moviESCAPE: Merlin’s Magic Academy

The set itself was great, but the puzzles were too easy and repetitive. The room could be great if the puzzles were more interesting. 

We'd read how beautiful the sets are here and were not disappointed - it really does feel like being in a castle. The atmosphere inside the room is indeed magical and there are some lovely magical puzzles.

Be warned that the lighting in here is dim, meaning it can be a little tricky to see codes in padlocks at times.

This game is advertised as being family-friendly, which I totally agree with - there aren't any tricky puzzles in here and it's a straightforward, linear game.

Movie standard set design and some clever puzzles. A bit of the tech was slightly temperemental but otherwise a fun room.

The decoration, set-up and puzzles of this room were unreal, SUCH a really good room compared to their other rooms like Sawtopsy or the Meth Lab room. We had actual magic wand, like functioning magic wand! Fantastic! The room was still relatively new as we escaped in June 2018, so some puzzles were not working properly and one enigma was not written properly (the wrong word was written) so it broke a bit the immersion but I'm sure they had enough time to fix it and you should definitely try, 'cause that ending was WOW!

Stockport Sorcery

I found a deal on Planet Radio Offers that allowed two players to play a room for £20. At a tenner each, it made sense to purchase two so that I could play the four remaining rooms on MoviEscape’s list!

Story
Graduate from the Magic Academy by making potions and casting spells.

Puzzles

The sort you’d expect from a Hogwarts-themed challenge. Merlin’s Academy had the cutesy magical-themed gimmicks that make people throw 5-Star TripAdvisors at it- so don’t expect every lock to be a four-digit number code. We got stuck a few times, but it’s a room that everybody should be able to get through without too much help.

Mise-en-scene

With all the dusty portraits, candles, spell books and potion ingredients you could shake a Nimbus 2000 at, there’s no doubt that it’s an old wizarding school. Although it is to keep in with the setting, I hate it when sand-timers are used as an indicator of time remaining. The hint-giver is an animated little creature.

Final Comments
The last room contains an impressive spectacle- it’s just a shame it appears so late on in the game. You won’t want to take many more than four people for this one.

Really good room with a great surprise near the end!