Room Escape Artist

Room Escape Artist’s June headline: Matthew Stein wrote a lot of words that you will want to read. He wrote about some impressive European games, and he wrote a number of thought pieces about experience design. Additionally, Andrew Reynolds covered video games. Where were David and Lisa? We spent most of June in Montreal running our biggest escape room Tour to date!

RECON Remote Tickets

This summer, we’re hosting RECON – our escape room convention – online, so that it is accessible from anywhere in the world.

The event is August 17-18th, 2025.

Sign up for the RECON newsletter to be the first to hear about the exclusive RECON game. Details are coming very soon!

Reviews

🔒 Golden Lock Winners

Pray, Escape Room Katwijk (Katwijk, Netherlands) – Pray was bold, impressive, and polished. This is a special experience worth traveling to play. (Review by Matthew Stein)

The Concierge, Hotel Veloria (Volkel, Netherlands) – The Concierge was a puzzle-centric, 80-minute experience with a unique narrative throughline, for exactly 2 players. (Review by Matthew Stein)

Escape Rooms

Le Prince, Escaping Belgium (Retie, Belgium) – Le Prince was a detailed escape room themed around around a real historical figure: the “Father of Cinematography.” (Review by Matthew Stein)

The Reading Witch, Deadlocked Escape Rooms (Reading, England) – With their horror game, The Reading Witch, Deadlocked channeled their creativity and charm while also leveling up their production quality. (Review by Matthew Stein)

Video Games

Blue Prince – I have already had more conversations about Blue Prince than I have had about any other game I’ve played. This one is special. (Review by Andrew Reynolds)

PAX East 2025 Roundup – We report from the 2025 PAX East convention where we found an escape room and a collection of exciting puzzle games to be released soon. (By Andrew Reynolds)

Podcast

We published our 100th REPOD episode and wrapped up season 10, which included some unexpected gems, like this one, where we interviewed a leading expert in quantum mechanics: REPOD S9E10: Untangling Quantum Mechanics – Paul Kwiat of LabEscape.

Over on PG’s Playhouse, we learned about recycling: E19 Recycling Correctly (ft. Sandy Weisz)

Recommendation Guides

• Updated: Belgium, Amsterdam

Commentary

A Picture-Perfect Guide to Escape Room Team Photos – Whether you’re a creator or a player, here are a number of tips and tricks to help you level up your escape room team photo game. (By Matthew Stein)

Keeping Score: Original Soundtracks in Escape Rooms – Sound design is an important and often overlooked element of escape room design. Here’s how to do escape room sound design right. (By Matthew Stein)

Playtest Your Story – You playtest puzzles, but do you playtest your story? This is an often forgotten piece of escape room design. (By Matthew Stein)

Tips for an Escape Room Family Vacation – Does your family vacation include a lot of escape rooms? Here are our tips to keep everyone sane and happy. (By Peter Gwinn & Emily Hall)