moviESCAPE: Sawtopsy

Saw It All Before...

As mentioned in another review, I found a deal on Planet Radio Offers that allowed two players to play a room for £20. I bought two of these vouchers, and used one before lockdown. Upon returning to Manchester, it was finally time to cash in the second.

Story
Taken away and locked in a basement, unmask a killer among your fellow kidnappees before the real (?) killer returns. This feels like one of those stories that doesn’t really know what it is. I suppose it’s a Cluedo-ish game set in a Saw-like environment.

Puzzles

Basic, basic, basic. A bit of maths here, a bit of UV there. Several of them involved classic games in one way or another, which I suppose ties in with Jigsaw’s most well-known quote: “Do you want to play a game?”. Most of the hints (provided on a screen- over a speaker in ‘The Puzzle Master’s’ voice would have added to the experience) we needed were due to us not looking around the room enough. A ridiculously-thorough search is needed every time something new is opened.

Mise-en-scene

A generic, grubby basement that only provided tenuous links to the film it is inspired by. The toilet cubicle had doodles scribbled on it as seen in a secondary school- an addition I didn’t understand. The room lacked references to traps, evil clowns or anything else corresponding to the Saw franchise. It’s not scary, just grotty (the latter comment is not a complaint, as this sort of setting is supposed to be soiled). The further you progress, the more gruesome it gets- thankfully.

Final Comments
Quite simply put, it’s not ‘Saw’ enough to justify its name. I’d call it ‘Cesspit Cluedo’ instead.