Author Archives: escapethereview

Hour Escape Rooms: Operation: Dead Planet

Peterborough, Jul 2019

Operation Dead Planet is a game I’ve been trying to play for a while; the 4 player minimum combined with Hour Escape Rooms’ location on the outskirts of Peterborough made it logistically difficult to schedule. The high minimum is due to the split sta… (more)

Plankton Games: Doctor Esker’s Notebook

Room-in-a-box, Aug 2019

I’d barely heard of Doctor Esker’s Notebook, and wasn’t even sure if it was a puzzle game or other sort of card game when the publisher sent me a copy to try. That’s always a risky thing for a publisher to do, since I’m fairly merciless about critici… (more)

Escape London: The Cabin

London, Jul 2019

The premise of The Cabin is that while you were camping in some remote location, someone has raided your tent, stolen some of your possessions, and left you a threatening note challenging you to come to his cabin and get them back. And of course you … (more)

Escape Challenge: Space Challenge

Redditch, Jun 2019

Perhaps the most curious feature of Space Challenge (which also applies to the venue’s sister game Tomb Challenge) is that it’s different each time you play it. Your mission consists of ten tasks, explicitly shown on the screen from the beginning lik… (more)

Clue Cracker: Jailbreak

Tunbridge Wells, Aug 2019

Back in 2016, before there were any permanent escape room venues in Margate, Clue Cracker ran a six week pop up game there named Jailbreak. Three years on, the same company are back with a revamped version of that game, now at a permanent location in… (more)

Adventox: Haunted – The Curse of Dr Stevens

London, Jul 2019

My heart sank when our gamemaster began the briefing by informing us that, since Haunted was their hardest game, there would be no hints available. There are plenty of companies with a policy of limited hints, though most are wise enough to not actua… (more)

One Way Out: Gas Alert

Oakham, Jul 2019

Newly opened in Oakham, One Way Out’s first game had only been running a couple of weeks when I tried it, earlier than I’d usually visit a new game. While the name Gas Alert might suggest something industrial maybe set in a factory, it is instead set… (more)

Adrenaline Escape: Labyrinth

Wigan, Jun 2019

The second game I played at Adrenaline Escape, Labyrinth is based on the legend of the Minotaur and the labyrinth of King Minos of Crete. No escape room is going to be able to create a vast network of underground corridors where you can wander for da… (more)

Adrenaline Escape: Lab 3436

Wigan, Jun 2019

Recently opened in Wigan, Adrenaline Escape had been operating six weeks when I visited and was still so new that there was a distinct smell of fresh paint in the briefing areas. Located in the Marketgate shopping centre, they had two games with at l… (more)

Cyber Q: Operation Deluge

Worcester, Jun 2019

I love the concept for Operation Deluge. You’re trying to stop a crazed terrorist before his bomb goes off, which is standard enough – but the bomber is called Noah, and his aim is to blow up the dams of the world and thereby unleash a cataclysmic fl… (more)