Forbidden Quest: Time To Float

Make this room your reason to visit Belfast, its an absolute rollercoaster ride into the world of IT. The size and scale of the adventure is so much more than most UK rooms and the gameplay goes from interactivity with actors, to down right silly to terrifying in a matter of minutes. 
Forbidden Quest have beautifully recreated the world of IT and put in clever puzzles and tasks, many that require teamwork, as you need to divide to conquer! I've played alot of the Athens scary rooms, and Time to Float is up there with the best of them. 
Its worth the trip to Belfast just for this one room.  

The best escape room I have ever done! Really well thought out, wide range of puzzles and so much fun! It was so cleverly laid out. The design props were amazing and attention to detail was spectacular. 

The only regret is that I have done it and can't do it again! Thank you, will def be back if you make another room as I've done all your rooms now. 

Let me start by saying I’m not a fan of Horror Games as I’m not a fan of jump scares and don’t do scare mazes or fright fests (but I have had some intense experiences in Athens). This game has been moving up the charts for a while and was sitting at #2 overall based on every review giving in 10/10.  It’s been noted that in over 600 reviews I’ve only ever given out 15 such scores.  This is the 16th.   So why?  Let’s look at my usual criteria:

Story: I’m not a fan of horror films but I remember watching the 1990s IT miniseries (with Tim Curry as Pennywise) so am vaguely aware of some elements of Stephen Kings Story.  I don’t know how well this game follows those events but the story is well told from the initial (in character) briefing before the game starts to every scene transition.  The story potentially gets a little lost in the latter stages when events take precedence but it’s always there and someone who is more familiar with the story could probably comment better on this.

Theming: The theming of every section of the game is incredibly well done (a couple of minor elements, involving an old piece of technology lets it down but I’m being incredibly picky there and some printed brickwork).  Each scene is well done and is interesting on the eye and is also well decorated with some clever transitions between each scene.

Puzzles: In games like this, puzzles sometimes take a secondary place behind the overall ‘experience’, that’s not the case here.  Puzzles are interesting and themed well so nothing feels out of place or a random puzzle breaks the immersion because it looks out of place.

Sign Posting/Flow: The game flows well and I can’t remember if we had any hints of even what the hint system was.  More often we knew what we had to do and it was a searching fail that hindered us but never did did we stand around wondering what to do next. 

Hosting: This game features multiple live actors at various stages of the game, all of these were done well and the actors and hosts were excellent both, before, during and after the game.

Value for Money: This is the elephant, this game is not cheap.  It’s 90 minutes with multiple live actors.  We played as a group of 3, I think the optimum size if 4 but the game caters for 2-8 (although I did see one person reviewed it here played it solo).  For a team size of 2-4 there is a flat fee of £170 to play, so if you played it as a 2 then it would be £85 each!  As to if it’s worth it then Your Mileage May Vary depending on your experience or what you are looking for in an escape room.

The Bottom Line is that I do think this is one of the very best games in the UK at the moment (and should be mentioned in the same breath as The Great Loudini and Loot the Lanes).  As I stated at the top, I’m not a fan of horror games but I’m glad I’ve played this.  The cost is high but so are the production values , this is not a cookie cutter game but something special and that’s to be celebrated.  Had I played this back in October I would have nominated it for a TERPECA (and if I participate next year then I will do so).

It's difficult for me to write a meaningful review because this was the first time I've ever done a proper horror room, the first time with this level of actor interaction and the first time I ever did an escape room on my own. And what a room to pick! This was by far the most intense, exhilarating, and disorientating escape room experience I've ever had. I did complete it, but only with quite a lot of assistance. It was eye-wateringly expensive for just one person. I struggled to see and hear properly at certain points, but that's maybe more to do with me.  At times the scare factor was a bit cartoonish, but I suppose it's because ITs a clown? But I can totally understand why actors and horror is appealing to people as it does add another element and an urgency and alt reality that could be difficult to create otherwise. A lot of the puzzles were fairly standard and fit the theme, although I haven't read the books or seen any Stephen King films , so I'm not really sure how that side of the story developed, but obviously there were multiple distinct areas. 

Even though they were fairly brief I personally really enjoyed the actor interactions. 

Regardless of anything else, and in spite of the extraordinary cost, for me this was still a five star experience. Overall I'm just happy the company let me do it, helped me through, and very happy to have had the, intense, experience. 

Easily the best room I have done out of the 60~ rooms I have done