Extremescape: Viking

Pros: visually stunning, no padlocks, themed puzzles, some humour sprinkled in, a fun surprise mini-game at the end, hosts allowed us to start early, easy free parking.

Cons: a couple of pieces of hydraulic tech didn't work and we were advised via the hints system to try entering the solution a second time to dislodge it. Some puzzles had multiple valid solutions so it was total guess-work (the entire toilet section needs a full rework). Audio is VERY LOUD so if you are waiting in the lobby you will hear spoilers from the previous group.

At one point we were told to look at the "candle holders", but apparently that DOES NOT mean the things holding the candles? Weird. They should probably re-word that part to "empty candle holders" or something.

The hosts were pleasant enough but felt a bit "off" (unenthusiastic), e.g. they didn't want to chat about other escape rooms etc, just wanted to get you in and out despite not being very busy.

This was a fantastic room - hi-tech but in a way that fits the theme, and there was a clear story running through that produced some great moments. It also had some fun surprises and great sprinkles of humour throughout, especially in the clues. The puzzles were varied and quite challenging at times too. It's quite a small space that is being worked with (which can sometimes be to it's detriment) but you can only work with what you have - that being said I think this room is as good as it can be! 

My only slight gripe is that I didn't think the hosting was up to a standard I normally expect. Out of the three rooms we did this weekend this one stood out - we were asked to come earlier than our time slot a day after we booked (the day of the booking) but we could not make this work. I don't know if our hosts had other sudden plans that we were ruining (?) but I got the sense that might be the case in terms of our welcome (it wasn't bad or unfriendly necessarily, just something felt a bit off). I was a bit surprised by other reviews on here about the friendliness of the hosts as I did not get the same impression unfortunately. The game itself was run very well in terms of the clue-giving and moving us along however.

A really great room though and still gets a big recommendation from me! 

So many cool new things not seen before in this room - having done over 50 rooms it’s a great feeling to feel stupid as you can’t rely on experience and repeated puzzles! Lovely, friendly host who helped when needed. Highly recommend!