Retro Revenge

Eclipse Escape (Gold Coast, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: None (but there are horror elements)

Player limit: 2-9 (would not recommend more than 6)

Difficulty: Medium to Advanced

Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2024)

Date visited: September 2025

I still remember when we first visited Eclipse over a year ago, the reason we avoided playing Retro Revenge — despite it looking like a really cool room — was because we were terrified of the concept of having a live actor in their to scare us. Boy, how times have changed. This time, we couldn’t wait to tackle Retro Revenge. Was it worth the wait?

• Heck yeah. This was a super cool room indeed, one that takes full advantage of old horror movie tropes and pop culture and references to deliver an exciting, nostalgia-filled ride back into my childhood. It appeared to be inspired by a whole bunch of movies, most notably Saw and Scream.

• While the theming was not extravagant, it really hit the mark with its cool retro movie posters and props, some which brought back great memories and elicited gasps of recognition and excitement. Plenty of Easter eggs for people who grew up from the 70s all the way to the 00s.

• The atmosphere was creepy but not too scary, save for a jump scare or two. The scare factor is adjustable, and the live actor is optional. We opted for the live actor (who did get us a couple of times), albeit the "mild" version, so it wasn’t too bad.

• The puzzles were also a lot of fun and linked directly to the theme of the room. The variety was great, ranging from traditional padlocks and mechanical to low-tech and high-tech. We didn’t find them too challenging, though there was one riddle we couldn’t figure out quickly enough and ended up brute forcing by spamming the final digit.

• It was not a hard room, as we completed it in under 30 minutes. However, there was one final puzzle we had to get right (no second chances) in order to make it out alive. Of course, they kids wanted to get on the leaderboard and rushed it — so we got it wrong and technically “died” in the end.

Escape time: 29 minutes and 38 seconds

Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun
B+	A	A-	A-	A

Verdict: The adults adored the retro vibe and all the pop culture references, while the kids loved the gaming references and thrills. It was a long wait, but we’re glad we finally got to play Retro Revenge and it lived up to the hype.

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
A	A-	A	A