The Paradox Project: The Mansion

The Paradox Project: Η Έπαυλη

By | March 20, 2019

by The Paradox Project (website)

Charokopou 93, Athina 176 76

Athens

3-7 players

Languages: EN, EL

180 mins
An unexpected invitation. A distant relative, who has years to give signs of life, reappears. As senses guilty outstanding persecute him, invites you to his mansion, to share with you a secret, which has its roots in the distant past and adventurist years in Africa … Are you ready to discover the bitter truth?
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Overall rating

Rated between 3 and 5 out of 5

based on ratings from 15 users
combined with 6 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 28 Dec 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
Dani Rose Forder expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
value for moneyoriginal
You must go into this game baring in mind that it was made 10 years ago. Some bits are worn and tired. But playing Mansion followed by bookstore is so worth it, as it allows you to see the progress made (plus the story will make more sense!). 
Someone does have to eat something in this game, there are no ingredients available so if any member of your party have food allergies just be aware of that. 
matt_keds expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 29 Oct 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
value for moneystory-driventiredquite difficult
Jess_keds expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivenplain

This was our first out of the Paradox project rooms so we were trying to temper our expectations. It’s hard to do when it’s such a highly ranked and esteemed company. 

The scale is impressive and is definitely an exciting experience when you’re used to UK sized ER‘s! We had a fun start to this ER and enjoyed how the puzzles were progressing. However, roughly 25 minutes in, we came to what felt like a dead end. We required many, many hints from the GM to get through a painfully long puzzle. The clue system is fun though. I had an enjoyable interaction with the GM during this stressful part. Once we’d finally moved on we flew through a few puzzles in a row, before once again hitting a dead-end. We once again had to ask for many hints to get any resolution. Usually, we get a hint and go ‘ahhh! Whoops, our bad’ as it’s our error yet each time we were thinking ‘why, how, what?!?’. There is one part to the ER where we’re put aside to allow for a reset of the ER whilst we’re getting increasingly frustrated in the midst of a non-sensical puzzle’. It’s weird to come out of a space, back into a space you’ve previously explored, to see it reset. It kind of killed the immersion for me. 

At the end, we apologised for needing so many hints. The GM’s words were ‘it’s not possible to do this without hints’. Shouldn’t every ER have that option though? We don’t care about hints. In fact, our perfectly rehearsed comments before an ER are “we’re not proud, give us a hint when we need one”, followed by me joking that I’ll be waving to the cameras for help. We love help! But if the GM’s know it can’t be completed without any help, then change the puzzles, please! 

gaia00 expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 16 Sep 2022 Team size: 4
originalcleverstory-drivenquite difficult
PurpleB expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 28 Nov 2022 Team size: 2
story-drivenepic

As others have noted, this room is showing its age a bit.  I found a couple of the puzzles to be a bit illogical which is why it doesn't get a higher rating, but it was very cool to have a whole house to explore and solve instead of just a room or two.

Anonymous expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

I think that when this game came out, it would have been spectacular. 
Now (2022) there is nothing that really stands out, other than the length of the game.
I must give credit to starting the story, and the open way the game starts.

However, props are tired, tropes that are now seen in all escape rooms, and for me there were two key parts (let's call them subrooms) that were just very frustrating. 

If you plan to play all of Paradox's games, give it a go. If you are there and not doing all three, I am not sure I can recommend this.

imrahil experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

As with the other paradox project rooms I think it could do with being shorter. 

abooth expert rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Played: 11 Aug 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 175 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersiveintenseepic

A stunning, huge game with the widest variety of puzzles imaginable. We loved that one of the main focuses is the advancement of the story, which is really easy to lose sometimes and we particularly loved the ending.

c2creviewer experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
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Reviews by escape room review sites

Visiting Athens almost a year after Sam was there, playing both Paradox Project's original game and their newly available sequel was top of my list. Athens is notable for how many of its games are longer than 60 minutes, sometimes much longer, but even by local standards the three-hour Paradox Project game stands out. Of course, length is no guarantee of quality - but in this case the sheer scale of this game is an important part of its appeal.

To set expectations, The Mansion was constructed s...

A three-hour game that feels so different to your average experience and not just because of the ample space and time. With a strong narrative via video segment and plenty of enjoyable puzzles, it’s a game that you should definitely book if you head to Athens.
Wir waren laut Aussage von Dimitris, dem Betreiber, das erste Team, das Paradox I (3h) und Paradox II (3h20m) back to back gespielt hat. Und es war geil!!! Man kann, wenn man möchte, ca. in der Mitte des Spiels eine Pause machen. Der Countdown wird dann angehalten.
While the sequel to The Mansion is more highly thought of, it would be wrong to skip this game in favour of only playing the second. The Mansion in its own right is a well-thought-out, fun game with a strong narrative, and an immense number of surprising and satisfying puzzles.
The Mansion was designed in 2014. At 3 hours in length, it played like the most epic escape room imaginable at that time. If you asked us to dream up the ultimate escape room back then, it would have looked a whole lot like Paradox Project’s The Mansion. The Mansion was a massive, classic escape room. It was search-heavy and filled with puzzle content. The set was overwhelmingly realistic, especially given its age.

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