Room Escape Artist

My Dream Escape Room

Location: Greenville, SC

Date Played: February 3, 2025

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 180+ minutes

Price: $108 per ticket for groups of 4-8, $120 per ticket for groups of 3, $168 per ticket for groups of 2

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: Some players need to climb stairs and crawl

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

At Escape Artist Greenville’s Hampton Station location, the Chimera Corp Saga combines Castle Flüffendor, Dark Lullaby, and Help Wanted into a single interconnected experience.

Each of these escape rooms was stupendous in its own right, and with a dazzling array of subtle narrative connections to discover, the trilogy managed to be even greater than the sum of its parts. With this masterpiece of episodic storytelling, Escape Artist Greenville has firmly established themselves as an international escape room destination worth traveling to.

Without overly rehashing what Cindi already wrote so beautifully in her reviews of these 3 individual games, I want to dive a bit deeper into what makes the Chimera Corp Saga shine as a 3-hour interconnected experience.

In the combined experience, each individual chapter still told its own standalone story, and it was clear when one chapter ended and the next started. Yet by staying fully immersed in the overworld between chapters, we were given space to debrief on what we’d just experienced and piece together the narrative threads that fully emerge only when these chapters are directly juxtaposed.

Furthermore, by sandwiching Dark Lullaby‘s nightmare world between two distinctly non-horror games that were filled with joy, whimsy, and a dash of subterfuge, the horror landed even more strongly. In contrast to so many “horror for the sake of horror” games out there, this nightmare had a clear and compelling context for why it existed and why we belonged in it. Across the chapters, the wide spectrum of settings, tones, and emotions all complemented and heightened each other.

Escape Artist Greenville recently added a new bonus ending to Help Wanted which is activated only when playing all 3 games back to back. This special finale provided a dynamic and satisfying conclusion to the saga, affording us the opportunity to resolve the narrative threads that wove across all 3 chapters.

With the addition of this brand new capstone ending, Escape Artist Greenville has marked the completion of the Chimera Corp Saga. (Though witnessing their style, I have no doubt they’ll continue to iterate on the small details for months or years to come.) They recently added a new landing page with details about the Chimera Corp Saga experience, and they’re finally offering this epic 3-hour experience as an official offering, not just an off-menu item.

The Chimera Corp Saga is one of the most inspiring, ambitious, and cohesive escape room experiences I’ve encountered. It embodies so many directions I’d love to see characterize the future of escape rooms: specific, personal-stakes storytelling, unique settings, all-encompassing childlike wonder and creativity, clear and potent emotions, and a plethora of unforgettable characters.

Recommended Order

For optimal effect, we recommend playing the trilogy back-to-back in the following order:

1. Castle Flüffendor 🔒
2. Dark Lullaby 🔒
3. Help Wanted

The arc from a dream world (Castle Flüffendor) to a nightmare world (Dark Lullaby) to then applying for a position at the dream tourism company which framed the first two experiences (Help Wanted) was compelling and original, with an impressive dynamic range and nuanced character development throughout.

This is also the order that Escape Artist Greenville recommends. If you’re planning to play the connected experience, make sure to email Escape Artist Greenville in advance (see “Plan Your Visit” on their landing page) and plan to play on a non-weekend day. This experience involves multiple actors and is only possible in its full form when Escape Artist Greenville isn’t as busy.

If you play these games on separate occasions, then the relative order is less important. Escape Artist Greenville has planned for all permutations. However, you’ll only get the bonus ending when playing the combined experience on the same day.

Planning Your Escapes

If you’re planning an escape room trip to Greenville, your trip will consist almost exclusively of the rooms at Escape Artist Greenville.

On one hand, this was a very easy trip to plan. My team played every escape room that Escape Artist Greenville had to offer at their 2 locations, ending with the Chimera Corp Saga, and we had a very enjoyable 2 days.

That said, if you’re looking to expand your itinerary, check out our Regional Recommendation Guide for Greenville, SC. While this guide is mostly games from Escape Artist Greenville, there are a handful of hidden-gem mom-and-pop escape room companies within an hour or two drive.

(🔒 = Golden Lock Award-winning experience)