THE DARKEST MANOR

Our gamemaster was eager–maybe a bit too eager. He started with the usual “Have you done any escape rooms before?” We answered with a yes but he proceeded with the longest spiel of the rules and how escape rooms work.

They got us in and out quickly and took the time to answer our questions at the end. There was an instance where someone had to come in to manually activate something for us because there was a piece of tech that wasn’t working, but they were able to spot it from their cameras without us having to call them in. Smooth!

The puzzles were a good mix of simple and straightforward, as well as complex and multi-layered. They leaned heavily on low-tech locks, true to Breakout Calgary’s form. There was enough creativity here for both rookies and pros.

The main highlight was a puzzle referencing Stranger Things. The execution was clever and the payoff was satisfying.

Overall, I think the puzzles here were a bit simple. There were a few that I wish had a few more steps to solve so that our group could have more to do since it felt very straightforward.

This is Breakout Calgary’s second residence-themed room (after Final Request). It’s set in a suburban apartment complete with the usual furniture staples.

It was cute enough. For a horror-themed room though, the room mostly stayed cute and didn’t transform into something more scary.

This room went for an older, vintage feeling. It was decorated accordingly, with some older furniture pieces and some old school wallpaper. A standout for me in this room was the lighting – I really liked how they played with it!

In terms of scares, this was on the milder end of the spectrum. There were jumps and screams from us, but that scared feeling did not linger throughout the room. We would let out a loud “AH!” sporadically but the room did not sustain its spooky atmosphere.

I loved how the tech was the driving force of this room – this definitely made it more immersive! Unfortunately, with tech comes tech problems, and although someone had to come in to fix our issue (and scared me in the process), they did it quickly and smoothly.

This was supposed to be a heist in a haunted mansion, but the story got a bit convoluted with the information you find in the room.

Who were the people missing? Why were there random body parts strewn across the room? Who was warning us to get out?

I’m very confused about this room’s theme. I felt like it was trying to do too much, so instead of having one strong and cohesive theme, it felt disjointed and undeveloped. I definitely think it would benefit from a bit of streamlining from the story perspective.

We got out in record time of 30 minutes (out of one hour) which led to a “Oh wow, that’s it?” feeling. While there were certainly jumps, this room could have upped the notch in terms of the scary factor because Breakout Calgary is capable of it. This room gets a #gold for being a good (but mild) horror offering.

I would give this room a #gold. There’s not a lot of scary rooms in Calgary, and while this one isn’t the best, I think it’s still a solid offering that’s worth a visit if you’re up for something spooky.