Pleasantview | 5916 104 St NW, Edmonton | 780-761-2489 | escapecity.ca
Escape City leans into the escape room spook factor with some seriously scary breakouts. If you have a fear of axe murderers, be sure to avoid The Woodsman. The story of this scenario follows you and your closest friends’ trek through the woods, where a crazed lunatic cannibal captures you. Now you must try your best to escape before he decides it’s time for dinner.
Escape City also has other good scares with rooms like Keller’s Magic Emporium, which leads into the vibe of an eerie circus magic show, and Frank’s Revenge, which is about an ancient curse and a family inheritance. But in our opinion, the scariest option isn’t distant relatives or axe murderers — it’s an all-white laboratory bent on the most inhumane of experimentation, as seen in Neurological.
Of course, Escape City has plenty of options for rooms that won’t scare your socks off, like The Hunt For Arms Magee and the nautical-themed room, Mutiny.
Downtown | City Centre Mall 102A Ave NW #326, Edmonton | 780-901-5888 | escapehour.ca
The rooms at Escape Hour are a lot less scary but equally immersive, almost like you are the star of your own video game or movie adventure. The highlight of this place has to be the escape room inspired by The Matrix, which lets players re-live all of the iconic moments from the sci-fi classic and try to divine their ways through the computer world. It’s quite pleasing to handle iconic props like the blue or red pill, and if you’ve seen the movie, it’s a major asset in solving these puzzles.
Also, have you ever wanted to rob a bank? How hard could it be, right? In our opinion, this is the peak escape room theme. With movies like Ocean’s 11 and Heat, it’s hard to say I’ve never fantasized about a bit of grand larceny. And now you can get your hands dirty with a bit of (fake) stolen cash with the Bank Heist escape room.
Downtown | 2nd Floor 10018 105 St, Edmonton | 780-540-4836 | letsgtfo.ca
GTFO has its share of classic horror-themed experiences like the insane asylum-themed room Visiting Hour but also less scary endeavours like The Heist (another bank robbery one). It also has some truly creative ideas for their rooms, like the very fantastical Dungeon of Drakar, where in true D&D fashion, you get to save a dragon princess from her dungeon imprisonment. Or, skip the fantasy and go into orbit with Europa Colony 4836, where your team has just landed on one of Jupiter’s more hospitable moons but needs to find a way out of your damaged spacecraft.
Also, we’ve all seen spy movies and action movies like The Return of The Pink Panther, Austin Powers or Get Smart, where the hero must manoeuvre through an elaborate hallway of lasers, lest set off the alarms or worse, be turned to mince meat. If you’ve ever fancied yourself wanting to try your hand at this, GTFO has got you with its Bomb Squad escape room.
West Sheffield Industrial | 16604 109 Ave NW, Edmonton | 780-444-4416 | breakoutedmonton.com
The ocean makes a lot of people nervous. So do bombs. Combine the two, and you sum up the plot for B.O.M.B., an escape room where your ship’s captain has forsaken you and trapped you inside the ship, and if you cannot escape in time, your demise will be met in explosive ocean wreckage.
Additionally, there is Secret Lab 2.0. Breakout’s Secret Lab escape room was so popular that folks demanded they make a second one with new puzzles to test their skills at. In this scenario, Dr. Vonn Doom has trapped you inside his laboratory, where he plans to make you the test subjects for a new biological weapon which he plans to utilize in his sinister conquests. Break out, avoid a plague, and maybe even save the world?
Lastly, at Breakout, there is the Dojo Of Triumph which is a historical escape room which takes players back to Japan’s Edo Period and puts them through serious tests of wit and character. Prove your worth, and learn about an exceptional time and place in history with this samurai adventure.
