This was our first time at Breakout in Calgary, after having done their Edmonton locations. Our game master was very friendly, who came promptly when we asked for hints and took pictures of us after we escaped. He also so gave us a few extra minutes at the end to finish the room because we were so close!

The people were prompt and friendly – very solid overall. I really like how Breakout has fun ways to showcase the leaderboards though (even at the Edmonton locations)!

Ben already outlined all the positive things about this room in his review. The puzzles are the most valuable component of the room. I always appreciate it when rooms have a clear starting point, and this is no different. At first, the progression is linear, which means one thing led to another, so we had momentum early on. Maybe it was a good day for us, but even during the part where we had to divide and conquer, our momentum did not stop.

Like Ben said, solving puzzles and having that “Aha!” moment is key to enjoying a room. There is no shortage of that here, because the puzzles are difficult enough that you feel satisfied when you solve each of them. The puzzles did not necessarily reinvent the wheel in terms of concept. However, the execution was precise and elegant.

There are SO many satisfying puzzles in this room. I loved hearing the click of an opened drawer and that aha feeling you get after doing a tougher puzzle! You’ll need to think broadly and deeply about these puzzles, making sure that you’re using all the information you have available as well as making sure you’ve got done all the steps for each of your lock combinations.

Some of the puzzles here can be tricky because you’ll think you’re finished when you’ve really got a few more steps to do. The mechanics behind the puzzles aren’t incredibly unique, but the execution was very clean.One thing about this room is that one of your team members will need to know how to play chess to complete one of the puzzles. If there are no chess players in your group though, I’m sure that an employee would be willing to give you a hint for that puzzle.

Rooms set in a British-style common room do tend to be boring, as Ben said. Here, you have your usual dusty rug, wooden cases with books made of parchment pages, black-and-white portraits of old people, all illuminated by sepia lighting. These were all expected.

What’s unexpected though was the amount of hidden nuggets in the room, and, similar to Dick Dickerson, almost everything became a part of something.

There was also a cool portion to this room that was a stark contrast to the main portion, particularly because of the use of technology and the overall creepy vibe.

I think it’s really easy to have a boring-looking room when you’re going for something that looks like a study/library, but Final Request definitely avoided that by having a room that was (mostly) full of (mostly) relevant décor that created a convincing environment.

I felt an ominous vibe as soon as I entered the room, thanks to the overall look of the room. It was like being on the set of Downton Abbey and the characters have all gone missing. The ominous feeling escalated during the second half of the room, because of the striking centrepiece prop that they added. Besides the look, the puzzles also kept us engaged the whole way through.

Personally, the puzzles are what kept me really engaged in this room, but the puzzles backed up by the relaxing music, the slightly eccentric look, and the slowly unfolding story made for a highly immersive experience that made the 45 minutes just fly right by!

The theme for this room is fulfilling a friend’s final request. Here, the backstory unfolds as you go through each stage of the room. That means they give you a piece of paper with a date and a snippet of the story all throughout the 45 minutes. This is usually one of my biggest pet peeves when doing escape rooms, especially because the stories themselves only serve as a distraction and don’t really relate to your current tasks. However, here, they do a good job using those story snippets to build that main storyline.

I love that all you’re given for this room is you need to fulfil a friend’s final request! This way, the room does the plot setting and the characterization, which makes playing through this room much more interactive because you’re not only discovering more clues as you open your lock boxes, but you’re unravelling the story behind the room. I also really appreciated the twist – it wasn’t as cliché as I thought it would be!

Hands down, a #diamond. There is a lot to do and the puzzles are more on the difficult side. The look, theme, and puzzles all worked together beautifully to make for a very well-designed room.

I give this room a #diamond! This was our first room at Breakout Calgary. We put off going for a while because the rooms here are on a 45-minute time limit instead of typical 1 hour for Edmonton rooms but I definitely regret not coming here sooner – this is easily one of the most polished rooms in Calgary!