Cabin 13

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To say we were impressed when we first walked into the lobby at Escape Manor would be a severe understatement! With arguably one of the best lobbies in the industry, we were pleased to find that the Toronto location offered incredible ambiance, immersion and entertainment with their impressive décor, full-service bar and kitchen, and creative photo opportunities and puzzles.

The entire space gave off 19th-century-manor vibes — in keeping with EM’s brand imaging — and, if you looked closely, you could find puzzles hidden throughout the décor to work on and warm up your brain or kill time before the start of your game.

The customer service was truly impeccable. The staff (even the new hires!) want to make your experience a memorable one and are more than happy to chat about your escape afterwards.

When it came time to start our game, we were quickly debriefed about the rules in the lobby and then led through a door to a staircase that would take us to the entrance of Cabin 13. The staircase and outside of the room were all decorated to make us feel as though we were travelling through the woods towards the cabin, and as we went, the actress who was with us wove a tale about all that had happened in the cabin, why we were there, and how we could help once we were inside. We did notice that she seemed a little unfamiliar with the story and kept saying “um” a lot, but to be fair, it was the first week they were running this room and it could also be looked at as her character being scared of the cabin. While it was something some of us noticed, it didn’t detract too much from our overall experience with the actors. Her final scene where she let us into the room scared quite a few of us though, so job well done there! We really liked the fact that the actress took the time to tell us the rules in the lobby rather than in the entrance to the room, as it helped keep us immersed in the world/story we were entering.

One of the things we were most impressed with in Cabin 13 was the different levels of immersion. We found that the actors, along with some cool visual and lighting effects, really set the creepy tone for the room and made some of our group genuinely scared. Our second actor who interacted with us inside the room was nothing less than brilliant! His erratic and unpredictable movements had many of us jumping in fright and provided an edge that really amped up the scare-factor of this room for us. From what we could tell, most of the sound and lighting effects were controlled by either the game master or actor so that they could personalize the experience and trigger effects when they would scare us the most, which was a nice touch. The hint system was provided by the actor; whenever he saw we were struggling with a puzzle he would give us a hint in-character.

For immersion enthusiasts who love to have background details, many of the puzzles not only matched the theme of the room but also helped further tell the story of the family that lived in the cabin and what happened to them. Each puzzle flowed well from one to the next and then tied together neatly for the final scene. There were a good variety of puzzles and each were straightforward and easy to understand, however we did find that there were a lot of digit locks and that the puzzle-to-player ratio for our group was a little one sided as some of our team members had nothing to do while others solved puzzles. For everyone to have something to work on, we recommend a group of three to four players for this room.

Regarding room quality, we found that Cabin 13’s room design was simple, but in a good way. Because the theme was a log cabin, the room didn’t need a complex or fancy set. The wood-panelled walls, along with the lighting and antique prop/furniture choices, fit well with the story that was presented. There was one chair that fell apart when inspected, but for the most part all the props were solid and functioned well in the space. If we’re being nit-picky, we also noticed that some of the paper props were laminated — which took away from the immersion — but understand that it was to preserve them for longer use. We also wanted to note that the staircase leading to this room, while nicely decorated, did keep this room from being accessible for all players.

All in all, this room was tons of fun and we can’t emphasize enough how much we loved the actor in our game (we know that there are two actors who work this room, so your experience may vary depending on who you get). He really added to our experience and made Cabin 13 one of the scarier rooms we’ve played in the Greater Toronto Area. While this room had solid puzzles (even one some of us hadn’t seen before), there was no real wow-factor that had them standing out above the rest. If you’re looking for a room with good jump scares, fantastic acting and solid puzzles, this is definitely a room to try!