Room Escape Artist

Grand theft antiquity

Location: Paris, France

Date Played: March 20, 2026

Team Size: 1-6; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: from 31€ per player for teams of 6 to 55€ per player for teams of 2

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: If you have any physical limitations or injuries, please review the “Content Warning” box at the bottom of the post; it contains a minor spoiler. Additionally, all players must crawl. At least one player must go up and down stairs. One player goes into an enclosed space. There are puzzles that rely on color sightedness.

Emergency Exit Rating: We are not sure how emergency exits work in this game, but there was a very active gamemaster administering the experience.

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Doomed Expedition was exactly the kind of game that reminded me how much fun solving puzzles in a well-themed environment can be.

Yes, One Hour Escape Game built a story and characters into this game, but aside from the performance of our gamemaster, most of these details faded into the background of a well-crafted set, playful puzzles, and a light dusting of horror.

One Hour Escape Game provides players with helmets, and while these do add to the ambiance, they have utility. We have a rule at Room Escape Artist: If someone gives you a helmet before going into an escape room, you should probably keep it on. In this case it’s mostly because the ceilings are pretty low. Respect your helmet. I personally appreciated that One Hour Escape Game provided a hairnet. I find shared headwear gross and I deeply respect the fact that they took this into account.

The Doomed Expedition isn’t a reason to visit Paris for escape rooms, but it absolutely is a worthy addition if you are in town. It’s clear that One Hour Escape Game put a lot of love into this game, and I am glad that I had the chance to explore its depths.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Tomb raiders
• Any experience level

Why play?

• Strong teamwork puzzles
• Challenging invigorating finale with gravitas

Story

We worked for a mining company, and a team of miners had gone missing. Management had ordered us to find the missing crew so that we could all resume our work.

Setting

The Doomed Expedition sent us down an elevator into a mine with a bit of ancient Egyptian flair. The set was well-executed, and everything we encountered reiterated that we were underground. One Hour Escape Game paid close attention to the design from floor to ceiling, and kept us immersed within their unusual mine tomb.

Gameplay

One Hour Escape Game’s The Doomed Expedition was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, and solving puzzles.

Analysis

➕ The Doomed Expedition provided helmets before we set out exploring. These were in good shape and relatively comfortable. They even provided hairnets. The gear was necessary. There were certainly places where we bumped our heads.

➕ The set looked good. While we spent most of our time in a tomb, the other sets we experienced added to the fictional world, and upped the feeling of adventure.

➕ The gameplay was well-clued. The puzzles flowed well. They were largely built into hefty props and set pieces.

➖ Tech-driven puzzles were not always responsive enough. Feedback was sometimes delayed.

➖ Within the game, we were able to access video scenes meant to add stakes to our expedition. However, the videos were unnecessarily long and didn’t capture our attention. They didn’t make us care about these characters. We would have been content to simply plunder the tomb, without regard for other past plunderers.

➖ Part of our mission was to collect gems, but as our bag of gems got heavier, this aspect of play became increasingly annoying.

➕ The gameplay continually escalated, becoming gradually more challenging. Then One Hour Escape Game upped the pressure in the finale with a timed puzzle that had us frantically communicating and coordinating our efforts. We felt triumphant upon completing it.

➕ In The Doomed Expedition, a creature was occasionally lurking in an unexpected place. This mechanic was not used gratuitously to add jump scares, and was not the focus of the experience. It added an element of dread, without being paralyzing. When it showed up, it was fun. Even scared players can comfortably play this game.

➖ There was a fog machine in one set. It looked like something we needed to search. We should not have been able to access this.

Tips For Visiting

• This game is available in French and English.
• 👖We recommend knee pads. Consider these escape pants.

Book your hour with One Hour Escape Game’s The Doomed Expedition, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: One Hour Escape Game comped our tickets for this game.