Escapology Escape Rooms Orland Park — Attraction in Orland Township

[Update 4/24/23 - 5 Stars] After my initial review, manager Katie reached out to apologize & generously offered for us to return and try another room. We chose Lost City and had a blast! We did have communication with game masters this time. Their assistance was timely & relevant, we escaped with plenty of time, and we were greeted by the person who brought us into the room. We had a moment to recall the action & the fun and all in all, this is much more in line with our best escape room experiences to date and certainly what we expect from an establishment as highly praised as Escapology. Thank you Katie, Jordan, Gwen, Rhyan, and Molly. Looking forward to visiting you all again soon for another adventure!

[2 Stars] With all the good reviews & a recommendation from a coworker, my husband & I thought this would be a really great experience. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Our game master was completely absent from our game (Murder Mansion) which was not only frustrating & disappointing, but also completely contrary to other escape room experiences. The best ones have friendly and engaging game masters who help to heighten the experience and advise if you're approaching something the wrong way. Every second counts & having them tell you to stop or pivot can really make a difference between success and failure.

In the briefing before we started, we said we'd welcome her unsolicited input if she thought we were taking too long on a puzzle or clue. Otherwise, we'd call out for her to ask for clues if we were stuck. Supposedly, we were entitled to an unlimited amount of clues, especially given there were only two of us and A LOT of clues to get through. But there was nothing but silence every time we called out for her. We pushed the button for clues on the screen more than we would have liked as a result, realizing about halfway through that that was the only help we were getting. This definitely broke immersion too because in looking at the clock, we didn't have the luxury of reading everything new we discovered and putting our heads together to figure it out--we needed to get direct answers to move forward, which made it more stressful than fun.

We deduced the final clue and had we 10 more seconds, we would've been able to enter the final code to successfully complete the room. Instead at the end, the door was opened by someone who wasn't our game master, so there was no typical debrief to talk about what we did well or to recount the highlights of the game. We were brought to the front, given a first visitor return coupon, and bid good day. There was no closure whatsoever. So, not only did we feel abandoned and set up for failure from the beginning, but we couldn't enjoy the story or the room enough to say any of it was worth it. It's a lovely facility aesthetically, but the lack of care & involvement for our game really soured what should have been a lot of fun, even if we...

Disappointing! My husband & I decided to try our last room at Escapology in Orland Park. While the room was challenging & fun, we did get to a point where we needed guidance & asked for a clue, again & again with no response from our game master. After nearly 5 minutes I left the room, went to the front desk where the control room is, only to find the 2 individuals sitting there, turned away from the monitors, both busy at work ON THEIR CELL PHONES. I said “hey, we’ve been trying to get a clue for about 5 minutes,” startling them both (if they were doing their job, they would’ve seen me leave the room). They claimed “technical difficulties” however they seemed to be able to hear us just fine after that; they claimed they gave us “10 extra minutes” but by my watch it was about 4. And lastly, when our time was up, they sent the person who just started in to get us since I’m sure they heard my complaints about them being on their cell phones and not doing their jobs. When Escapology first opened, it was excellent, but our last 2 experiences there left a lot to be desired. For the money you pay for an hour experience, you expect the staff to pay attention & do their job and not be engrossed in their cell phones. I will no longer recommend Escapology to anyone.

UPDATE: The day after I posted the above review, Katie, the manager from Escapology reached out to me regarding our experience. We talked and she apologized for the staff being on their cell phones, calling it completely unacceptable, and promptly issued us a refund (she said normally they would invite us back to try another room for free but since that was our last room, she refunded us). Katie showed that Escapology cares about its customers and its reputation. Katie gets 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for her quick action and...

We played the Lost City room and had a great experience. Off the bat: 2+ rooms within the game is automatic points for me. The puzzles were challenging, satisfying, and never frustrating. The elements of each puzzle functioned as designed and we did not encounter any glitches. The gameplay flowed well. We finished just in time, which is always a mark of a well-paced room. The hint system was easy to use. I am a proponent of infinite hints, which was what was provided. In the end we only used two, which is another mark of a challenging but not frustrating room. The set design was high quality both in an aesthetic sense and a practical sense (very few gratuitous props, all non game related items fixed in place so as not to distract players, and white boards on the walls for figuring/brainstorming which I’ve never seen before but love not having to carry it around with me!). My only complaint might be a little too much work with cyphers, but that’s just a personal preference, and that’s on me as I could have anticipated cyphers based on the theme.

The staff person who helped us was my people. She was so nice and clearly an escape room enthusiast, and recognized the escape room enthusiast in us immediately. The lobby area and bathrooms were also aesthetically pleasing and very clean.

I have been to many, many escape rooms in many different cities, and this place definitely stands out as one of the best experiences I’ve had. I am so glad they have so many rooms, because I literally cannot...