We were defeated, guys.

We were locked in a room for an hour, and were unable to escape. That’s not the say we weren’t close. Hell, we were literally a puzzle away from finishing…but alas, the clock buzzed, and we were doomed. But that’s OK, because less than hour later, we DID manage to escape from a second room in the same place.

That all happened at Eskape Rooms, a great little escape room location located in Irvine, CA.

Unlike some of the room’s we’ve reviewed in the past, neither of Eskape Room’s two story lines are horror-related. Both are more science fiction than anything else, but still manage to pull off a great theme.

The first one we tackled was Operation Dream State, in which the FBI have finally captured notorious foe William Lee Woods, who was wanted for heinous acts of terrorism. During his capture, the FBI found evidence of his next attack, and now it was up to us to figure it all out.

While the room starts off as your average, everyday conference room, players will find themselves seeing just what the name of the room is all about if they can accomplish all their tasks in time.

Considered the more difficult of the two rooms, Operation Dream State offered some great, non-linear puzzles, so everyone was able to work on something at once. However, closer to the end, we all got tripped up on one puzzle, causing our time to click down, and our brains to wrack. Fortunately, we were able to accomplish it (with a hint or two), but our time diminished so much that we had to work quickly to figure out what came next. As I said, at the end of it, we were one puzzle away from making it out alive, but alas, we were unable to do so.

What I liked about Operation Dream State was that there were a few of the same types of puzzles that show up in almost all escape rooms, but with a new twist added to it to make it a little more difficult. Also, my strongest suit is not math-based puzzles (nor was it my group’s), so we had a difficult time with most of those (and that is what caused us to fail at the end). However, give more time, we would have figured it out no problem. The twist at the end of the “conference room” was also a pretty great reveal, and added a whole other element of fun to the game. While the set design may not be on-par with other rooms, it still looked fantastic, especially in the later portion of the game.

After a brief break, we began the second room, Professor White. Meant as an easier room, it tells the story of your team trying to investigate the disappearance of the titular character, who has been working on a top-secret, government project that just so happens to be a time machine.

Sometimes, when an escape room location has more than one room, some of the same types of puzzles are repeated, making it easier for folks to figure out what to do. That is not the case here; I found Professor White to be full of brand-new stuff, which was refreshing to see.

Much like the other room, it was non-linear, so a few of us could work on different things at the same time. However, we did run into the same problem again, where we got as far as we could, and then got stuck on a math problem again. Thankfully, this one was tackled in due time, causing us to carry on, and see the “twist” of this room as well.

Though the first half was fun, I think it really excelled in the back half, adding some unique, new puzzles into the mix, and a bit of humor for one in particular (note to self: read all directions first). We managed to accomplish the room, with 20 minutes to spare, and feel better about our crushing defeat from earlier.

What I really liked about both rooms is that they had a little bit of something for everyone to do. Logic puzzles your thing? There are a few. Better at math ones? Plenty of those you have to conquer. Sherlock Holmes deduction skills need to be tested? You’re in for a treat. As a group, we went in knowing our strong and weak points, so it was helpful to have everyone branch off and still work together to accomplish our goal.

If you ARE stuck, however, both rooms have a computer screen, which doubles as both the timer and the hint system. You can ask for a hint at any time, and your game guide will type out a hint or nudge to help move you along. There is also a white board and markers in both rooms, so you can keep track of things and figure them out. There was a point in Operation Dream State that we would have benefited from both of our dry erase markers working (as we needed one for math and one for another white-board based puzzle), but we had to wait because one of them was dead. If anything, that was the only downside to the experience, but it was a very minor point.

Don’t let the office park fool you: Eskape Rooms did a great job of turning an office suite into a clever little escape venue. If you’re looking for another great challenge for you mind, you should definitely check it out. Also, big thanks to Chris and Daniel for making the experience and allowing us to come check it out!

For more information, and to book a slot, visit them online at https://www.eskaperooms.com