Escapologic: Heistakes

By | March 20, 2019

by Escapologic (website)

21 Castle Gate, NG1 7AQ

Nottingham

2-5 players

60 minutes

After a daring bank heist goes incredibly wrong, can you finish the job?
Five very different criminals were brought together to accomplish the impossible, break into the high security vault underneath Scelus Bank and steal whatever is inside. The operation did not go according to plan and the five have found themselves in police custody, on the run or even worse, dead!
Were they set up by the mysterious leader known as Xander and if so, to what end?
Now is your chance to assemble a crack team of your fellow criminals and take on the most heart stopping heist in history. Will you crack under the intense pressure or will you escape before the police turn up? Heistakes is our seventh room here at Escapologic Nottingham. Using an actual vault as the setting makes Heistakes one of the most realistic and immersive heist themed rooms in the country.
With the help of two anonymous hackers your task is to finish the job before the authorities return, the clock is ticking and you’re running out of time!
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Overall rating

Rated between 2.5 and 4 out of 5

based on ratings from 35 users
combined with 10 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 3 Time taken: 41:17 Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivengreat hostingmehquite easy
Brian experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
Aine Morgan rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Arjay Henshall expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 19/09/2020 Team size: 3 Time taken: 31 Outcome: Successful escape!

A really fun room with some original ideas. just lacking in content for our liking. We also felt the story line came to a very unsatisfying conclusion and the ah-ha moment at the end was totally lost

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Matthew Christopher rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 5 Jun 2021 Team size: 4 Time taken: 42 minutes Outcome: Successful escape!
value for moneyquite easy
🌵Juliette B expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5

Good start to the story in terms of immersion, and puzzles that were largely fitting to the theme. It was fun but had a couple of moments where we didn't really understand the flow or direction, or felt red herrings were a little too much in play. A little light on content if experienced players. Enjoyed the last part of the game although we were uncertain if we had completed it correctly until the GM returned which was a bit of a shame. Well hosted by our GM. 

Overall it was fun to play but I'd play it more as a game to fit in with playing other Escapologic games at the venue rather than travelling to play standalone (and if you are looking for only one heist theme in Nottingham, I would absolutely pick Daylight Robbery which is excellent). 

Amy Lowson rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 22/08/2021 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
liam and rosie experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2
Durkules rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 30 Dec 2021 Outcome: Successful escape!
Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 16/06/17
Adam Bravery expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 29 Sep 2021 Team size: 2 Time taken: 41 Outcome: Successful escape!
quite easy

Intially decent theming but felt tired later on. Very light on puzzles, and those that did exist involved following instructions or using keys. Only 1 puzzle involved actually thinking (a lot of numbers to remember with only 2 people and nothing to write on) and another had basically nothing to indicate what to do (trial and error with dodgy props) so wasted us a lot of time. As well as this, game flow was poor - we often found ourselves wondering what to do next or thinking we'd missed something.  GM was friendly though. 

Jemileh experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
Dani Rose Forder expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 30 Jul 2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 32 Outcome: Successful escape!
quite easy

This room was ok, I just felt it really lacked something. Maybe another room or just some more puzzles throw in. Anti climatic i would say is the best word to describe this game. There were some ‘items’ in the room, which looked VERY clearly like a common puzzle, but when i asked after the game the GM said they were just redherrings. But the way the items were in the room and labelled, and placed, i feel as though there maybe was another puzzle, but it was broken or removed from the room but was partly left in? Just found it very odd. 

🔐SpontaneousIllusion expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
hi-techimmersivegreat hosting
Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 54 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techgreat hostingdull

This game has some great props and strong potential. Whilst nothing immediately wrong with the game, there was nothing that was super impressive in comparison to Escapologics other games. It was well hosted, but we didn’t realise the clue method until one of us stumbled across it, meaning we might’ve missed some potential hints. It would be good if this was mentioned (ie how to get clues if we need them). 

This game felt quite frustrating, there were multiple times that we didn’t understand why or what we were doing. The flow of the game wasn’t very clear, when we finished we didn’t really feel a sense of accomplishment as the whole time was spent questioning what just happened. 

This game is good to play amongst others here at escapologic, i wouldn’t recommend travelling to Nottingham for this one in particular. Nonetheless, there were some nice props, good use of space and some original puzzles. 

Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 7 Aug 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 33:02 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivequite easy
Wesley Mead expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 14 Feb 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 33m Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivenquite easy
Anonymous expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalbroken tech
Tim Cooper expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: Team size: 4 Time taken: 50:56 Outcome: Successful escape!
Schteeeve experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivequite easy
gimiabreakout experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivequite easy
BenMill experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Failed 🙁
TheSinger expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

Not the best by far at this venue. Fairly underwhelming in comparison to games at the same venue. 

The Monkey expert rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!

Rearly not enjoyable, no fun, waste of so much space

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
magicalbacons expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 41:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hostingquite easy

Fun game. The set is well built and looks great. The puzzles are fun and well themed to the setting. The Telescape inventory was well used to deliver crucial information during the game. 

We finished the game with 20 mins remaining and found the game ended quite abruptly (I know this is a part of the experience) , we are relatively experienced players but we were expecting a more challenging experience. 

Perhaps it was just us, but our ending video appeared to cut out midway through and we were left wondering if there was more to come or if the game had ended. 

All in all, our avatar was wonderful, he followed our directions perfectly and played along with our more ludicrous suggestions, making for an overall entertaining, if not a slightly underwhelming experience. 

msilcox expert rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Played: Feb. 27, 2021 Team size: 3 Time taken: 55 minutes Outcome: Successful escape!

Really excellent room--the set is exceptionally immersive, with lots of clever elements that we've never seen before.  Very good use of the inventory to provide materials that allows team members to split off and work on particular elements separately.  Our GM was excellent--he gave us some subtle nudges when needed but, they were well thought out to still let us figure out the key parts of puzzles ourselves.  A unique scenario too--not one we've seen before in the games that have been successfully converted for online play.  Strongly recommended!

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

Good room with some surprising aspects we haven't seen in other rooms. Had us thinking 🙂

🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5

The second online offering from Escapologic and it does not disappoint. You join the action mid-heist and you're there to get your operative out with your 'acquisition' from the super secretive vault.

The room design and built is slick and impressive with some great interactive props, but its the attention to detail that shines here, the narrative has been worked so that the more you progress the less you need the inventory. From the integration of  the telescape as a plot point to the finale where your team will be collectively holding their breath in the final seconds, this is a wonderful adventure with puzzles what are excellently themed. If you're an Escapologic fan then look out for the many Easter Eggs  hidden in plain sight.

Ed (our operative) did a great job not to lead the team to the next clue item (so many hosts don't even realise they're turning to the lock/keypad/prob before their team tells them to). This allowed us to explore and discover everything ourselves and all get to experience those "aha" moments. 

🔐James Bloodworth expert rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 06/01/2021 Team size: 5 Time taken: 46:58 Outcome: Successful escape!
The second offering from Escapologic offers another well themed, taught and initially bewildering experience.  Another outstanding room, theming is on point and some thoughtful puzzles, highly recommended.  AV was Zoom/Telescape and was excellent throughout.  One hint: read everything.  Twice.
Darren Miller expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 5 Jul 2021 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
quite easy

Fun room, but on the easy side.  Host was great, but camera work was quite jerky at times.

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5

Reviews by escape room review sites

A bank heist is one of the classic escape room themes, and Heistakes is Escapologic's take on the genre. The venue aims for immersion and realism, and they start that off with something impressive and highly theme-appropriate, that I haven't seen used in any other UK escape room.

The plot is that you are 'team B', attempting to complete the heist that a prior 'team A' failed, with help from a 'team C' of hackers who provide computer-based support, hacking into the bank's systems and communicat...

A game with plenty of impressive moments - cool centrepieces, fun puzzles and an interesting storyline - but tempered by a frustrating finale and failing tech.
This is a fun room, but due to how linear it is and the lack of puzzles we probably wouldn’t advise it for large teams, especially if those teams are experienced. It’s definitely a room to give a go though as it is visually impressive.
A dramatic and theatrical game with clever technology, great theming and an engaging storyline. A really excellent game.
Escapologic has built quite the reputation for quality games and (I’m sad to say) I haven’t played them all even though I live in Nottingham. Escapologic arrived late last year to the world of remote escape rooms with a conversion of their very first room, Contraption. I played that and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and eagerly signed up for their second conversion, it was time to rob a bank in Heistakes!
Thanks to the adapted gameplay and story, this game translated really well to the online world. Escapologic are perfectionists and that shows in everything they do. It’s great to have more UK based avatar games coming online, this would be a good choice if you’re looking for a fun avatar game.
This was definitely our favorite out of the two remote escape room experiences ESCAPOLOGIC currently have running online. They are new to the online world but definitely catching up quickly to the veterans out there. The avatar Ed did a great job guiding us through the room and the game flow was great throughout. We ended up having 14 minutes and 21 seconds left. I guess it does look like our team is better than yours huh?
Read the full, detailed review at EscapeMattster.com ⬊

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Other versions of this game:(Different copies of the same game sometimes have significant differences.)