Paradox Project Archives - Room Escape Artist

REA Reaction

From the actual storefront, through the finale 3.5 hours later, The Bookstore was massive and mighty.

In-game: The exterior of the bookshop, from the street. It appears as a real bookshop.

Each individual scene within The Bookstore could have been an entire 60-minute escape game at the vast majority of escape room companies that we’ve visited around the world. I’m not kidding; I could easily imagine this game being sold as 5 or 6 different games. Moreover, each scene change shifted the play style, which prevented the length from becoming monotonous.

Paradox Project’s opus was truly incredible, but it wasn’t perfect. Not all of the scenes or puzzles were created equally. There were a few puzzles that were begging for iteration. While the finale had some fantastic moments, it also had some shockingly dated and sketchy elements that throttled the momentum.

Overall, The Bookstore was a standout game in a wonderful escape room scene. If you go to Athens and you don’t play it, you did Athens wrong.

Story

With the consequences of our experiences in The Mansion behind us, we had attempted to go on with our lives… until we received a mysterious invitation to a bookshop. Someone seemed to know of our Bitter Truth.

In-game: Walls filled with books and African art.

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The Mansion is one of the best escape rooms in Athens, Greece. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms in Athens.

Crazy Uncle

Location: Athens, Greece

Date Played: March 2, 2020

Team size: 3-7; we recommend 4

Duration: 180 minutes

Price: from €25 per player for teams of 3 to €19 per player for teams of 7

Ticketing: Private

Emergency Exit Rating: We’re unsure what fire escape measures there were, if any. More Info.

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Mansion was designed in 2014. At 3 hours in length, it played like the most epic escape room imaginable at that time. If you asked us to dream up the ultimate escape room back then, it would have looked a whole lot like Paradox Project’s The Mansion.

The Mansion was a massive, classic escape room. It was search-heavy and filled with puzzle content. The set was overwhelmingly realistic, especially given its age.

In-game: the bar in the mansion, illuminated by stained glass.

If we had played The Mansion when it was new, it would have completely redefined how we thought about escape rooms in quite a few ways… but context is profound and we played it in 2020.

Escape rooms have evolved a lot since The Mansion opened. Playing it with today’s perspective, the first half dragged and squandered a few opportunities for magical moments. It picked up in the latter portion. The entire game also suffered from wear… the result of 6 years of players loving this game.

As it stands, The Mansion is among the strongest games of its era; few 5+ year-old games pulled off as much in scale, detailing, and ambition. If you’re in Athens, Paradox Project’s The Bookstore is an absolute must-play. The Mansion was a lovely narrative addition, but not essential. If we were to do it all again, we’d still play The Mansion, but we’d go in with less hype.

Who is this for?

Story seekers
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
Players with at least some experience

Why play?

If you’ve ever wanted to play an “escape house,” this is it
It honestly looked like a home
Tons of puzzle content

Story

Our long-lost uncle had emerged after years of us wondering whether he was even alive. He had invited us to his mansion to tell us of his travels through Africa and reveal “the Bitter Truth.”