This would be the first room of Escape Capers’ Season Two rooms I would’ve done. Despite having three unsuccessful attempts at escaping previously at this location, it was worth going back for more. This time around the group dynamic was a little different from the past times as it was everyone else’s first time here. Despite my no-wins record here, and everyone else’s first time, this didn’t stop everyone else for choosing the hardest of the difficulties for the room before I arrived. This would be the first time I’ve seen a room with multiple difficulties that can be selected at the beginning. The puzzles are varied and also has a lot of “you don’t see that normally in an escape room” sort of things going on that can only be used if they have a host/actor in the room with you to keep you from doing something too stupid. Which, luckily, these guys do! The narrative is pretty enjoyable as you play through everything, and our host fit in character to the scenario with her Big Comfy Couch-ish persona. There’s a lot of conventional locks, but also a lot of unconventional problem solving tasks that are only in play after the host does something, usually in response to you doing something first. What was different for me with this room, as previously I’ve always touted Escape Capers for being a low-to-no tech establishment, whereas in this case they seemed to have put in a few things (not that it needed it, but was nice to see). It has definitely become my favourite of all their rooms I’ve done, and after three unsuccessful attempts, I’ve finally got a win under my belt, even if it was because of the 65 min time limit with only a couple mins to spare!
This was my first room at Escape Capers. I’m not sure why it took us so long to go here because this has become my favorite room in Calgary. The hosted experience just changes the whole gameplay of the room. You’re never taken out of the immersion of the room with someone coming in and giving you a hint or any of the other ways hints are usually given. I really found that having an actor in the room adds to the immersion of the stories and overall feel of the room. It’s something different that everyone needs to experience. The room we did was the Wesley Edison and the Menagerie of Mythical Creatures. At the beginning I think we were a bit timid of the experience so we didn’t catch onto what our in room host was getting us to do. Once we figured it out we started cruising through the puzzles with the help of our in-room actor. The thing I like about Escape Capers is the room isn’t linear so we all can group off and do something instead of waiting for one task to be completed and carried on.
One thing that sets Escape Capers apart from the majority of the escape rooms in the city is there is an actor in the room with you. First you’re asked to close our eyes and are walked into the starting area of the room, this doesn’t always work well but for this it helped not spoil anything else in the room. We knew our game was starting (and we could open our eyes) when the actor said “hello”. One of the first things I noticed was there was a lot going on in the room; If you spend too long on one puzzle, it’s possible to run out of time. The actor made the experience really enjoyable, and absolutely added value to the room. I would definitely recommend this room.
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