CU Adventures in Time & Space - "The Forest of Fables"
- Dave Bristol
- Jun 9
- 3 min read
LOCATION: Urbana, Illinois, USA
Photo above is property of CU Adventures in Time & Space
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: The Forest of Fables
📅 DATE PLAYED: May 14, 2026
🎬 GENRE: Fantasy
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 6/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 4-8 ppl (Recommended Ages 13+)
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 75 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $37.00/ pp (4 ppl), $32.00/ pp (5+ ppl)
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes
📖 THE STORY
The Narrator’s sister, The Collector, has disappeared into a story world, and the Narrator is unable to enter to help her. So, she recruits you to step into the pages as Characters and journey through the tale in hopes of finding The Collector and helping her escape before the story closes around her for good.
🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
Storybook immersion: Forest of Fables is one of the most transportive escape rooms we’ve ever played. The world is expansive, whimsical, and constantly surprising, with an improv-heavy immersive theater element that makes the entire adventure feel alive. And it empowered us to believe that we had real agency as characters in the tale.
Spectacular fantasy world: The set design is just fabulous, from the large-scale environments to the intricate details, and totally befitting the storybook world. We were surprised and delighted each time we gained access to a new space.
Narrative progression: One of the things we appreciated most was how the story developed over time – both in terms of the actual plot and in the mechanisms used to convey it. It was playful, fresh, and right up our alley!
Expectation-defying moments: This game plays with player assumptions in clever ways and delivers some truly magical reveals and unexpected twists as the tale unfolds.
Smooth flow: This is a tech-heavy room, with the thematic puzzles well-integrated into the environment and story. Some sections were more linear than others, and it all flowed smoothly. Everything just worked and made sense.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
This was one of our favorite rooms EVER, and very well-rounded, so we’re digging pretty deep for critiques. If we had to nitpick:
A slightly fuzzy chapter: The narrative framing in an early section felt a touch less clear to us than the rest of the experience. Our goal was understood, but we didn’t totally follow where we were. Once the adventure fully unfolds, though, the storytelling becomes much easier to follow.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
Ranked the #2 escape room in the US in the 2025 TERPECA awards, "The Forest of Fables" absolutely earns its reputation. It’s imaginative, theatrical, playful, interactive, surprising…you will indeed feel like you’re stepping inside a fairytale!
This is an ideal room for players who value immersion and storytelling over pure puzzle grind. While there are certainly satisfying puzzles throughout, the real enchantment comes from existing inside the story world and uncovering its secrets piece by piece. The fantastic actor interaction element also adds an unexpected, human energy that makes the experience feel all the more personalized and memorable.
It’s absolutely worth the effort to get out to Champaign-Urbana to play! (And while Champaign-Urbana is a bit of a trek from other attractions, with 7 rooms and Parcadia there’s plenty to keep you occupied just at CU Adventures…) So embrace your inner Character and dive into this fable, with all its twists, humor, creativity, and the undeniable sparks of magic along its wondrous adventure. It’s unlike anything else we’ve played.
Photos above are property 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.
Features a live actor in-game
Photos above are property ESCAPETHEROOMers
(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.
