Cryptology Sheffield: First Contact

Space-themed games aren't our normal top choice but we really enjoyed First Contact; it's a well-trodden theme that's been approached from a different angle here and it was lovely to see something a bit different.

There are some common spaceship tropes but also some quirky elements that added to the nice variety of puzzles.

Hosting was particularly good - our GMs were really friendly and suggested a lovely cafe for us for our wait between games.

Sadly some of the effects were not working, which made the room a little confusing for us. Shame as Cryptology's other games are really good! 

An Alien Adventure

I brought (most of) my original team who I did my very first escape room with here…to play my 100th! If you’re a student, Cryptology offers 10% discount.

Story

Board a stranded space vessel and find out what happened to the crew- be prepared to make a tricky decision on the way!

Puzzles

There was a good variety of challenges- technological and not-so-technological, but in a humorous way. Some of them were difficult and so a handful of hints were needed.

Mise en scene

It was an immersive room, made to look like an abandoned space lab. The low lighting and smoke machine helped.

Final Comments

We chose the ‘best’ (and trickiest) ending, escaping with three minutes to spare. Our host was very welcoming: they presented us with slices of ‘Escake’ to celebrate my hundredth.

This game needs/benefits from a larger group as there are lots of puzzles, information, and props to interact with throughout. There are some fun and immersive touches that help you feel like you’re on a space adventure and the team at Cryptology are super nice. We chose the First Contact ending and I think finished with about 5 minutes left (it may have been less). A well paced room with lots to discuss afterwards! 

We did all 3 rooms at Cryptology but this one was our favourite. This room is designed for a team of 3+ people but for experienced teams of two who know how escape rooms work, it is achievable. The story was enjoyable and funny and there was a lot to do in this room. The use of tech was good. We had three great gamesmasters who were engaging and made our time really enjoyable, thanks to: Robyn, Ash and Johnathan. The cards with the funny quotes of the game at the end were a nice touch. We will definitely be heading over to your site in Nottingham soon as per your recommendation. 

It was quite fun actually! Just a little bit too much stuff in the room, it would have been nice to have a little more direction inside the room, it was a long time ago though. There was a weird "multiple endings" thing at the end that was poorly explained, I think there was a difficulty selection thing but it didn't make a lot of sense what it actually wanted to do. Neat concept though!

I found afterlife a bit better, the pacing just felt more natural

A good game marred slightly by broken digital padlocks. Bit of a push for two to complete, hence the three player requirement. Order of puzzles slightly hap-hazard but well themed without. Worth a try if you're passing the area.

Great setting. Very tech heavy which is not a particular fan of but I enjoyed the room. After playing Cryptology in Nottingham I had high expectations for this venue, but I just didn’t get that with the Sheffield Branch…. 

This room was great and I can see how players love it, I just didn’t click with the room. It didn’t flow well for me. There’s much better rooms within the same “genre” 

Enjoyable, very tech based, seen worse but seen better in si.ilar categories. Definitely  one to do

We played this when it first opened and I believe it has been tweaked since then. There were definitely some teething issues with technology not working and some illogical puzzles. It was an ok game but not up to Cryptology’s usual standard. 

A very hi-tech game that is very different to all the escape rooms we have done before. They had a great use of video segments to enhance the story.

Because it was a sci-fi game it made great use of the technology in there but not so much that it feels distracting from the main mission. There are some great shoutouts to sci-fi films and series! It was our fave game of the day

We just didnt gel with this game, took a really long time for us to click with it. Could be that we were a two and there was a looooot to do. Luckily the host gave us an extra three mins to finish.