Top Tier Escape Rooms — Local services in Oceanside

Disappointing Escape Room Experience: Lack of Immersion and Unintuitive Puzzles

I'm always hesitant to leave a negative review for an escape room, as I understand the amount of time and effort that goes into creating these experiences. However, I cannot recommend this one when there are numerous other more immersive, engaging, and enjoyable escape rooms in the area.

TL;DR: Poor immersion, limited and unintuitive puzzles, mostly empty and unused space in the room, and a botched ending by the game master.

There were several aspects of the room that felt underwhelming, but the biggest disappointment came at the end of the game. We were on the last puzzle (no spoilers, don't worry), following a series of eight specific steps. After completing only four steps, the congratulations music played, and the game master entered to congratulate us. We hadn't even finished the puzzle, and there were still 10 minutes left - an anticlimactic moment that could have been epic.

We only tried the "Undercover" room, so I can't speak for the other rooms. Here's a rundown of our experience:

The price was higher than most other locations in the area. A higher price would be justifiable if the experience matched the cost, but based on our rating, it didn't. The immersion was lacking throughout the hour. The game master didn't enter character or create an engaging introduction, which is something I've come to expect from escape rooms. Puzzle design was a major issue. The puzzles were unintuitive, and most of the room was filled with empty space and various objects that served no purpose. These objects didn't feel like red herrings, but rather like the result of an uninspired room design. There were few puzzles that were satisfying or enjoyable to solve.

Despite our group having tried 14 different escape rooms, we unanimously agreed that this was our least favorite.

On a positive note, the story was interesting and consistent, which initially drew us in. Unfortunately, the execution of the room left much to be desired.

EDIT: in response to the owner Firstly, could've cut out the middle few paragraphs and had a very dignified, professional, NOT passive aggressive response.

Clarifying the unintuitive puzzles: there werent many puzzles(one of my gripes) so we finished quickly, and although several key puzzles lacked clarity, we were able to brute force trial and error because we've done quite a few escape rooms. Finishing early and finding the puzzles unintuitive is not contradictory, and it shows that my issues with the puzzles wasn't rooted in being a sore loser. It's a little disappointing that the owner didn't even attempt to understand my perspective regarding puzzle improvement. It's hard to describe exactly how the puzzles weren't intuitive without giving them away, but the another big part of my reasoning had to do with all of the extraneous props in the room that didn't serve a purpose.

I apologize for thinking the ending was triggered by the game master and placing the blame on them, but now it's even more strange that the ending was solved early. That's a defect in that particular puzzle that it's able to trigger an ending several steps before it should. It was not simply "the final step" or even the second or third to final step. Escaping the room and the ending tends to be the most exciting part of each room! And getting halfway through a puzzle just to hear that you won would be disappointing for most.

Pricing: I'm just gonna let people visit the boss play website and see that...

I want to preface this by saying that we arrived late. (My fault for not checking the time and keeping us on track with that) We arrived about 15 minutes late.

Once we arrived, the rest of our party was already there and waiting. The game master was no where in sight. Used the restroom and came back, filled out our waiver and the GM was not in a rush and was not hurrying us along, and didn't mention that the room had been booked after us or that there was anything off.

Once we arrived in the room and began, he updated our timer and removed about 20-23 minutes from our time. We managed to complete the room but there was no warning that if we didn't hurry when we arrived that we would be docked for time, no warning on the website, and again, it would have been very understandable if there was a team that booked after us but that was not communicated. The GM was not engaging and barely acknowledged us. We had played two rooms at Top Tier previously and were excited for a third, but we will probably not go back.

For the room itself. We played Operation Avalanche. Supposedly one of their harder rooms. Honestly, a huge let down. This room was pretty lack-luster in terms of decor, the puzzles were basic and uninteresting, and overall it wasn't up to par with the previous rooms we had done there. Additionally, you are given an iPad with a timer on it and "clues" where you can just press next and get the answers. We felt like kids who were handed an iPad and told to go away. There was no communication with a game master, the clues were way too specific so it just gave all of the answers away, and there wasn't an opportunity for you to feel like they gave you just enough of a hint for you to solve it on your own. If I wanted to play a game with pre-written hints I would just go buy one of the mini escape rooms at Target and save $100.

Top Tier has fallen off since I last played. I recommend Red Door Escape rooms (where we have messed up which location we went to and they let us start 20 minutes late and gave us our full time) or Escapology. Both of those places have engaging Game Masters who want to be there, unique and interesting rooms, and you are actually given hints as opposed to hitting...

I took my teenaged daughter and the two of us had so much fun in the Outside In escape room. Like everyone else had already mentioned, although at first appearances the place is small, but boy do they really utilize the space well. The puzzles were tricky enough to really make us think but not so hard that it left us utterly stumped. I love how you are paired only with your party and not with a bunch of random people. Nothing wrong with being paired with strangers, but if you are with people you don’t know, then there is a greater chance of difficulties working with those whose personalities you might not mesh well with. Not a problem with Top Tier escape rooms though.

I also truly appreciated the easy-going and professional employees there who are more than accommodating and patient. Also, no pressure to pay extra, or up charges, so that too was also appreciated. Arwan was a great host and very pleasant throughout our time there.

We will definitely be back soon. Prices were also very fair. Loved the overall experience.

On April 12, 2025 my daughter and I returned for another adventure. On this experience we went to the Atlantis room. It was a lot of fun with some challenging puzzles. My daughter and I definitely enjoyed it, but of the two we have done so far we both liked our first escape room the most, Outside In, as it was really impressive just how much they packed into such a small area.

The staff is great and we definitely like the added tablet system which allows you to ask for clues along the way. We definitely recommend this Escape Room and we plan on completing the last...