Phoenix Archives - Room Escape Artist

CAW!

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team size: 4-8; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $35 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: There is a portion of the game that shakes.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

2022 Golden Lock Award Ribbon — 2022 Golden Lock Award Winner

REA Reaction

The Nemesis Club is a special place: an escape room speakeasy set behind a phenomenal milkshake shop. It was surreal seeing tons of people buying milkshakes and legitimately having no idea that there was a world class escape room company hidden in the back.

Mogollon Monster itself was a grand adventure built around capturing an Arizona Bigfoot. Set in a Monster Rangers’ campsite, this narrative adventure was structured around tracking, baiting, and capturing a photo of the monster.

An outdoor campsite with a burned down campfire, Monster Ranger uniforms hung on a lashed-together structure, in the background is an RV with an archery target.

Mogollon Monster was exciting and hilarious, with layers of jokes, some of which were deep cuts that you’d have to have some background in scouting to appreciate. I’m a former Eagle Scout, and there were a number of points where I dropped out of playing the game and just dug into the props and materials because they were so delightful and rich.

Finally, the finale of Mogollon Monster was genius; it felt like we were on a ride.

The Nemesis Club is a world class escape room company, and I am completely confident that we will be seeing amazing things from them long into the future. I cannot wait to play more of their work.

Who is this for?

Adventure seekers
Story seekers
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
Cryptid fans
People with a connection to scouting will get something extra from this game
Best for players with at least some experience
Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

It’s really funny
Clever storytelling
Incredible set design
Brilliant interactions
Challenging puzzles
Nemesis Club’s ambiance
Milkshakes

Story

Our Monster Rangers group (which is an actual group that exists in a delightfully strange realm between scouting parody, art project, and sincere group of people) set off on an adventure to track and document the existence of the Mogollon Monster (an Arizona Bigfoot).

Painting of a Monster Ranger in uniform with a camera, behind him is a monster lurking in the woods.

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“Ra, save us!”

Location: Mesa, AZ

Date Played: March 12, 2022

Team size: 4-10; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $27-$30 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: There is sand on the floor throughout the entire experience. (You do not have to dig in it.)

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

We’ve seen a lot of Egyptian tomb escape games, and Return of the Pharaohs was a special one.

In addition to its gorgeous set, Paragon Escape Games created fantastic gameplay loops that had us really exploring their game world, and working for our solves. From a gameplay standpoint, this may be my most memorable trip to escape room Egypt.

Imposing statue of Thoth in an Egyptian tomb.

My one gripe with Return of the Pharaohs was that there was a lot of text that could be translated, but didn’t need to be. The game did a good job of making it clear through translation when we didn’t need to continue, but there were times where I just wished that it wasn’t even on the menu. There was plenty of content and challenge in this game without it.

On the whole, Return of the Pharaohs was as stellar as it was memorable. If you’re in Phoenix, this is a must-play game, and we’ll be keeping an eye out for future games from Paragon Escape Games. I have a feeling that they are going to be a company to watch in the future.

Who is this for?

Adventure seekers
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
Indiana Jones fans
Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

An absolutely gorgeous Egyptian tomb set
Unusual and clever game design
Fantastic effects

Story

We were the souls of Egyptian gods trapped by Set, the god of chaos. We had to free ourselves from Set’s trap, our only ally was Ra, whose powers were waning.