Room Escape Artist

Magnifico is one of the best escape rooms around Montreal, Canada. Here are our recommendations for great escape rooms in the Montreal area.

The Greatest Showman

Location:  Laval, Québec, Canada

Date Played: March 4, 2025

Team size: 4-6; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 150 minutes (2.5 hours)

Price: about $160 CAD per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  All players must climb steep steps (repeatedly), crawl, traverse tight spaces, and experience motion

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock with one small section as [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Within a few minutes of entering Magnifico, I got lost in the world that Escaparium created. And for 2.5 hours I was enthralled, my mind only slipping to awareness of the experience twice:

The first was to laugh at the hilariously over-the-top transition from Act 1 to Act 2. The second was at the beginning of Act 3 where I allowed myself a moment to appreciate that Escaparium was really pulling this off. The rest of the time I was lost in their world.

If you play escape rooms to be transported to another world, Magnifico is for you. The detailed sets brought the world of the circus to life.

If you play escape rooms for the puzzles, Magnifico is for you. The puzzles were large, interactive, and often magical. Sometimes we had to think outside the crate. The puzzles wove beautifully into the fabric of the gameworld.

If you play escape rooms for trap doors, so to speak, or hidden secrets, Magnifico will surprise you with each transition, even when you think you know where you’re going.

If you play escape rooms to experience meaningful stories… everything about these sets, puzzles, and moments furthered character development and narrative.

I’ve spent 11 years envisioning and advocating for the promise of what escape rooms can be. Throughout Magnifico’s 2.5 hours, it made me confident that the hope that I have held on to so deeply is real, and beautiful. It was an honor and a privilege to experience Escaparium’s masterpiece.

Who is this for?

• Anyone who loves the immersive arts
• Adventure seekers
• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• Epic adventure
• Magical puzzles
• Spectacle
• A meaningful story

Story

We had tickets to the circus (yay!) and we were intent upon seeing this most magnificent show.

Setting

When we walked up to the circus tent entrance, we had no idea how much world existed inside of it. There were so many scenes with beautifully detailed, expansive sets.

The images in this review are from the scene that took place in and around the circus performers’ trailers, all parked beneath a gorgeous night sky. Each trailer belonged to a different character, with their own personality and motivations, which we figured out through the set and the puzzles.

This was one of many scenes. Although they came in different shapes and sizes, each was just as thoughtfully crafted to create a world that felt inhabited. The scenes were distinct, memorable, and each part of a cohesive place.

Gameplay

Escaparium’s Magnifico was a story-driven escape room that balanced actor interaction and gameplay.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, and solving puzzles. Gameplay required us to move around the set and engage with set pieces, props, and the characters who inhabited these places. Those characters adapt to each group’s level of engagement and comfort.

Analysis

➕ Magnifico used multiple onboarding scenes to teach players how to enjoy it: both how to interact with characters, and how to solve puzzles. This was essential for a 2.5 hour experience that would ramp up in difficulty and intensity.

➕ The actors were exceptional. They played different characters – who felt like different people with different motivations, perspectives, and personalities. We had the freedom to interact with them, and they would “yes, and” us, bantering and playing with us, all within character. Furthermore, they were all performing and improvising in their second language!

➕/➖ The actors play multiple roles (additionally impressive!), usually with distinct costumes, so it is immediately apparent who they were. However, in one instance, similar costuming led some of our team to be initially confused when we met a new character, played by an actor we’d met previously in another role. We figured it out after a beat, but more distinctive costuming would have been helpful.

➕ Magnifico was a 2.5 hour escape room in 3 acts that told a complete story. Each act had a beginning, middle, and finale. The finales were especially memorable, in one case, even explosive. Another act’s finale sequence delivered drama and theatrics, both as plot points, and through a (“omg i can’t believe they made this!” type of) physical interaction.

➕Magnifico foreshadowed plot points, sometimes overtly roaring at us and other times letting something roll by within set details and effects. This was storytelling through immersive experience design at its finest.

➕ The key scenes were poignant, because of exceptional staging, writing, and delivery. This worked so well, in one instance in particular, because we were right there, in front of the character. Escaparium took advantage of the escape room medium for delivering key plot points.

➕ The sets were large, and the puzzles traversed them, using space to their advantage. Especially in the second act, we were able to explore all facets of the set, from all angles. The puzzles involved the entire group. For the most part, the puzzles developed the characters of the world, making the actor interactions richer, and deepening our connection to the story.

➕ We loved how Escaparium turned classic magical illusions into puzzles. It was so much fun to do magic 🪄

➖ One space was too narrow for us to comfortably take a stab at accessing the information available there, especially considering the low lighting.

➖ While the concept was great, one late-game puzzle was a bit deflating. We didn’t immediately understand when this interaction was in play, or how to work it, and given some very specific wear, we expect that we weren’t the first team to struggle in this regard. It took an exorbitant amount of effort to keep ourselves pumped up to complete this puzzle.

➕ Escaparium minded the little details with their big interactions. The details were everywhere, with every set and prop, in every direction we looked. From scents, to interactions that impacted the set, literally, to how puzzles presented themselves, the player experience was always at the forefront of design. The effects were so extra, and we delighted in this. It made the world feel real. For example, one early scene transition reversed our expectations.

➕ Hinting was native to the world. In one instance, two characters had an argument in front of us, and that was our hint. We picked up on what we needed to do immediately, but it never felt like a hint. It was entertaining!

➕/➖ There was one impressive performance where we didn’t all have great sight lines from our vantage point, and couldn’t fully appreciate the moment.

➕ Every scene change was an exciting reveal, and they all delivered, exceeding our expectations.

➕ Magnifico included solo moments of different styles that made different players feel special. Solo moments can be deeply powerful, and Escaparium has designed one especially beautiful, impactful one into Magnifico. The strength of this design, however, was that as incredible as the solo player’s experience was, the rest of the team was equally enthralled with the scene they saw, and in our group, all players were immensely satisfied with the story’s conclusion. While your mileage may vary with any given team, we found the solo moment to be handled exceptionally well from all sides.

❓We love how the performers singled us out to be the stars of different moments, big or small. One word of caution to the performers: with larger players, certain interactions won’t fit like a glove, as they are intended, and these players should be selected for something else.

➖/➕  One player was handed an essential prop early on, which was clearly going to be important at a later point. Unfortunately, this was cumbersome to carry around, even as we could tell the design was meant to be unobtrusive. That said, the payoff was impressive.

➕ The soundtrack was phenomenal… and Escaparium makes the soundtrack available on YouTube.

➕ We aren’t players who collect stuff, but Magnifico left us with a small takeaway that was perfectly fitting for the experience. Furthermore, the game toyed with disappointing us in this regard, and then came through with the memorabilia, making that a great moment in and of itself.

➕ The end credits were an event of their own – a look back at scenes from the experience, while getting to appreciate the work and care that went into Magnifico.

Tips For Visiting

• Magnifico is located at Escaparium’s Laval location.
• There is a parking lot.
• This game can be played in English or French.
• We strongly recommend that you empty your pockets before entering this experience. You will be moving around a lot, and you don’t want to be worried about losing any of your belongings. Wear clothes you can move around in, including flat shoes and pants (not a skirt or a dress).
• Use the bathroom before the game starts. It’s a 2.5 hour game.

REPOD

If you enjoy Magnifico we hope you’ll check out our interview with creators Jonathan Driscoll and Sacha St.Denis on The Reality Escape Pod.

Book your hour with Escaparium’s Magnifico , and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Escaparium comped our tickets for this game.