Escapologic: Cryptic

21 Castle Gate, NG1 7AQ

2-5 players

60 minutes

closed

The door creaks closed. In the pale light of your lantern, abandoned skeletons cast terrifying shadows on the walls. Frantically, you open your dusty satchel, praying for answers. Could this be all that remains of legendary explorer Crispin Sheppard, who mysteriously vanished all those years ago?

Rumours of an ancient curse shroud the stones of this pitch-black tomb. You're sure this is where the treasure is buried. But now you're all alone in the dark-and in the cold air of the crypt, something primeval is stirring...

Cryptic was the second Nottingham escape room to take shape in the diabolical mind of our creator! A secretive, mad genius who rarely sees the light, he delved deep into his love of the medieval, the mysterious, and classic adventure to bring you this compelling room.

Macabre, insidious, and packed with surprises, Cryptic is a room that doesn't suffer fools gladly. Take too many wrong turns as you try to puzzle out the solution to its centuries-old mystery, and your bones could be added to the gruesome ornaments littering the barely-visible flagstones...

What are the clues trying to tell you? Do the pitiful remnants of these past explorers have more to say than their empty eyes and bony mouths are letting on? You know you should heed the warnings. You know you should turn back. But now the door has slammed behind you, and the deadly gold-lust is driving you on.

Like all of our Nottingham escape rooms, Cryptic is best challenged by two or more brave questers. Join the ranks of the treasure-hunters who have passed through its grim portals. Will you take your place as one of the few who have come out again?

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Overall rating

based on ratings from 16 users
combined with 7 pro reviews

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Player reviews

RedPandaPepper expert rated this:

spbc expert rated this:

Played: 30 Dec 2018 Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!

great hostingfunneeding tlc

Anonymous expert rated this:

Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

Schteeeve experienced rated this:

Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!

immersiveintense

gimiabreakout experienced rated this:

Played: 2016 Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed 🙁

😨creepy

Our first ever escape room so we weren’t sure what to expect and this is probably what lead to our downfall! I know this game has closed now but still a fond memory as it was our first room years ago.

Set was immersive, however we did find at times we were struggling to see due to the poor lighting- I know this was in keeping with the theming but at times it felt like we were failing elements due to not being able to see rather than not actually understanding the puzzles.

A lot of this room felt like it was about finding things, and only now as more experienced players do I understand where we went so badly wrong- more than likely due to our nervousness of what we could/couldn’t touch or turn over and what to expect etc. First time player nerves!

There were some very cleverly done puzzles that my friends who’ve done this room and I still remember fondly. It was a good escape room to start with on our journey into escape rooms and I’m glad we played it, it was definitely an eye opener into making sure you thoroughly search your escape room first!

BenMill experienced rated this:

Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!

Jemileh experienced rated this:

Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed 🙁

Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:

Played: 22/08/16

Anonymous rated this:

Lise expert rated this:

Played: 2019 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!

I wasn't impressed by this room as there was only a handful of puzzles, most of the idea behind this room is to struggle to find puzzles, handles or keys due to the lack of light more than due to the difficulty of the puzzles, which didn't make it very rewarding! A good idea for a room but not particularly well executed!

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Reviews by escape room review sites

This is a difficult game to review for me, because there was a great deal about it I thought was really good, but which I found to be undermined by a couple of huge flaws that saw us stuck on a single puzzle for well over half the time. In addition, having failed it by a larger margin than I think any previous game, I need to be careful to avoid sour grapes.

Crypt-ic sees you infiltrating the cobweb-festooned tomb of a medieval monarch, whose spirit may (or may not) help see you through the tra...

A game which had a real sense of exploration as well as a stand out puzzle that got our whole team involved. A disappointing dearth of light sources left us wandering in the dark at times but as the game progressed that became less of an issue.

Like real-life Indiana Jones that's what we were promised. It was certainly an adventure through a dark, creepy crypt, but luckily for us (and Indy) there were no snakes

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To be clear, there’s nothing particularly cryptic about Cryptic – those with an irrational fear of crosswords can still apply. Rather it’s another Escapologic trademark pun: this game is set in an old crypt.

A room with a very unique layout and nice theming, but too much emphasis around one central puzzle.