Some people love spooky escape rooms! Others are afraid of all things dark and creepy. At The Escape Effect, we want to ensure everyone has fun. Part of that is making sure that everyone can play an escape room that suits their tastes. If you’re having trouble choosing an escape room to play, or if you just want to know what you’re getting into, this guide is for you.
A Knight To Escape
A Knight To Escape is a 2-hour medieval mystery set in Stonebury Castle. Your team will be separated into two sides at the beginning of the game, with the goal to reunite before the time runs out. One half of your team will be brought into the brightly lit castle courtyard, with portraits and banners decorating the walls. The other half will be thrown (not literally) into the dungeon. That team will be plunged into darkness with only lanterns illuminating the spooky space that’s filled with chains, medieval torture devices, and a desiccated skeleton still hanging from the wall.
Spook Rating: 6/10 on the dungeon side
The courtyard isn’t going to scare you any unless you have an aversion to gargoyles. However, the dungeon is dimly lit and does have a few spooky skeleton props. Overall, there are no jump scares, and it’s just a little ominous.
At Odds With The Gods
At Odds With The Gods is a 90-minute legendary adventure set in an ancient Greek temple. If you conquer the gods’ challenges, you can become immortal (sort of)! As you explore your surroundings, you’ll find puzzle after puzzle scattered throughout the rooms. It’s a fun and tense race against the clock. It’s also very well-lit and open, removing many of the elements that people find creepy. It’s not dark, it’s not claustrophobic, and there aren’t really any uncanny props lying around.
Spook Rating: 0/10
At Odds With The Gods will get your heart racing as the clock winds down, but it’s not sending chills down your spine. The brightly-lit open space is just too warm and inviting. This is not a spooky escape room at all. At most, you might get startled when you realize that 90 minutes goes faster than you thought.
Sherlock Studies
Sherlock Studies is a 75-minute mystery, where you have to find the clues concealed within Sherlock Holmes’ study in order to solve a murder. Evidence and notes are scattered across this quaint Victorian apartment. It’s a candlelit home full of secrets and intrigue, and the low lights and warm colors give it a cozy, not creepy, atmosphere. If not for the fact that you need to solve a murder, you might not want to get up from the comfortable armchair to leave!
Spook Rating: 0/10
Sherlock Studies is a murder mystery, and that can seem a little unsettling, but neither the victim nor the killer are in the room with you. Unless you tend to get nervous by reading about the crime, you won’t find any scares here.
Fright Before Your Eyes
Fright Before Your Eyes is a 90-minute ghost hunt set in an abandoned theater. Piece by piece, you’ll discover the disturbing truth of what happened 100 years ago, and the characters behind the discarded artifacts that remain backstage to this day. You’ll have flashlights to navigate the pitch black surroundings, and a device to communicate with the ghosts, as you uncover who met a mysterious fate at the hands of an evil magician. Ghosts on their own make for a pretty spooky escape room theme, and the darkness and haunted magic props add to the eerie atmosphere.
Spook Rating: 8/10
While it’s more of a campy Ghostbusters-style ghost story, Fright Before Your Eyes is still pretty unsettling and ominous. We don’t use bright lights or loud noises to jumpscare anyone, but it’s definitely a spooky escape room.
Are you ready for a (not so) spooky escape room?
From the dark and spooky to the bright and lively, our escape rooms are a lot of fun! Use the buttons below to call a host or book online today.
