Just Escape — Attraction in Town of Oyster Bay

Update II: I'm updating my review since my friend and I came here for the final time to complete Slime Island! As we predicted, this room was better than the "harder" rooms because it made more sense. I think Slime Island actually has the best sequencing of all the rooms, as it was clear what clue unlocked what. The room is definitely more island themed than slime themed, and that was a little disappointing to us, as we came for the slime concept! We also wish that the puzzles match with the theme of the room, as that makes the experience more immersive. I stand by all my prior opinions of Just Escape being 3 stars. If you are looking to try it out, I would recommend both Slime Island and Ultimate Candy Factory for the best experience!

Update I: My friend and I came back for Pirates of the Dark Sea at 1:30pm on a Sunday. The room itself was one of the worst escape rooms I have ever done (2 stars), but overall, I am rating the franchise 3 stars. TL:DR - This franchise struggles with logical sequencing. Also, if you are trying this room be aware that there is a point where you could hit your head on something. My friend did and the pain lasted for over a day, so be aware!

Pirates of the Dark Sea is marketed as one of the hardest rooms. In my opinion, it is difficult because nothing makes sense, not because it is actually hard. I had two points of extreme frustration before I was so done with the room. The first was when the clue master took away a clue for something that we were already doing. It involved slightly shifting pieces to align them, but it's not like we did not know what to do. Then, the clue master gives us another clue that is WRONG. I wish I could tell you what it was without spoiling, but alas. I hate rooms where you need a cluemaster to get out, and that there are so many red herrings and no direction what to do. I had similar critiques of the Illusionist, but there were some puzzles in there I enjoyed, and it was not as bad as this one. However, after seeing the same issues repeat themselves, I feel more confident in saying that it is an issue with the franchise. After we broke out, the cluemaster told us he was surprised we kept saying we weren't going to get out, since we were apparently "ahead of where we needed to be." I felt so lost during the entire experience, so this comment eluded me.

My friend and I are going to come back for Slime Island because it was highly recommended, but unless we run out of other escape rooms, it seems like they get worse with increased difficulty. As of right now, I would only recommend The Ultimate Candy Factory.

First room! My friend and I have exhausted the escape rooms in Manhattan, and we have had our eyes on Just Escape for a while now! We did the Ultimate Candy Factory at 11:20 on a Sunday. We are always nervous to try a new franchise as a group of 2, but Just Escape was extremely welcoming and friendly. I had called beforehand, and the Ultimate Candy Factory was recommended by the staff member, and it did not disappoint! Coming from the city, we didn't expect the company look like a house off the side of the road, so we did pass it when driving there.

Regarding gameplay, this is one of their easier rooms, and after completing it, I can see why. I personally do not like rooms that rely on finding things like an easter egg hunt, which is how some of the clues are found. Yes, I get it makes the room easier, but I feel more accomplished unlocking a clue by solving a puzzle than just finding it hidden somewhere. I also think the clues could be sequenced better so there are subtle hints on what to do. We appreciated the variety of puzzles (not just number locks), which makes the room better. For me, the final puzzle was a repeat of one I had seen at The Escape Game, so the thrill was muted there, but for first timers, I could see how it would be cool to see!

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves and will be back to try the other rooms! One perk of this room is you get a small cup of candy when you breakout. How can anyone...

I can’t believe this place is so highly rated. So disappointing. I am an escape room enthusiast and was looking for a new escape room to try and was hoping it would be this. I did the Pirate room with a few others.

This room is not well made. The biggest frustration is that there is a seemingly giant puzzle with multiple components pointing towards it that is apparently “a red herring” and only there to waste your time. Well made escape rooms do not need to kill time by having you spend 1/3 of your hour on puzzles that don’t exist. It should be actual complex puzzles that eat up your time, not unsolvable nonsense. I’m still shocked that the game master told us that that was simply there to waste our time because we spent about 25 minutes thinking that was the puzzle we needed to solve. Additionally, the game master’s clues were terrible. In fact, I am fairly certain one of the clues intentionally pointed us towards the “fake puzzle” because we weren’t able to figure out what else it could have meant. Some of the other clues gave us hints to things we had already solved and didn’t help us at all.

Some of the puzzles weren’t even puzzles, it was as simple as finding a number written somewhere and plugging it into random boxes until one opened.

There were so many puzzle boxes but no indication of which clue belonged to which box, so sometimes we would solve a clue and then have to waste time trying the code into 6 boxes before one of them opened.

Finally, I have never been in an escape room that doesn’t walk you through the explanation at the end and show you what you had left to complete and what the answers are. When we asked at the end, we were told they weren’t allowed to tell us. Part of the fun when you don’t escape is seeing what you missed out on and having the answers so you can go “ahhhh, that’s it.” To just be like “okay, times up, bye” with no explanation felt extremely anticlimactic and left me with even more of a sour taste in my mouth.

If you are actually a fan of escape rooms and enjoy trying to solve complex puzzles, this is NOT the...

see below for original review and recent update

My family of 4 did the Cabin in the Woods room on March 1st, 2021 for my birthday. We had no idea that it was the hardest room they had at the time of booking, we let our sons pick based on the room descriptions. Tom was our host, he was fabulous, very personable. We didn’t make it out in time, but we enjoyed it and pre-paid to go back for another room. The place has its own parking lot, inside was very clean. We wore our masks until we were alone, then we were able to take them off while trying to escape. The room was downstairs so be aware of that in case you have someone with a disability. I didn’t ask if there was an elevator or another entrance to the lower level.

*6/21/21 - Update….. we’ve done a total of 4 escape rooms with Just Escape since March and absolutely love this place!!! We’ve made it out of the Illusionist, Wizards, and last night for Father’s Day we successfully escaped the Pirates of the Dark Sea. The rooms range in levels of difficulty so pay attention to that before booking, as I mentioned in my original review. It’s not easy, but it’s doable and the game masters certainly do their best with your clues, sometimes offering an extra clue if you do something silly like tell a joke. Something else you should know is that you do have the option of being handcuffed in the Wizards room, but it’s not really advertised. If you book that room and want to do that, ask for that when you arrive or call them prior, it’s not any extra money but it’s fun and adds to the experience, it just takes them a few extra minutes to set it up beforehand. (You aren’t handcuffed the entire time, you do get a key at some point.) Again, I highly recommend this place. I still find them to be extremely clean, fantastic setup in each room and the staff is always very personable. We plan to keep going there and look forward to new rooms as they...