The Panic Room Harlow: CSI – The Mafia Murders

This is a murder mystery room set in prohibition-era New York. We were given the intro by Jess who was absolutely brilliant as a host, one of the best we've had. Super friendly, and really into her role as GM - saying that if we needed clues we'd need to ask for them via walkie-talkie in full New York accent. Unsurpisingly her accent was considerably better than mine!

The room looked great upon entry, and most importantly, it was a cool temperature! This was the first room we've been in where we've not been sweltering hot throughout. They nailed the immersive decoration and had some appropriate, non-intrusive music playing throughout the hour. 

The story was good although as you've got to whittle down from a choice of 11 suspects, it can get a little convoluted at times. Our biggest issue was that there was a lot of papers to keep track of, some with various bits of information that aren't used straight away so it was a little difficult for us to keep going through the papers each and every time looking for what we needed. 

The clues were about the right amount of difficulty for groups that are experienced with escape rooms. The puzzles are generally non-linear and are quite abstract in some places so provided a bit of a challenge in that respect, but I enjoyed that aspect of it nonetheless. However, I think because of this, for first timers this room may be a little difficult.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable room. It was one of the more difficult we've done and we certainly didn't think we were going to finish when we had 5 mins left, so were happy to have won before the deadline! Again, I'd like to reiterate how good Jess was as GM, she really gave the room that little bit extra. We will be back soon to try the other rooms!