To enter the building for your game, you have to fill out a waiver via QR, and then call someone to…read morelet you in. There is a photo op with various props in the corner of the lobby as well as branded apparel for purchase. We were told that we had three free clues, and any more would cost us time (you can do social media for extra time).
We attended wizard school, which is rated medium/hard (same as the other ones at this location in Livermore). Based on the theming, bringing a Harry Potter fan in your group is mandatory - it's filled with tons of references to the series which was pretty neat to see.
The first room we were in was surprisingly huge and intricate, and was also the room in which a majority of the game takes place. We solved the first several puzzles relatively well after we took some time to take in everything. It felt immersive, like we had been transported to a magical room in an alternate universe opposed to just a room that was decorated.
The puzzles utilized pattern recognition, literal interpretation, symbols and translation, listening to instructions, riddles, interaction with room elements, hidden object games, astrology, and more.
We've been to a few different escape rooms, and consider our experience at Limitless Escape Games to be one of the hardest we've done. You can tell one person put a lot of thought, passion, and ideas in the puzzles, as they were quite detailed, clever, and cohesive - progressing through the puzzles aided to the storytelling. That being said, the structure seemed a bit linear in that we had to focus on one puzzle at a time and couldn't do much until something was resolved.
Our party of two ended up failing out of wizard school pretty horribly, as we just spent too long on one of the puzzles and didn't want to take a clue out of stubbornness. The puzzle we were trying to solve was... lagging. As well, we asked for a hint but didn't get it for a couple minutes because they weren't paying attention. Our game master kindly showed us how to resolve the rest of the room, though, and made us feel better by letting us know that the escape rate is roughly 1/3. He also told us that their other locations feature more high-tech rooms, such as the ones in Pleasanton which we hope to try in the future! We were offered a discount for the rest of the day if we wanted to book future games, which was basically the same price as their Groupon.
While disappointed at our failure, we did really enjoy the thoughtfulness of the theming and puzzles offered here which do differ drastically from escape room chains. I'd say this experience was a lot harder than the typical escape room, so I wouldn't recommend it for complete beginners; that being said, it's amazing if you want a challenge!