Room Escape Artist

Moonlight as a detective

Location: Paris, France

Date Played: March 20, 2026

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 3

Duration: 2 hours

Price: From 49€ per person

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players need to walk between different locations in the city, walk up and down stairs, and solve in low light.

Emergency Exit Rating: We have no idea how emergency exits worked, but there was a performer monitoring us at all times.

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Every once in a while we happen upon a game that is doing its own thing. Borderlive has been quietly doing its own thing in Paris with The Live Thriller for 7 years. The Live Thriller is a unique beast, and while its still impressive today, I cannot even imagine how would have awed me 7 years go.

Set within the city of Paris, The Live Thriller took us to multiple locations as we investigated murders committed by a serial killer with a flair for the theatrical.

Traversing the city as we conducted our investigation felt intense and a little transgressive. It felt like anything could happen, and even with all of our experience… I found it as unnerving as it was invigorating (although I should point out that Lisa mostly found it unnerving.)

Mechanically, exploring the game world, meeting and interacting with the characters, and piecing the story together carried the weight of the game. The puzzles were at best unremarkable. I found the actor performances stellar, and at times a little too good. There were points where I could not tell you who was a performer and who was just a guy on the street. The good news was that the detective that we were working for kept in constant communication and that communication ensured that we didn’t do anything stupid or dangerous.

It’s important to keep in mind that while we were playing the game, most everyone else around us was just living their lives. The drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians were out and about living their lives. And while we had magnificent weather… the weather is going to do what the weather is going to do. So dress appropriately, wear comfortable shoes, stay hydrated, communicate your thoughts to your detective, and look both ways before crossing the street. If you have the nerve to experience The Live Thriller, there’s nothing else like it.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Story seekers
• Scenery snobs
• Fans of psychological horror
• Character interactors
• Detectives
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• It delivers on its name. It is both live and thrilling.
• They truly built a game into the city.
• It intentionally and effectively made us feel psychological discomfort.

Story

In Paris, Inspector Nils and his Deputy Gambale were investigating a psychopath known to the press as the Mannequin Man, a killer who left his crime scenes decorated with mannequins positioned as his victims were when they died.

These understaffed men had become increasingly desperate to capture the Mannequin Man. They sought the help of private citizens to further their investigation.

Setting

The Live Thriller really was set in Paris. While 90% of the experience was indoors, so much of the magic came from the 10% that was outdoors. We never knew where we might go, or who we would interact with. There was immense power in the vast possibilities of The Live Thriller.

That also meant that the weather functions as a character in the game, effecting both the look and feel throughout the experience. Dress accordingly.

With that in mind, this game takes players to places that are gritty and grim. While I would never classify any of The Live Thriller’s gamespaces as fancy, they all sell the city underbelly vibe unnervingly well.

Gameplay

Borderlive’s The Live Thriller was an atypical escape room where we stalked a killer on the streets of Paris.

The gameplay was accessible, but the overarching deduction had a high level of difficulty. Attention to detail was critical.

Core gameplay revolved around walking through a neighborhood, interacting with characters, exploring unsettling environments, and solving puzzles.

Analysis

➕/➖ The Live Thriller aimed to make us uncomfortable and it succeeded. The scenario was intense. The actors were disquieting. The sets were grim and unwelcoming. If you can embrace this, it truly is thrilling. That said, it’s not for everyone.

➕ The Live Thriller turned the real world into its set. This was unsettling, by design. We played this game on the streets of Paris. We entered buildings that seemed like real places.

➖ The sets were very dusty. There is aesthetically dirty and actually dirty. This was the second case. (That said, the dust added to the grim realism.)

➕ The characters we interacted with in The Live Thriller were unnerving, again, by design. The actors were phenomenal.

➕ The Live Thriller communicated the rules of engagement clearly. We knew what type of interaction was out of bounds. We were always safe. The actors were in control of our experience at all times. We were cared for, although it didn’t feel like it.

➖ The puzzley aspects of the gameplay weren’t fun. We solved a deduction puzzle in low light, where all the clues were on papers with faded ink. We followed a series of barely legible instructions to complete another “puzzle.” A lot of the puzzle solving was searching through unwelcoming environments.

➕/❓ The story largely came together through video interludes, which also cut the tension following more intense scenes. The cinematography was excellent. The video content sometimes felt gratuitously long, but we recognize that it served more purposes than storytelling both for the players and the staff orchestrating the experience.

➕ Our behavior and our choices impacted how our story played out in the end. There were multiple possible endings.

➕/➖ The Live Thriller culminated with a challenging deductive reasoning puzzle under immense time pressure. To solve it we needed to have internalized a lot details throughout the entire experience. Failing to solve this – as we did – can feel like failure, although according to The Live Thriller, succeeding or failing at this is just one input to the conclusion of a team’s experience.

➖ While the actors were phenomenal at playing their characters and orchestrating the game, sometimes their timing didn’t feel organic. This was especially apparent in the finale, where we waited a long time for a resolution, which diminished the intensity of the moment.

📍 The Live Thriller started on a street corner, with a generic instruction of the character we’d meet. We would have appreciated a map pin, to help us navigate to exactly the right place.

Tips For Visiting

• You’ll need to carry your belongings with you throughout this experience. Bring as little as possible.
• Wear clothing this is appropriate for the weather. You will spend some time outside.
• This game is available in French and English.

Book your session with Borderlive’s The Live Thriller, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Borderlive provided media discounted tickets for this game.