Make Your Escape: Dystopia

By | March 20, 2019

by Make Your Escape (website)

First Floor, 4 Osmaston Road ('The Spot'), DE1 2HR

Derby

2-5 players

60 minutes

Beyond the great dome of Utopia lies a desolate wasteland. Disease has ravaged the population, resources are scarce and, for those still managing to survive, life is hard.
Yet, long condemned to the darkness, the Dystopians have become resilient and determined. No longer will they accept their fate quietly and no longer will the advancements of Utopia benefit only the few.
Besides, they've made some advancements of their own and Utopia might just need them more than they realise.
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Overall rating

Rated between 3.5 and 4.5 out of 5

based on ratings from 45 users
combined with 7 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 6 Aug 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
Ellie experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 2021-06-06 00:00:00 Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersiveepic

My rating is based on playing Dystopia followed by Utopia back to back. Individually, these rooms are very good - played together, amazing because this really allows you to fully immerse yourself into this world for a couple of hours. I played this a few months ago and it still sticks in my mind. 

Team Tonks experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 28 May 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 47 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven

This is technically a review for both Dystopia and Utopia as we feel they are best played together as the storyline follows on. We are glad we did it this way. Both rooms had a great story and were engaging. There was a good variety of puzzles and not just finding keys and padlocks. 

flyingoctopus expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

Good theming and production value.

Good flow with Utopia. 

Some big leaps of logic. 

matt_keds expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 22 Feb 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 49 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven

#44

After completing The Signal and Spellbound in the morning, we headed back after lunch to tackle Dystopia and Utopia.  Having two rooms blend together like these two do with their stories is something I’ve never seen before and felt very original.

- The decor of Dystopia may seem a little lacking at first, but there is a story-based reason for it. This was a very fun room, but with a slightly frustrating final puzzle that even our host had admitted a lot of people (himself included)  had found difficult to see/comprehend. However it didn’t spoil our experience of the room.

- After completing Dystopia we headed straight into Utopia. The way you start the game was surprising and unique, although could have been tightened up a bit so that no GM interaction was required (players of the game with understand what I mean by this). This would also have added to the immersiveness of the game. 

After getting through to the main hub of the game, I can say the decoration of the room was fantastic, with a couple of things I’ve never seen before. The puzzles in this room are all very electronic-based, compared to Dystopia where it is mainly padlocks.

Unfortunately,  due to this reliance on technology, one of our puzzles didn’t operate at all, causing the GM to have to come in  and pause our time while he fixed it quickly.

The final part of the room was again very tech-dependant, with a couple of frustrating and lacklustre puzzles, with a poor way to interact with them. When we finally had the means to exit the game, our host came in to tell us while we had escaped, we couldn’t fully complete the experience because another team was in the area we escape to! (previous players will understand what I mean)

This was very frustrating as it would have been down to the GM’s poor time/team management, and it meant we couldn’t fully complete the experience. After a brilliant morning, this obviously left a very sour taste in our mouths, given that we had spent so much time and money at a venue and couldn’t complete the experience.

All in all, I would still recommend both rooms, and that you should definitely do them back to back, starting with Dystopia. 

Personal ranking of the rooms at Make Your Escape would be:

1. Spellbound

2. The Signal

3. Dystopia

4. Utopia

abunai expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5

If you are visiting this venue playing Utopia and Dystopia back to back is a must.

Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 04/11/18
Simon (The Overthinkers) expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 31 Oct 2020 Team size: 2 Time taken: 44:16 Outcome: Successful escape!

Play this back to back with Utopia for the full experience.

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
fraggle42 experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 11 Jul 2021 Team size: 2 Time taken: 47.5 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive
🔐James Bloodworth expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 31/07/2021 Team size: 2 Time taken: 59:42 Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivengreat hosting
One flip side of a coin, you can play this back to back with it's sister room, Utopia, and if you do its a great experience.  This room is very 'analogue' as in padlocks, observational puzzles and some deduction required.
BenMill experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed 🙁
Laura McGill expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 13 Jun 2021 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalcleverstory-driven
Tim Cooper expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 3 Time taken: 40:10 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven
MissLoopyLou93 experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 24 Sep 2018 Team size: 2 Time taken: 56:28 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalgreat hosting

A great room with some unique points. After playing Dystopia and Utopia separately I’d recommend doing them together. 

SiSitAndWait rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Team size: 4 Time taken: 48odd Outcome: Successful escape!

We did Dystopia followed by Utopia, such an unique idea to go from one to the next, we thoroughly recommend you doing it like this. We found this a bit better than Utopia, but both are excellent!

🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
PurpleB expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: Jun 2019 Outcome: Successful escape!

Not quite as good as Utopia in my opinion.  One or two of the puzzles required a bit of an unreasonable stretch.  But still an excellent room.

imrahil experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
Arjay Henshall expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 14/09/19 Team size: 3 Time taken: 43.07 Outcome: Successful escape!

If you are playing this game, make sure you also book for Utopia. I’ve never seen a game where the two intertwine their stories so cleverly. These are both absolute must dos. 

The story is fantastic and totally fits the theme very well. The story continues throughout the game and there was a fair bit of physicality involved, a real nice mix of challenges. 

Sophie Bertalan rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
Steph Norchi experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 17 Apr 2019 Team size: 4 Time taken: 55:01 Outcome: Successful escape!
Tatticorn rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hosting
Lucy (The Detol Crew) experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 4 Mar 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 42:48 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivenwell-designed
browngate experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Pegz241 rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 25 Jan 2020 Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed 🙁
story-driven
Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
ashpf experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
AJ’s experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 31 Dec 2020 Team size: 2 Time taken: 59:47 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifuloriginalquite difficult

Great concept and good game! Unfortunately for us there was just 1 puzzle we just couldn’t work our heads around we knew exactly what we had to do just one of those things you can either see or you can’t! Apart from that good game

Elliott rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 15 Oct 2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 53 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-driven
Jemileh experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 7 Apr 2023 Team size: 3 Time taken: 47:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
Jess_keds expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
originalgreat hosting
Anna Baillie experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 7 Feb 2023 Team size: 4 Time taken: 40:41 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalstory-driven

Some very fun puzzles in this one, I preferred it to Utopia but some props and puzzles were a little worn.

Catherine K experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 10 Sep 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 38 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting

Having already played Utopia separately, I would recommend playing them together.

We enjoyed the room, it is a standard escape room and probably good for beginners.

RJ Chowdhury experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 7 Feb 2023 Team size: 4 Time taken: 40:41 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven

Another good room, original puzzles which were fun and in-keeping with the theme! 🙂

hourglassescapesltd expert rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Played: 20/03/22 Team size: 2 Time taken: 44:08 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven

We played Dystopia immediately before Utopia - I highly recommend players do this as it's so cleverly written! 

Dystopia is the original escape room - locks, keys, and  the theming is fab! 

The puzzles in this room were very fun! Nothing so difficult it needed lots of prompting but not so easy you felt like you just swanned through, couple of unique bits we'd not seen before and it was super fun and very immersive, set design is fabulous, hosting very good - they are practically invisible and it  works super well and the link between the two games is just brilliant! 

gimiabreakout experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
story-driven
Jen Wells (Get Wells Soon) expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 21 Jan 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverimmersivestory-driven

A super game that links beautifully to Utopia, its smart, shiny cousin. A lovely lot of padlocks, some great physicality and a whole host of clever puzzles make this a great experience that definitely needs to be played directly before playing Utopia. 

Jordan Brown experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 15 Jan 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 58:51 Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverimmersiveintense

Dystopia is my favourite room from Make Your Escape. Some very interesting puzzles and great theming. No ambient music which was slightly jarring and spoiled immersion slightly but definitely worth a play.

Karen Peers experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 3 Time taken: 45
originalimmersivestory-driven
🤘The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Anonymous expert rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalclever
Adam Bravery expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 21 Sep 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 47:09 Outcome: Successful escape!

A decent game that works well if played with utopia (although wish the 2 were linked without GM involvement). Puzzles are generally good, but could do with some better signposting at times. Theme and GM were good

Escapetopus experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 18/08/2018 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!

I was a bit disappointed with this room, tbh.

Part of the problem with my experience was that it was very hot, and the start of the game is in a very small room, and there were five of us, including some larger individuals, so it got unbearably hot and stuffy. I know escape venues can’t control the weather but they could make more effort to adapt when it’s very hot.

The main part of the room is bigger and better ventilated, but there was an over-reliance on padlocks throughout. 

Overall a solid enough room, but not really outstanding in any way.

Reviews by escape room review sites

Arriving at Make Your Escape for our booking, we were welcomed in by a sardonic overall-wearing janitor from a dystopian future. It’s always a nice touch when a game’s host is in character from the outset, and he maintained the persona throughout the welcome and briefing. While it works perfectly well as a stand-alone game, Dystopia is best played in conjunction with its sister room Utopia as a two hour double header, and any review of one must need make extensive reference to the other.

In the...

A pair of games that were both enjoyable experiences, but which really came into their own when played back to back. Break out of Dystopia before discovering the truth behind the perfect society of Utopia.
Will you choose to play Dystopia as a standalone game, in succession with it’s brighter and more futuristic sibling, or pit yourself against an opposing Utopian team? The choice is yours, but whichever you choose, you’re in for a treat.
Utopia and Dystopia are two different games, but we’re covering them in the same article. I’m not sure that’s wise, because, they’re very, very different. But they are connected: both figuratively and literally. Figuratively, they share the same universe and form two parts of the same story. Literally, you can play both games together and certain things in one can game can influence the other, turning it in to a competitive event. I also believe it’s possible to play both games back-to-back, coming right out of one and into another, but that’s somewhat dependent on there not being anyone in the other game!
We played Dystopia and Utopia back-to-back. Alone this is a good game, but set in the context as a detailed backstory to Utopia it’s a well themed room with great storytelling.

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