Upon receiving The Escape Artist’s email update about the opening of their brand new outlet, Enchanted Manor in Joo Chiat, my husband and I jumped on the chance to check it out. We love a good escape room and out of the many we’ve tried in Singapore, The Escape Artist is one of the few names that has consistently impressed. What I love most is that their puzzles are intelligent and coherent, with connections that are neither far-fetched nor arbitrary. On top of that, having been to many of their one-off themed events held at various shopping malls and cultural sites, I am utterly convinced of their puzzle creators’ skill, versatility and attention to detail in customizing puzzles to fit the brief given to them.
The only room open during our visit was Pangaea, an interactive adventure game that involved board game elements, role-play characters with specific abilities and heavy facilitation by a game master. The whole thing was a pretty new concept to us as we were used to being thrown into a room with a countdown timer to try and figure things out by ourselves. It was an entirely different experience, like playing a game with multiple possible endings that depended on the decisions we made.
As we have come to expect, the puzzles there were well-designed, logical and illuminating (once we figured them out!). I would consider these puzzles to be of a medium level of difficulty. There were a number of carnival-style, kid-friendly games (probably to cater to families with kids) instead of the usual code-deciphering, lock-breaking sort, but we found them rather entertaining nonetheless. No scary elements at all, which is perfect for me. If you’re planning on wearing a dress or skirt, chuck that notion aside and be prepared for some mild physical and flexibility demands towards the end of the experience!
After we completed the game, we were ushered to a nice, chill lounge space to spend the next 30min playing board games or console games. This came with our booking as part of the package. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a wide selection of games to offer. Not sure if they’re planning to flesh out this space a bit more as it did feel quite sparse and underdeveloped.
On our way out, we got to walk down a cool and trippy corridor with lights morphing from one psychedelic neon colour to the next. At the end of the corridor was a small mirrored space decked out in fairy lights (who doesn’t love fairy lights, heh) where we spent a good amount of time taking photos.
Before leaving, we had a chat with the friendly owner about his plans moving forward. He shared that he was in the process of developing an escape game mobile app (it’s been a while since our visit so the app is already out here!), as well as working on innovative business ideas given the covid-19 situation. We’re really looking forward to see what The Escape Artist has in store and to continue supporting the good work they do (:
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. I guess if you come here expecting a full-fledged escape room chock-full of puzzles, you might be fairly disappointed like I was. However, if you’re looking for a novel experience combining logic puzzles, role-playing and board games facilitated by a game master, this room just might fit the bill. It does make for a fun family activity, especially for those with kids. One thing I do appreciate is the fact that I can always count on The Escape Artist’s puzzles to be of solid quality and intellect, something I can’t always assume with other escape room vendors.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 