Author Archives: escapethereview

The Guest House: The Tarot Room of Madame Virtue

Leeds, Apr 2018

As a broad rule, games with unusual names are often worth trying – an imaginative theme is sometimes indicative of creativity that shows in the game design as well. Of course, that’s not a reliable rule: there are many excellent games that use common… (more)

Tick Tock Unlock: The Hatch

Leeds, Apr 2018

The Hatch is set on a mysterious tropical island, but to avoid disappointment players should be careful to temper their expectations as far as the set is concerned: the decorations don’t go much beyond some plastic foliage, and certainly don’t add up… (more)

Escape Hunt: Our Finest Hour

Leeds, Apr 2018

Escape Hunt is a name that enthusiasts may recognise from escaping trips abroad: they have venues in more than two dozen cities around the globe. They used to have a location in London, which shut down some years ago; but they’ve now re-launch… (more)

Thinking Outside The Box: Retro

Peterborough, Apr 2018

One of my favourite local escape room venues, Thinking Outside The Box has a policy of having fairly rapid rebuilds of their two spaces — keeping things fresh and encouraging high levels of repeat custom.

Naturally I was excited to hear their newes… (more)

City Mazes: The Runner

London, Apr 2018

More than a few escape companies have games with themes that are based on films, lightly re-skinned to avoid the copyright lawyers. City Mazes London’s newest room is unusual in that it’s an official tie-in: the game was originally available in Cardi… (more)

Guildford Escape Rooms: The Case of the Missing Gun

Guildford, Apr 2018

The original room at Guildford Escape Rooms is dramatically different to its sibling game, in tone, style and setting, but achieves a similar high level of quality. The Case of the Missing Gun is based in 1930s Prohibition, and where the venue’s othe… (more)

Guildford Escape Rooms: Venus

Guildford, Apr 2018

If you’ve ever found Siri or Alexa slightly creepy, then Venus is the game for you. The setting is the not too distant future, in a wholesome, gently futuristic suburban living room under the perhaps not so benevolent care of a Venus home AI system. … (more)

Containment: The Vault

Guildford, Apr 2018

The second game we played at Containment was their original and oldest game. As with the previous one, the game is inside a large shipping container. Where the bomb defusal game we’d just played had a theme that obviously fit well with that, The Vaul… (more)

Containment: The Bomb

Guildford, Apr 2018

Containment is located a short drive outside Guildford, on the Merrist Wood College campus, and between the countryside location and ebullient staff, it had an outdoorsy style that reminded me of a paintball centre – though that impression may also h… (more)

Crack The Code: Zoltan

Sheffield, Apr 2018

Exactly 24 hours after attempting their Apartment 9 room, we were back at Crack the Code Sheffield for Zoltan.

This room’s description explains how the famous local magician Zoltan has mysteriously disappeared and it’s down to us to figure out where… (more)