The Cipher Room - St Peters (Sydney, Australia)
Time limit: 60 minutes
Age limit: None
Player limit: 2-8 (recommended 2-6)
Difficulty: 4.5/5
Awards: TERPECA Top Room No. 68 (2022), TERPECA Finalist (2023), Best of Morty (2023), Golden Lock (2024)
Date visited: July 2024
The excitement as we entered La Rebellion with our eyes closed was palpable. After all, it is Sydney’s top-ranked room, coming in at No. 67 on TERPECA in 2022. With such high expectations, La Rebellion was primed to disappoint, but I’m glad to report that it lived up to hype and more.
As with all of Cipher’s rooms, walking into La Rebellion was like walking into another world. The immersion and level of attention to detail is off the charts. To be honest, dystopian France is not a theme I was particularly interested in, yet I became fully engrossed in the experience due to the design of the room, the quality of the props, and the ingenuity of the puzzles.
What really makes all of Cipher’s rooms stand out is the use of colour, sound, space, and especially textures. The sepia colour palette of this room really made it feel like we were on the set of a WWII movie. There is a brilliant centrepiece that truly amazed me, not just by the fact it’s there, but because of how they utilised it in the space. Speaking of space, Cipher’s St Peters location has exceptionally high ceilings, which La Rebellion puts to fantastic use. The amount of thought that went into the design must have been exhausting.
The puzzles were also varied and a lot of fun. I would say some were pretty easy and some were more challenging, but there were a lot of puzzles to get through in 60 minutes, so you always felt like you were moving around trying to figure something out. Despite being largely multilinear in nature, there is a smooth flow to the puzzle-solving that never rendered the experience confusing or frustrating. Accordingly, you could choose to work separately or together depending on your team’s preference.
Finally, there were multiple “wow” moments in La Rebellion that left me impressed, none more so than the incredible finale. You can tell that after their first three Newtown rooms, Cipher has really stepped it up with their newer offerings when it comes to the endings.
I wish I could reveal more but I don’t want to spoil anything. All I’ll say is that La Rebellion is a masterfully designed room that novices and enthusiasts alike will enjoy. Even though Aussie escape rooms don’t have the same budget as their epic counterparts in Europe and North America, they are just as capable of delivering world-class experiences through passion, care, and innovation.
Escape time: 50 minutes out of 60
Rating: 9.34
Player | Theming | Atmosphere | Puzzles | Creativity | Fun | Average |
H | 9.5 | 9 | 8.5 | 9 | 9.5 | 9.1 |
E | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8.4 |
Z | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 |
J | 10 | 10 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.7 |
C | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Rating | 9.34 |
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