" We're evolving the [escape room] experience towards something that's more theatrical, with puzzling, gaming, and immersive art all together." Magnifico is currently (as of November 2025) the top escape room in the world, as voted on by experienced escape room enthusiasts. For 2.5 hours, we were transported to another world where magic is real and anything is possible. This game was a culmination of Escaparium's signature style: epically sized and meticulously built sets with large-scale puzzles that involve the whole team, and meaningful stories told through both gameplay and theatrical moments featuring live actors. Jonathan Driscoll and Sacha St. Denis are the owners and driving force behind Escaparium, in Laval, Canada (just outside of Montreal). Since their previous appearance on REPOD, they've cemented their spot as one of the top companies in world. Last year, in 2024, they captured the #1 and #3 spots on the TERPECA rankings, with their games Magnifico and Forgotten Cathedral, respectively. Wardrobe for Sale ranked at #14, and Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen ranked at #37 in the world. It's clearly not a fluke. Escaparium is consistently creating world-class games, year after year, and when they're not busy opening new games, they're renovating and remodeling old experiences. Rain Corp. has been given a make-over into Ctrl Alt Reboot. They are also overhauling their lobby once again, creating an immersive bar experience featuring a crashed space ship. Jonathan and Sacha joined us to talk about their new games, what's driving them, and where they're getting inspiration. My biggest takeaway from this conversation was that they are very involved in the escape room community and industry. They are constantly traveling and playing games. They attend every convention. For them, it's always about the details. If even one small detail inspires their next idea, Jonathan says it's gold. That's the mindset they instill in their whole team as well.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COG