Having now played over 50 games in Paris, I think it’s time I put together a post on my recommendations for the city. It’s worth saying, as with pretty much all large, North-Western-European cities, that it’s expensive to play as a two and even a team of three might seem steep, unless you’re used to major city prices. That said, it’s a beautiful city to wander around, almost all of the games are near the centre and with Eurostar, it’s particularly appealing if you want a quick get away or are trying to avoid plane travel. If you want to see all the articles that I’ve written about games in the city, they’re tagged with the label Paris.
Top escape rooms
If you’re only going to play a small number of games, these are my top suggestions:
Deep Inside: Palais de Horreur and Le Magicien. Two games that can be chained together to create an amazing two hour experience. Recommended for people who like scary experiences, immersion, memorable moments, games that play with the space, actor interaction or long experiences. Not recommended for: children, claustrophobes. Full review here.
Pandora et Associés: Fairytale Adventure. A whimsical fairytale experience which creates beautiful cartoon worlds and big team puzzles. Recommended for people who like solving puzzles together, big bold sets, frantic finishes and families. Full review here.
HintHunt Paris: Secret of the Pirate. A fun pirate story with an amazing set and a real sense of swashbuckling adventure. Recommended for people who like pirate games, beautiful sets, memorable moments. Another great game for families. Full review here.
The Game: Far West. A western story that really takes you on a puzzle-packed journey through a beautifully implemented set. Recommend for people who like a balance of good puzzle and set, a feeling of adventure, excellent customer service, a feeling of agency and a venue with lots of good games. Review here.
Lock Academy: L.A. Confidential and Revolt. Two games full of puzzles, with professional sets and exciting finales. Recommended for people who like frantic finishes, plenty of puzzles and professionally produced sets. Full reviews here.
Other recommended escape rooms
If you’re looking to make a bigger trip of it, there are plenty of good games across Paris but here are the ones that I’d point you at next:
The Game: If you want somewhere that you can play plenty of good games, then look no further than the two The Game venues which are packed full of good experiences (and a couple of weaker ones). Across their two venues, I’d suggest The Metro, The Templar’s Treasure (especially for Assassin’s Creed fans), The Plane, The Space Mission, The Cinema and the Far West. I’ve not played the Earthquake but I expect it to be good too.
One Hour: Another top quality escape room company with multiple games. One Hour games seem to always be packed with challenges that are likely to keep your team busy for most of your time. The Abattoir is a must play if you like scary games and expansive spaces. The Hangover was funny and packed with puzzles and I got to do things that I’ve never done in another escape room… Lost Asylum was an interesting experience and had one of the tensest finishes that I’ve experience although I suspect it’s a marmite game – some teams will probably hate it.
Majestic Escape: I had fun in all three games at this venue but Titanic really felt like it delivered an experience that was very different from other games. The big flaw with the venue is that they tend to be focusing on creating interesting spaces and go lighter on the puzzles.
Non escape room experiences
If you don’t mind straying away from escape rooms, there are a couple of other experiences in Paris that I think are well worth visiting.
The first is the Deveaux Family from Panik Room which sees you sending one teammate at a time into the Deveaux Mansion. The lucky individual is blindfolded while the rest of the team remain up above ground, directing them via a headcam. This isn’t as terrifying a experience as they could have made it, and teammates who go early get less of a scare, so it’s a good option if some of your team like scares and others aren’t so keen.
Border Live Thriller is a 2+ hour event that sees you exploring multiple Parisian locations. Even the kick off of this game, where you’re waiting on a street corner, serves to amp up the tension and that just grows and grows throughout the experience before they leave you in an environment that lets your imagination run wild… (read more here about the game and when to play, if you have flexibility).
Horror/scare enthusiasts
If you’re particularly into horror then your itinerary should be slightly updated. Warning – all of the games below have some form of actor in the game with you.
First off, unsurprisingly, you should definitely play the excellent Deep Inside experience, mentioned above. It absolutely delivers on immersion and scary moments (most of them in the Funhouse) while still including plenty of fun puzzles. Similarly, One Hour’s Abattoir game, also covered above, should be high up your list – it’s another game with plenty of immersion, a great set and probably even more scary moments than Deep Inside. If puzzles aren’t critical then the Deveaux Family from Panik Room and Border Live Thriller mentioned above are good options.
Away from games previously mentioned, there are two that I’d point you at. Hell Out‘s Hotel Sedain is a scary, expansive experience that felt like we were exploring a haunted hotel. While it doesn’t have a lot of puzzles, there are enough to keep enthusiasts entertained and plenty of memorable moments. Finally, while I didn’t enjoy it because of the weak puzzle content, fans of the more extreme end of the scare scale will probably appreciate You Have Sixty Minutes’ Cannibal of Paris (part one).
That’s all folks!
I hope you found this useful. If you want more advice, feel free to drop me a message either by email or on Facebook.