As traveling escape room enthusiasts who have played 200+ games, we make sure to play some Paris escape rooms whenever we’re in town.
To find high-quality, English-language games, we’ve scoured both of the main enthusiast blogs in France (Escape Game France and Escape Game Paris) and emailed a bunch of companies. We owe a lot of thanks to both the enthusiast blogs as they provided rich material for our research!
As a general rule for, if the escape room company offers an English-language website, then they will have rooms available in English. I would always double-check with the FAQ or contacting the company beforehand.
If you’re looking for our quick pick of our top recommendations, do L’Avion (The Plane) and Le Metro (Metro), both at The Game. The games are available in English and take place on a Plane and a Subway car, respectively. We haven’t played L’Avion yet but it’s on the top of our list of games to try.
Paris Escape Rooms Spreadsheet (Updated 2018)
Last Updated April 18th, 2018
We’ve compiled all reviews of Paris Escape Rooms from the two main French enthusiast blogs on this Paris Escape Room spreadsheet.
Our Personal Picks
We’ve done 7 escape rooms in Paris (and we picked them based on reading through enthusiast blogs). Here is our ranked list according to our own preference:
- Metro – The Game
- Submarine – HintHunt
- Assassin’s Creed – The Game
- Mayan Prophecy – Mystery Escape
- Little Miss Lock – Lock Academy
- A Near-Perfect Crime – Lock Academy
- Dr. Kang’s Apartment – Escape Agency
Paris escape rooms follow the “European” style of game – where most games are private and optimized for teams of 3-5 people. Most allow teams of 2 if you pay for a group of 3, but we recommend checking the FAQ or emailing beforehand. Many are also available in English, but make sure to check on that too. We’ve confirmed that all games listed here are available in English and are playable as a group of 2.
Some Parisian companies offer coffee or tea beforehand, which we thought was a nice touch. Also, most of the Paris games we played don’t offer hints by request. Instead, we had to wait for our gamemasters to offer us hints.
Tip: To our American readers, always remember that the date format is DD-MM-YYYY in most of Europe instead of MM-DD-YYYY. This fact is very relevant in escape rooms!
Louvre and Big Ben Image Credit: Yuan Jiang
#1. Metro – The Game
Enthusiast Ratings:
“The Game” has two decommissioned Metro cars and have created two copies of the same rooms for their participants to try out. As travelers, this one is particularly appropriate and fun since this game is truly a uniquely “Parisian” experience.
You start off in the main subway car, and there are additional “rooms” that will get opened and add to your experience. The realism is phenomenal, and the special effects are a huge plus to the experience. The realism makes this game fully immersive, without any distractions or things that really detract from the experience.
The puzzles go smoothly and many of them cleverly re-use actual components of the Metro Car. I am impressed by how this company managed to re-program many parts of a metro car to turn into a game, while still maintaining the whole interior appearance. Since the puzzles reuse parts of the Metro car in realistic and novel ways, the combination of a fantastic set and relevant puzzles makes this overall a fantastic experience.
We struggled a bit and needed quite a few hints, but that was because we didn’t search thoroughly enough or listen carefully enough. Still, this game was stellar and one of the best that we’ve ever done.
Quick facts:
- Game: Metro (Le Metro)
- Company: The Game
- Location: 51 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 5ème arrondissement de Paris, France
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers (they will give you an object in the game that turns a puzzle that physically requires 3 into a puzzle that physically requires only 2).
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 96€ for 2-3 players, 112€ for 4 players, 125€ for 5 players
- Language: Almost all text and audio in-game available in English. Hints given in English. There is one part where knowing a few basic French words will be helpful, but if you don’t know French they’ll give you hints anyway. Some jokes not important to gameplay are written solely in French.
- Booking: http://www.thegame-france.com/en/index.htm (book early as this one tends to sell out)
#2. Submarine – HintHunt
This video features the Cairo version of the Submarine, which is similar to the Paris version.
Enthusiast Ratings:
- Escape Room Tips: ★★★★½
- Escape Game France: n/a
- Escape Game Paris: ★★★★½
This game is a “mission” style game where your objective is to help save a friendly submarine. The whole room is inside a dedicated “box” that is styled and decorated to match what the interior of a submarine might look like. The decorative choices are made well and really add to a fully-immersive experience on the submarine.
The room itself felt remarkably sturdy and well-constructed, and very robust to the antics of creative puzzle-goers (although one small door was broken when we played this due to the over-enthusiasm of a past team, I trust that they fixed it quickly!).
I appreciated how “clean” the room was in that there wasn’t that much excess distraction or decoration, everything there felt appropriate and well-motivated. The puzzles were good, but the highlight of this game is the ability to just explore the submarine, touch everything, and learn more about its function and what you can do on it!
They have two difficulty levels of the game that affect your overall choices of the mission, and apparently the game can be played a second time if you switch the difficulties since the puzzles are different each time. If you’re an enthusiast, ask for the “hard” difficulty! If you’re a group of two, the game master will have to come in and assist during one portion.
Quick facts:
- Game: Submarine (Sous-marin)
- Company: HintHunt
- Location: 68 rue des archives, 75003 Paris, France
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers.
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 90-96€ for 2-3 players, 100-110€ for 4 players, 110-130€ for 5 players
- Language: Game fully available in English. Hints given in English.
- Booking: http://hinthunt.fr/indexen.php
#3. Assassin’s Creed: The Treasure of Templars – The Game
Enthusiast Ratings:
This game is in the same escape room complex as The Metro (which I would recommend over this one in case its available and you can only do one). “The Game” has a fairly-well developed multi-story escape room complex near a subway stop – and you can tell that they’ve put in a lot of time to make their service welcoming and their waiting areas comfortable.
Assassin’s Creed is a licensed escape room that is authorized by Ubisoft to use the trademark. You’ll be able to tell as you experience the game that this game earns its usage of the trademark, as the rooms here are expansive and extremely well-decorated to match the theme.
You won’t be running or climbing buildings in this game. Instead you’ll be sent on a mission to track down a mysterious artifact. This mission will take you through several rooms, each of which are thematically relevant and come with neat surprises that makes watching this game unfold satisfying. There are some unique puzzles and contraptions here that tie in very well with the theme of the room and make this room overall a great experience.
Quick facts:
- Game: Assassin’s Creed: The Treasure of Templars (Le Tresor Des Templiers Assassin’s Creed)
- Company: The Game
- Location: 51 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 5ème arrondissement de Paris, France
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers.
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 96€ for 2-3 players, 112€ for 4 players, 125€ for 5 players
- Language: Almost all text and audio in-game available in English. Hints given in English. (some jokes are purely in French, but those are not material to the gameplay)
- Booking: http://www.thegame-france.com/en/index.htm
#4. Mayan Prophecy – Mystery Escape
Enthusiast Ratings:
Mystery Escape has four identical copies of Mayan Prophecy (La prophétie Maya) available at their Rue Leon Jost location – ideal for any large-group event where you all want to try the same game. Mayan Prophecy is their newer and much better game (according to both of the enthusiast blogs in France).
In Mayan Prophecy, you must follow the steps of your explorer friend as the end of the world nears. You discover he disappeared into a mysterious Mayan Temple, and by the end you can uncover the mystery and save the world from sure destruction.
The game has an excellent quality set, with solid props and high-quality wall decorations that make you feel like you’re in a Mayan temple. This is a low-searching game where the many puzzles fall under the same type – some sort of decoding involving Mayan symbols. This is an overall fun experience with fun, clean puzzles in a great set.
Quick facts:
- Game: Mayan Prophecy (La prophétie Maya)
- Company: Mystery Escape
- Location: 2 Rue Léon Jost, 75017 Paris, France
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers.
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 96€ for 2-3 players, 112€ for 4 players, 130€ for 5 players
- Language: Everything is available in English. Hints given in English.
- Booking: http://mysteryescape.com/en/
#5. Little Miss Lock – Lock Academy
Enthusiast Ratings:
Lock Academy has three games available in the same building: Little Miss Lock, A Near-Perfect Crime, and The Heist of the Century. The Heist of the Century is their newest game, which is unfortunately not playable in English or as a group of 2. Little Miss Lock (this game) is playable in English and as a group of 2.
Little Miss Lock (Tres Cher Lock) follows the general theme of terrible things befalling the academic leaders of “Lock Academy”. In this game, you are tasked with investigating the disappearance of “Cher Lock”, the daughter of the founder of Lock Academy. The game starts with you exploring her bedroom for clues.
This game starts off somewhat normal with a smaller variety of puzzles, but you’ll eventually discover the room’s “big secret”. There are some fun high-tech and solidly built input devices that you’ll get to play with throughout the game. The story of the game indeed builds and resolves into a satisfying finish and climax. The neat high-tech gadgets makes this room an overall fun experience.
Quick facts:
- Game: Little Miss Lock (Tres Cher Lock)
- Company: Lock Academy
- Location: 25 rue Coquillière – 75001 Paris
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers.
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 96€ for 2-3 players, 112€ for 4 players, 120€ for 5 players
- Language: Everything is available in English. French audio is subtitled in English appropriately. Hints given in English.
- Booking: https://lockacademy.com/en/
#6. A Near-Perfect Crime – Lock Academy
Enthusiast Ratings:
A Near-Perfect Crime follows the death of Dean Doyle, a respected Dean of Lock Academy. The list of subjects has already been narrowed down to his four children, who were written out of his will. This game is playable in English and as a group of 2, unlike their The Heist of the Century game.
This game takes place in Dean Doyle’s office. The objective of the game is different than most other games – you have to use your deductive skills based on clues you uncover during the game to eliminate suspects and identify the perpetrator of the murder.
Quick facts:
- Game: A Near-Perfect Crime (Un Crime Presque Parfait)
- Company: Lock Academy
- Location: 25 rue Coquillière – 75001 Paris
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers.
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 96€ for 2-3 players, 112€ for 4 players, 120€ for 5 players
- Language: Everything is available in English. French audio is subtitled in English appropriately. Hints given in English.
- Booking: https://lockacademy.com/en/
#7. Dr. Kang’s Apartment – The Escape Agency
Enthusiast Ratings:
The Escape Agency has one game available upstairs in its location. We’ve confirmed with the company that the official name of the game is “L’appartement du Dr. Kang” which translates directly to t “Dr. Kang’s Apartment”. Since the official name isn’t listed on the website, other internet sources might call it “Dr. Kang’s Laboratory” or “Dr. Kang’s Virus”.
You are part of an agency which was informed of a top-secret compound developed by Dr. Kang and capable of destroying all life. Your task is to infiltrate laboratory, find the compound, and escape within 60 minutes.
Conveniently, this game offers three difficulty levels: beginner, experienced, and megalomaniac. The difficult levels affect three things: 1) difficulty of searching 2) how “clued” certain puzzles are 3) the cryptic nature of the hints. We would recommend either “beginner” or “experienced” to most of our readers. “Megalomaniac” is best reserved for teams that consider themselves hardcore puzzle solvers and don’t mind some difficult searching.
The game uses some neat tricks as puzzles, including quite a few cleverly hidden puzzles that were things that we’ve never seen before. The objective of the game becomes more clear as the game progresses to its satisfying ending.
Quick facts:
- Game: Dr. Kang’s Apartment (this is the official name of the game, although it is also sometimes known as Dr. Kang’s Laboratory or Dr. Kang’s Virus).
- Company: The Escape Agency
- Location: 36 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin 75010 Paris
- Players: 3-5 (recommended), 2 is ok as well for experienced room escapers.
- Duration: 1 hour game + intro + conclusion
- Price: 96€ for 2-3 players, 104€ for 4 players, 110€ for 5 players
- Language: Most everything available in English. Hints given in English. Small parts of the game (instructions to operate certain things) are only in French.
- Booking: https://www.the-escape-agency.fr/
Enjoy your own trip to Paris! What games did you play in English? How were they and would you recommend them? Leave your thoughts below in the comments.
If you plan on travelling more, check out our article about the Best Escape Rooms in London.
December 15, 2021 at 6:50 am
Really so amazing fact about escape room you have mentioned here I am so excited to visit this because I am a big fan of this. Actually I have already experienced one of my favourite “ESCAPE FOLSOM” in the USA which was so interesting for me so I always searching like this type of escape room with puzzle game.