Escape rooms are one of the hottest trends in entertainment, and with good reason: they offer a unique, immersive experience unlike anything else. They also happen to be a great way to build teamwork and communication skills, which is why more and more companies are incorporating them as teambuilding events.
But the best escape rooms go beyond basic puzzles. They are designed to make you feel like you’ve been teleported to another world, like you feel like you’re the hero of your own epic adventure! Our customers often ask us after playing our games for more escape rooms to play around the area, and we have recommendations! Here is a list of some of the best immersive escape rooms of 2022 in Orange County in no particular order.
Note: We are not a review site. We provide these answers to our guests when they ask us about local immersive escape rooms.
Cinema Escape Rooms
Ark of the Covenant
Inspired by Indiana Jones, this game does a stellar job of making you feel like you are no longer in an office building complex. The first part of the game transports you into basically what feels like the movie set of an Indiana Jones movie, and it only gets better from that point on. You can see more of what we’re talking about by visiting Cinema Escape Room’s website and viewing their trailer. No spoilers, but the later parts of the game do feel like what you’d expect from an Indiana Jones-inspired game!
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Scenario Escape Room
Mad Rapper
There are very sparse details on the website for Mad Rapper, but trust us when we say this is a very well made, creative, immersive musical-driven escape room experience. The progression through the Mad Rapper is creatively refreshing and narratively satisfying. It’s no wonder they won multiple awards locally and was a finalist in the 2021 Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiasts Choice Awards. Check out their website for a cool animated video about what an escape room is and book today!
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Hidden Donkey Escape Rooms
Irvine School of Wizardry and the Dragon Wand
Out of the countless number of Harry Potter-themed rooms out there, this one takes it to the next level in its immersion. Seriously, stepping into this game had us feeling like we were in line for the Harry Potter ride over at Universal Studios. You get completely lost in the world when you start this game, and we actually ended up just admiring the décor and immersion so much that we forgot we were in an escape room! If you want to feel like a full-on wizard, you should check this out and see which house you belong in!
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Exit Game OC
13th Basement
A parody of horror escape rooms, 13th Basement knows exactly what it is and does it exceptionally well. Being full of horror tropes with dark humor and familiar props, Exit Game OC brings movie-quality set design to a homegrown escape room business. You’ll forget that you’re just in another local escape room when the game starts, because you’ll be trying to figure out just what kind of parody mess you got yourself into. The immersion is so good that just when you think you’re catching on, Exit Game OC pulls a fast one on you, and honestly it’s been one of our most favorite can’t-talk-about moments in any game we played.
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EscapeX
Curse of the Black Knight
If you are looking to feel like you’ve traveled back in time to another world, you need to play Curse of the Black Knight. Even though EscapeX is located in an office building complex, you wouldn’t believe it when you go through this game. Similarly to Hidden Donkey, EscapeX did an amazing job transforming the space into something you wouldn’t have even been able to imagine. In addition, they made a GREAT use of space, where there seems to be so much for you to do that you wonder how they were able to get all of that into the game.
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King’s Eye Escape Room
The Xtraction
This is a much smaller game compared to everything else on this list, but the immersion factor is high because of their very smart and creative use of space. It’s probably the smallest game that we played, and with 4 people it still took us a good amount of time to get through the game. We were equally impressed with the way that King’s Eye was able to immerse us with their décor and technology while still being able to incorporate a ton of puzzles in such a small space. If you have a smaller group, be sure to check them out. They also have axe throwing if you are looking for non-escape room fun.
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Infinity Escape Room
Magic Cottage
If you’re looking to play a game that is in no doubt a memorable and magical experience, check out the Magic Cottage over at Infinity Escape. They spent over a year in development of the Magic Cottage, and it truly shows when you enter this other worldly set. Though the puzzles are lighter than traditional puzzle games, the set is beautiful and you’ll be impressed with the attention to detail and feeling of fantastical wonder as you play through their game.