it's not just lockboxes or cool magnets you place to open other doors. There were computers involved and other cool tech! Alright moving on to the last puzzle. This is where it got frustrating. We were pretty certain on how to decode the last puzzle and have tried multiple times, but it didn't work. We tried other method but also didn't work. We actually spent a good 20 minutes on their last puzzle. Finally time was up and their staff came in to ask us what we got. We told him and it was right, so we tried it but nothing happened. So apparently the puzzle is "sensitive" and we had to press them softly. It was quick frustrating as we had it right the very first time but because of the strength we wasted 20 minutes trying to figure it out - sigh. Finally I would say the puzzles definitely weren't impossible in this room. Everything was very straightforward.

Overall:  Despite the small fallacies of this room, overall the team and I had a fun time. I would say this was probably the first Omescape room to have so many failing pieces, but maybe that's the consequence of going to a new room in the first week. I wouldn't say it affected us so much though - it was just time consuming I guess. I think the difficulty of this room is similar to Project Sphere from Markham. It also has a very similar theme - I would say this is an upgraded version of Project Sphere. Other than that I would still recommend this room to people as the tech in this room was very impressive.

Happy Escaping!

 Omescape : Virus Outbreak - The Final Hours

	Upper Unit 1187 Kennedy Rd Scarborough, ON M1P 2L2
	60 Minutes
	3-7 players
	$28.20 per person – student/social media discount
	Unlimited hints
	Omescape
	647 800 8038

           

Bringing the Omescape series to their Scarborough location! Today I will be reviewing their first room, Virus Outbreak - The Final Hours. If you want to know more then continue reading!

Pre-Room Experience:  I wouldn't say this location is super far from their Markham location. It wasn't hard to find as well. However, the parking lot did seem much smaller and the whole place itself seemed rather small from the outside. Once you enter it's a whole different story tho. The facility is so spacious! If you've been to the Markham location, you would know how loud and busy it can get. Their Scarborough location is completely different. There's no bubble tea stand and no board game (well there are but very limited unlike their Markham location). It was definitely much quieter and way less busy. Omescape Scarborough also has something called Epic Runner, which is inspired by the Korean variety show Running Man. You're basically running around playing intense tag (team and I still need to try this out). Staff of the new Omescape were also very friendly, they have their $3 discount when you check into facebook, just like Omescape Markham.

Room Quality:  Being a big fan of Omescape Markham, my team and I came to new Omescape with a high expectation (like always lol). The theme was very nicely made. I realized after playing so many rooms, I love the concept of when you're first entered into a small room but it expands out to much more. Omescape does this a lot with their rooms and it really makes me fall in love with it. The props were once again very nicely put together. If you have been to their other rooms or read my previous reviews you would know their use of tech are absolutely incredible. No different for this room, every piece of the props fit very well with the theme. There was definitely a point in this room that caught my attention (a good one)! Without wanting to spoil too much, lets just say it's something very different and I have yet to see in any other escape rooms.

Puzzle Design:  The puzzles weren't impossible, but with that being said it was challenging. For some reason this room in particular seemed to give off the never ending puzzle vibe. Every time you think you're about done something else pops up. Was it dragged out? - No. There's many escape facility that have way too many puzzles in one room and it just gets very exhausting but we didn't feel that for this room. Puzzles were very nicely connected to the theme. One thing I noticed about Omescape is that they focus their puzzle through different props rather than lockboxes. It's very interesting to see how they put together their puzzles because its not your typical - press a few numbers and something opens - kind of room. Their puzzles are very well created and will definitely keep you entertained throughout the game.

Overall:  I will add a small bonus for the creativity of the concept of the room (you will know once you play it). Overall, Omescape Scarborough in my opinion did live up to their Markham location glory. Definitely worth a visit if you're a fan of Omescape because their room only stepped up the game. However, in my opinion Kingdom of Cats and Joker's Asylum are still my current top favourites from Omescape.

Happy Escaping!

 MAYZE : The Truth of Osaka High 

	2210 Markham Rd #3, Scarborough, ON M1B 5V6
	60 Minutes
	4-6 players
	$29.99 + Student/FB discounts
	Unlimited hints
	Mayze
	416-291-5552

       

Being to so many escape rooms, The Truth of Osaka High is by far one of my top 3 favourites. The team and I spontaneously made our visit to Mayze one night when we were all craving an escape adventure. Mayze is a relatively new company that's located in Scarborough. Although it is a bit of a drive there, we still decided to go and try this place out.  From what I remember our experience with Scarborough escape companies were all hit or miss, so we didn't know what to expect.

 Pre-Room Experience:  The facility wasn't as hard to find in comparison to some of the places we've been to. Once we walked in, you can tell that they are a newly opened escape company. The lobby was spacious enough and even had some board games for you to play while waiting. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. 

Room Quality: Usually when we do an escape adventure, I always do my fair share of research on the theme of the rooms. However, going into this room I read nothing about the theme nor did any research on the rating. Not knowing what to expect we enter a room that turns out to be a horror theme (of course). The room quality was excellent! Once entering the room you can quickly feel the vibe of the room and how terrifying it was. The props that were used really gave off the illusion that we were sucked into a horror movie. The music added a touch to the whole experience making it twice as scary. The best part of this room was the use of space and design. There were many dead corners in this room making you unsure if you would want to move forward or not. One room in particular was one of the most well designed room that I've experienced. The whole design and atmosphere left 2 players and myself screaming and shouting on the ground! 

Puzzle Design: In all honesty, I was not able to focus much on the puzzles because half the time I was freaking out about other stuff around the room. Nonetheless, the puzzles were still great. Some were challenging only because most of the players in our group were too scared to do anything leaving only 3 players to do the puzzles. However, the puzzles were quite linear and didn't leave us wondering what the next step was. I would say some puzzles were more difficult than others, but nothing to the point of impossible. There were no lock boxes so if you are a fan of those you won't be able to find that in this room. 

Overall: The theme and room quality was so well put together! If you are into horror theme rooms, this room is definitely worth it. I always believed part of your escape experience is based on the group of people you go with. This room was so fun because I had players with me that were completely terrified which made it so hilarious. I also thought this room in particular had a lot more to see than other escape rooms. Every time you think you're about done there were some more surprises. Great experience at this company!  

Happy Escaping!