The folks here got us in and out quickly. I especially appreciate their flashing flip-dot clip-on sign to indicate employee name. It was a nice personal touch.

I continue to be a non-fan of their “If you don’t finish a room, we won’t show the rest of it to you” policy.

I’ve done a couple of Exit Edmonton’s rooms and find that the staff is always welcoming and friendly. I also like that the gamemaster sticks around after they’ve given you a hint to make sure you use it properly. I agree with Paulie regarding Exit’s policy of not walking you through the completion of the room. Sure, it could be a way to motivate people to return and re-attempt the room… but what’s the point knowing that if you fail again you still can’t see the full room.

The puzzles ranged from ambiguous to obvious.

They were baked into the environment so you have to discern which ones were puzzles and which ones were merely props. The room would benefit from having tighter connections between clues and puzzles to avoid confusion.

With some escape rooms you walk in and can immediately see exactly what puzzles you’ll be working with. Not the case with Catacombs. You definitely need to work to uncover what you can use to further your progress in each part of the room. I think there was a nice mix of puzzle types, some standard locks and some cryptic puzzles which required a fair amount of manipulation/decoding.

This room was tiny but made clever use of the space. What it lacked in wiggle room it more than made up for in atmosphere with the strategic placements of decor and apparatus.

Paulie said it perfectly. Yes, the rooms were much smaller than what I’ve become used to, but Exit used that to their advantage to make players really feel like they’ve broken in a cult’s secret lair. The décor became more ominous as you made your way through the rooms as well, definitely a nice way to build up player suspense.

Appropriately dark with just the right amount of spook and surprises, the room expertly used candles, skulls, bones, dusty books, along with a mishmash of cult-ish symbols.

What? You mean I wasn’t breaking into a secret cult’s lair? The creepy maze of connecting rooms was all fake? Had me fooled.

Advertised as an initiation, the room takes advantage of the theme and makes you feel like a cult inductee. I half-expected a human sacrifice at the end of our journey.

ISABEL

I totally dug the whole cult theme. I’ve done other rooms where the plot involves a break in, gaining information, getting out before you’re caught etc, but the whole cult theme adds a nice touch of suspense. Décor, lighting, and storyline complemented the theme nicely as well, which further added to how enjoyable the room was.

This room gets a #gold for being one of EXIT Edmonton’s better rooms. With a rare theme and expert use of small space, Catacombs introduces a spooky atmosphere that remains constant until the end.

I give this room a #platinum. Catacombs does a great job of making you feel like you’ve infiltrated an area that was not meant for the general public. The sense of urgency to get what you need and GTFO before you’re caught constantly looms over you. I still look over my shoulder to this day..