Athens is famed for some incredible things! Epic Acropolis & Parthenon, Mediterranean sunshine, mouth-watering gyros and some of the world’s best Horror escape rooms! In 2022, when we started Prodigy, we became aware of the TERPECA awards. An international annual award that saw enthusiasts who have played at least 200 escape rooms put forward their top picks for the best escape rooms in the world. The nominations then go through a voting round where enthusiasts who have played over 100 escape rooms select their favourites from those games. The top room in the world for 2022 was Lockhill’s Chapel & Catacombs game.
Our interest in Escape rooms started after our adventures with Exeter’s Haunted House. We were very keen to see what some of the top-rated rooms in the world had to offer, so we booked a flight to Athens to check out a few rooms!
Lockhill – Sanatorium
Having booked Chapel & Catacombs first, we only then realised that it was the fourth part of the Lockhill storyline. We looked over the other rooms and decided that we’d go for the room that was rated as the scariest: the Sanitorium. The live-actor aspect has always interested us, and it is something we’d like to actively consider for the future at Prodigy.
We arrived at an unassuming office building just outside of Athens city centre. We made our way up in the lifts to find a door with the Lockhill name and a selection of reviews adorning the entrance. When we were invited in, we found ourselves in a themed lobby area. We were ushered into a shop with our host immediately in character.
I won’t delve into spoilers for the room, but it was intense. We were tasked with venturing into the disused Sanitorium to seek out a demonic skull used for rituals. We loved the way that the room used in-character actors, which added a new dynamic to the gameplay. The narrow walkways and limited visibility, navigated entirely by torchlight, made for a tense atmosphere throughout.
The rooms have three different gameplay modes available:
- Day – No actors but with more puzzles
- Night – Standard amount of puzzles but with actors
- Midnight – More puzzles and actors
We went for night mode and ended up adding a few extra puzzles. The actor interactions were very intense, and when our team focused more on the threat of fear, we decided to let the actors enjoy the rest of the session by taking a break! From what we were advised, we only missed out on one final interaction, so it wasn’t too much of a detraction. We emerged with the demonic skull with 15 minutes to spare. On reflection, we could have probably gone for the midnight mode, but we were happy as our primary aspiration was to experience the actor dynamic.
What we learnt from The Sanitorium
It was fun to interact with the actors, and they added an intense atmosphere to the gameplay. The strategy of dealing with the actors made for a puzzle in itself. It was interesting to see how much the threat of fear impacted the group and how it made some tasks much more challenging. The different gameplay modes were a fantastic idea and indeed enables groups to get the best experience possible based on their preference.
Lockhill – Chapel & Catacombs
The Chapel and Catacombs was the showstopper we were most excited about. All we knew in advance was that this was a big place and that we’d need to find another demonic skull to complete a ritual.
We arrived at the Nea Ionia site, which was quite a distance from the first location we visited. The area felt fairly industrial, but after diving into a large building and heading up a few floors, we arrived outside a rail carriage. A ticket attendant confirmed our booking, in character once again, and we climbed into the rail carriage as a video covered the Lockhill story so far. After our train ‘arrived’ at the station, we disembarked to be greeted by William, who took us to the local tavern. There, we were able to make use of the facilities and lock our belongings away. Again, to avoid spoilers, we started going through various challenges.
The scale of Lockhill is impressive. The initial chapel room alone would rival most UK experiences. Theatrical elements and character-led interactions were fantastically woven between puzzles to give each step in our journey purpose. The mechanisms of character-led puzzles and the division of the group left us really exploring so many dark elements in this room. It indeed was an unforgettable experience. There were a few times when we had to venture to the confession room. The unseen character insisted that each time, a new team member would need to visit. This was a great way to modify the group dynamic and shifted the feeling of isolation for each team member, having to take that visit back through the experience for all sorts of terrors that may have been lurking. It also meant that the most confident were rattled through in descending order. There was a section where I was isolated from the group. Whilst this did create a thrilling element for the rest of the team, I did find myself wandering around in disorientating darkness for an extended period of time, which certainly slowed down the pace of my own experience. I’m not entirely sure whether this was intentional or whether I was just terrible at navigation. Sadly, as the hosts were in character throughout our visit, they didn’t really answer any direct questions we had about the experience, so I’m still unsure exactly what happened.
The story concluded in an open-ended manner, leaving the door firmly open for future instalments. We were very impressed by the overarching storyline of each room and the way that each room could be played independently or to advance the story further as part of the larger narrative.
What we learnt from The Chapel & Catacombs
This was by far the most extensive escape experience we’ve ever taken on. The navigation of the space and mechanisms in place to divide team members came with both pros and cons to the overall experience. The structuring of overall gameplay with actor elements aligned with our puzzle progress was fantastically well done. It made the completion of each puzzle feel very impactful. It’s clear to see why this experience is subject to worldwide acclaim.
H-Ice-T Tiki – Way Out Escape Rooms
We thought we’d take a bit of a break from horror to try out another highly regarded room. From what we discovered after booking, we were one of the first few groups to try a relatively new room, H-Ice-T Tiki, taking over from Ice Tiki. The prospect of an Ice-based game felt like a wise choice from the warm few days we were experiencing despite it still only being March!
We arrived after once again travelling a fair distance from the City centre via a combination of Metro and Bus, which took around an hour. Way Out is positioned on the ground floor of what appeared to be a residential unit, which was indeed a surprise. We ventured in to meet our host. It was pretty lovely to chat escape rooms with the owner after our previous endeavours had been with characters throughout the experiences.
With our shoes removed at the door, we ventured in! The room was quite a physically active affair, but it felt friendly and light-hearted throughout. The gameplay was accompanied by some humorous sound effects, which validated whether we were on the right track or not. A strategy that we recognised as we have this as part of our own Wizards of Wyvern. The room featured the trickiest puzzles that we encountered throughout our visit to Athens, with lots of interesting elements intertwined with fun, active puzzles. The room never took itself too seriously and focused on the fun elements.
What we learnt from H-Ice-T Tiki
This was very much a slapstick fun heist room. It was great to experience some of the hint elements we’ve been using from the other side. There were a few funny bits in the room that, whilst meant to be humorous, came off as a bit frustrating, but this was more so from our errors. The room was quite physically active, and at times, we had to resolve workarounds to ensure the whole team was involved. The new room layout addressed some of these elements in its room design, and we were grateful for their inclusion.
El Exorcista – No Exit Escape Rooms
We grabbed an Uber directly from Way Out to No Exit. One thing we had struggled to adjust to was the late start times for rooms,. For most rooms, the first entry was at 5 p.m., and the last sessions sometimes started as late as 1 a.m.! As we arrived at No Exit, the previous group was in an outdoor waiting area. They looked visibly shaken, having just completed El Exorcista. After waiting a few minutes, we entered the lobby and met our host.
Following the introduction, the host left the room, and the lights went dark. A Radio message instructed us to head outside the building and down the road to number 13. After three knocks, the door creaked open, and we ventured into a darkened area with only some atmospheric dim lighting and an LED candle to illuminate our way. Following a few puzzles in this room, we headed down a narrow, winding hallway before being confronted by a priest standing guard outside a door. The priest warned us of the imminent danger we were about to encounter. He took our candle (Dang!) and ushered us inside the dark room. There was an uncomfortable silence lingering in the room. Out of the darkness, a light illuminated a hunched-over girl came into view sobbing on the floor. She looked up and screamed as a force pulled her from the room. Wow, what a start! That initial interaction was enough to unsettle one of our team members, who asked to leave the room. I won’t give any more away, but this room was fantastic! As horror enthusiasts, we loved the attention to detail of using horror to manoeuvre between the puzzles. Each puzzle was well placed to feature a spine-tinglingly fantastic response using actors, lighting and sound to dazzling effect.
What we learnt from El Exorcista
Horror has always been a passion of ours. The ability to conjure fear, anticipation, and dread to powerful effect is genuinely an art form that can deliver a fantastic experience. El Exorcista was a masterclass in performance, and we’d love to aspire to recreate something like it in the future.
How did we plan our Escape room trip?
We reviewed several different sources to select which rooms to visit. The reviews of our friends Gordon and Liz from Review the Room were our starting point, and we confirmed them with some great rankings on EscapeRoomers.de. The Terpeca rankings were also a significant factor, as we were keen to see exactly what it could take to bring our own experiences up to that level.
How was our first international escape room experience?
We were nervous about trying an escape room in a country where we didn’t speak the native language, but that needn’t have been the case. All rooms that we played featured both Greek and English versions and possibly additional languages depending on the venue. We’re pretty lucky that English is our native language, and it seems to be the default international language, so it is well-supported. Most puzzles didn’t rely too heavily on language, although there were two puzzles which we struggled with where the hints left us a bit confused, but it was resolved with minor inconvenience. Even the introduction videos that were in Greek featured English subtitles, so we were never left unsure of what we needed to do.
How did we plan our Escape room trip?
We reviewed several different sources to select which rooms to visit. The reviews of our friends Gordon and Liz from Review the Room were our starting point, and we confirmed them with some great rankings on EscapeRoomers.de. The Terpeca rankings were also a significant factor, as we were keen to see exactly what it could take to bring our own experiences up to that level.
What tips would we share?
- Check room details carefully – Be aware that not all rooms offer English versions, and also pay special attention to any present warnings. One of our rooms mentioned taking a spare change of shoes, and this was good advice
- Timings—Not all rooms are 60 minutes long like in the UK, which is worth being aware of. They also open at later times than we’re used to, with most being open from around 5 p.m. on weekdays but running until 1 a.m. in some locations.
- Book in advance—We were recommended a few rooms but could not attend due to availability. Even when booking around a week in advance, some sites were sold out for the entire week of our visit, so make sure you book early to avoid disappointment.
In Summary
Athens was a blast. We went for the horror, and we got exactly that and more! So many excellent rooms, and we barely scratched the surface of what was there. Having started Prodigy Escapes & Experiences due to our desire to do horror year-round, we knew that the format of escape rooms was the perfect match for scare attractions, and this trip galvanised that for us! Each room provided its own unique experience. Sanatorium showed us the intense manner that a torchlit experience with actors could present and using those actors to create new scenarios. Chapel and Catacombs showed us the full scale of what was possible with world-building and really pushed the potential of what we thought was possible with an escape room. H-Ice-T Tiki reminded us of the fun that can be presented through escape rooms for groups. El Exorcista appealed to our passion for scaring. Crafting scenes, thinking about how people will react to different scenarios whilst using escape room puzzles as a strategy to deliver atmosphere. There are still so many more rooms that we are desperate to explore. I don’t think it will be long until we return to the city.