Escapologic: EPI Centre

21 Castle Gate, NG1 7AQ

2-5 players

60 minutes

Buildings are collapsing. Fires are raging. People are screaming. And you're trapped inside the Edward Palatine Institute, watching it all happen on your screen. With just one hour to save billions of pounds worth of chemical research, every decision you make is critical.

Epicentre is your chance to answer the question that nags at the back of the mind during every disaster movie. If the world ended, how would you react?

As a vital part of the Institute's disaster cleanup crew, you'll have to walk a tightrope between weighing the consequences of your decisions, and making them fast enough to survive. As the crisis deepens outside the installation's walls, and anarchy begins to rule the streets, terrifying updates flash through the news channels. There isn't much time left, and your luck is running out...

Epicentre was the third of our Nottingham escape rooms to be brought into existence. Its unique atmosphere of urgency has flustered even the coolest of disaster recovery experts! Can you keep your cool while the world outside collapses into chaos, and the vital machines within the building begin to shut down?

What happens when the systems we rely on to keep us safe stop working? How do you reverse a shutdown in an unfamiliar space, when every second is bringing you closer to the worst possible outcome?

Epicentre is the most 'real world' of our Nottingham escape rooms. It asks questions that real people have to answer in real situations. You've got just 60 minutes to avert calamity. What are you going to do?

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Overall rating

based on ratings from 8 users
combined with 7 pro reviews

Player reviews

cipherdelic expert rated this:

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James Bloodworth expert says:

I'd heard a lot of great things about Escapologic and whilst this isn't one of their most highly rated it still provided an enjoyable scenario where you are trying to get a chemical sample before the next big earthquake hits. This was the third room that opened and I think it's showing its age, there's a variety of puzzles but nothing that really held us up (we'd have got out faster bar a search fail). This would be a great room for beginners, it also features a split start where one member of the team gets inserted separately.

Escapetopus experienced says:

Escapologic are always friendly and enthusiastic. A great games master (can’t remember his name, sorry!) really enhanced our experience with this room thanks to his humorous in-character clues and comments on our progress.

This is a typically ingenious and immersive game from Escapologic. My only reservation is that the theme of a damaged laboratory meant that the room decor featured a lot of dirty, knackered old electric components which were kind of gross - and I spent ages looking through them...

Tim Cooper experienced rated this:

Roory experienced says:

Severely lacking puzzles. Also have yet to see rooms that split a group up be a good experience. Spent half the time standing doing nothing waiting for something to be solved elsewhere that we couldn't get to.

Reviews by escape room review sites

Epi-centre (also variously E.P.I. Centre and Epicentre) places you in a wrecked science facility with the loss of power leaving a store of hazardous chemicals on the verge of explosion.

The website description states that this is the most 'real world' of their seven games, and that's accurate. The starting area in particular looks like a trashed office space, with papers and debris everywhere. This is a split team game, with one player locked in an isolation chamber, with the first main ...

A really enjoyable game with a great centrepiece set of physical puzzles. It's the sort of game where experiences can vary wildly both between different teams but also within individual teams so I'd recommend reading the review and going in with your eyes open.

6 / 10

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5.7 / 10

The second room from our Escapologic triple bill.

As this is our final review of Escapologic (at least until the new rooms open!), it’s worth talking a little about the venue in general. We visited on a Sunday and it was very busy, with a constant flow of people in and out. There were lockers to keep our stuff in (especially handy since two of us had overnight bags) and the staff were great – one thing of particular note was the game briefings: the staff had clearly been trained to deliver the story aspects by learning a script and learning how to perform it. You could almost see them switch into a performance mode as it came to that bit of the briefing, and they were always word-perfect.