CU Adventures in Time & Space - "Rise of the Icarus"

LOCATION:  Urbana, Illinois, USA

Photo above is property of CU Adventures in Time & Space

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Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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📝  ETR DECODER

• 🔑 GAME: Rise of the icarus

• 📅 DATE PLAYED: May 14, 2026

• 🎬 GENRE: Sci-Fi

• 🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 6/10

• 👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 4-8 ppl

• 🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.

• 💰 PRICE: $32.00/ pp (4 ppl), $27.00/ pp (5-8 ppl)

• ☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private

• 🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

You’ve been called to the Arctic to investigate a possible UFO crash. What begins as a routine first-day cadet assignment quickly turns into something much bigger, stranger, and more exciting than your training prepared you for…

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

• An unforgettable companion character: The heart of this experience is the absolutely adorable alien robot you meet along the way, serving as both your hint system and hype squad. Our GM did a fantastic job of bringing him to life and personalizing our interactions. We were completely enamored and thoroughly entertained.

• Cooperative puzzles: This room does a great job splitting information across spaces and encouraging real collaboration. The final sequence, in particular, required multiple hands, each with their own special job, and would have worked well for slightly larger teams. (This is why the room minimum is technically 4 people, and it would have been fun to have a few more players.) Thankfully, as a duo, the GM was able to help us out a bit from afar.

• A fresh take on the UFO aesthetic: Rise of the Icarus has a stunning and beautiful interpretation of a UFO environment. It manages to feel both industrial and otherworldly in a really cohesive way. It’s impressive, immersive, and just plain cool to explore and hang out in!

• Tech integration and satisfying solves: There are plenty of creative puzzles and cool effects interwoven with tons of futuristic tech. This game has SO many fun gadgets and gizmos and doodads…but they do a good job making it clear what goes together and what’s actually in play. They even have a cool, futuristic “lantern” to ensure you don’t have any issues with dim lighting.

• Color-blind friendly: Color-based puzzles are generally supported with symbol or shape backups.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

• Light narrative thread: While the experience is consistently fun and engaging, the story itself doesn’t evolve in a deeply meaningful way. Things change and progress in a positive way, but we never really gained an understanding of the backstory or underlying reasoning behind what we were doing.

• Visual confusion: One puzzle had a background that we were meant to ignore but I interpreted as meaningful (leading to struggles completing the puzzle). It didn’t seem necessary or much of an enhancement, so I questioned why it was there. However, it seemed clear to Dave it was just a background to be ignored, so I may be unusual in finding it misleading.

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

"Rise of the Icarus" was an absolute blast. We walked out stunned that this wasn’t the top-ranked room in their lineup (having not yet played Forest of Fables). It is probably our favorite spaceship-themed game we’ve played, with such a stellar combination of high-end set design, tech that really wows, endearing character interactions, AND a myriad of super satisfying, co-op heavy puzzles to solve. We consider it a can’t miss in the greater Chicago area, and it feels adaptable enough to suit almost any group. It’s truly a maximal version of spaceship room!

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Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

• Private lot with a good amount of parking.

• The generous lobby/waiting area where you check in has both shirts for sale and a creative, co-operative version of tetris you can play.

• There are bathrooms and a water cooler available.

• There are no lockers, but you can leave your things in the rooms themselves.

• On the other side of the building, you’ll find Parcadia – a very cool mini-golf experience with a tavern, a mini puzzle-hunt, and lots more in the works!

• Across the street there is also a food hall with a variety of options.

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Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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BOOK NOW

(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank CU Adventures in Time & Space for providing us with a media discount for this game. Although a media discount was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#KristaJones #IRLescaperoom #EscapeRooms #CUAdventures #SciFi #USA #Illinois