Room Escape Artist

The World’s Oldest Escape Room™

Location: Athens, Greece

Date Played: February 26, 2025

Team Size: 3-6; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 150 minutes

Price: from 102€ per team for teams of 3 to 150€ per team for teams of 6

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players need to climb stairs and a ladder and crawl. There is also a strobe light.

Emergency Exit Rating: We were locked in various spaces within the game. We’re unsure what fire escape measures there were, if any.

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Every once in a while, an escape room opens with a premise that makes me fall in love. Mystic Project invited us to play “the world’s oldest escape room,” a 19th-century game created by the distinguished Lord Beaverwood. I was all in on this concept.

As we approached the building, the front door had me fantasizing about what clever steampunk creations we’d encounter within.

Once inside, we found a very rudimentary steampunk game devoid of charm or intrigue. As Mystic Project progressed, the narrative escalated, but the build quality did not. It was a dirty, pointy, and uncomfortable game that was elevated by very committed performers.

All of this would have been fine, but Mystic Corporation completely lost me when one of our performers wielded a propane torch to add a bit of menace to the situation. The effect was underwhelming, but the danger was very real as we were completely locked inside of a wooden crawlspace. Throughout Mystic Project, there was no evidence of actual emergency exits… and the only emergency buttons that we found were in fact not safety equipment but part of the game.

There’s a fine game within Mystic Project if the place were cleaned up, the puzzles were maintained, the fire was removed, and any thought to player or performer safety entered the equation. I see what Mystic Corporation was striving for, and I think that they should turn this game into their stated vision. It’s a cool idea. Until then, I recommend skipping this one.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Horror fans
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• The setup was fun
• Strong actor engagement

Story

Not enough people know that the very first escape room was created in the 19th century by the distinguished Lord Beaverwood. His descendants found the plans for Beaverwood’s historic work and recreated it. Our editor had dispatched us to play the ancient game and write a story about it for our readers.

Setting

Mystic Project set us off on our adventure in what was presented as “the world’s oldest escape room,” and while it looked mildly more impressive than my actual first escape room, it really wasn’t much to look at. From there, things escalated both narratively and aesthetically as we explored the large gamespace. Throughout the game, however, Mystic Project always felt a little run-down and under-maintained.

Gameplay

Mystic Corporation’s Mystic Project was a theatrical horror escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, puzzling, and limited character interactions.

Analysis

❌  We were appalled by the gratuitous use of an open flame in the form of a propane torch. While we were in an enclosed space, with no escape route, watching a scene between two actors, one of the actors lit a blow torch. This was blatantly unsafe, and not at all necessary to the story or the game. There was no reason to take this risk.

❌ Mystic Project used emergency push-to-exit buttons as a normal game interaction. This was made worse by the fact that there did not appear to be emergency release buttons for the game itself.

➕ The premise was unusual, and just meta enough. We were happy to be journalists entering the world’s oldest escape room. It felt on brand.

➖ The opening set was vaguely steampunk, but not enough to sell the theming. While I suppose this was narratively justified, being that it was the world’s first escape room, it wasn’t intriguing.

➖ The set was heavily worn. There was a lot of crawling where the padding was worn away. The props were not in good shape. Our lantern was really beat up. It had jagged sharp edges and seemed as if it would just fall apart at any minute.

➕ The performers were committed to their characters and cared a lot. They performed some intense cut scenes together, which we watched from viewing vantage points with pretty clear visibility.

➖ While some of the story was portrayed through these cut scenes, much of it was delivered on laminated sheets of paper.

➕ Mystic Corporation used lighting well to guide us through the game and focus our attention.

➕ /➖ The soundtrack was excellent. However, there was a sound effect baked into the soundtrack that sounded like we’d opened something, which was annoying every time it happened.

➖ The finale fell flat because the game didn’t telegraph well enough where or how to move through the space to escape. Without any signposting, we weren’t able to have the dramatic finish Mystic Corporation was envisioning.

Tips For Visiting

• There appeared to be street parking.
• Grab a bite few blocks away at The President (Ο Πρόεδρος)
• For more about fire safety, please read Fire – Forbidden Escape Room Elements and An Open Letter to the Escape Room Owners of Athens Regarding Fire Safety in Your Games

Disclosure: Mystic Corporation provided media discounted tickets for this game.