No Escape: The Steampunk Express

I really enjoyed this game! The set design is beautiful and the game is exciting from the offset! This is actually one of the most enjoyable games I've probably ever played and we'll definitely be back for their other games! It was clever, with no padlocks and the puzzles fitted with the theme. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't give this full marks, which I'm going to try and explain without spoilers...

This game was linear, which works well in a 2 but I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed the game in a larger group, which is a shame because it's such a big room. I feel like the space could be better utilised. Then, there was one puzzle that was intensely time consuming. More annoyingly, it could have been included in a Print-and-Play. It wasn't immersive and resultantly takes one player out of the game while they figure it out. I estimate we'd have been out as much as 15 minutes earlier if not for this dull puzzle. On reflection, me & my game partner agreed that if our usual team had been present, we could have 'accidently' skipped a large portion of the game, for recognising puzzles from previous games we've played, undercutting the linear intent of this room.

Spoiler alert - there's 2 rooms. In the first, everything is well utilised and relevant. In the second room, I found the Steampunk aspect quite distracting, which ruined the big finale; I was left feeling there was so much more to complete, because things I expected to be puzzles were only decorative. And the finale could do with a bit more pizazz. I'm not expecting the Back To The Future scene with the train crash, but more could be done. My expectations were high, given the immersiveness of the first room is so strong.

I did enjoy this though, and our host, Scott, was very good at knowing when to give and when to withhold clues! I think all in all, we only had 2 or 3 tips, so we're pretty happy with that. And - big plus point - everything worked!! No intervention was necessary, as is so common these days in Birmingham. It was nice to travel somewhere else and see things can be done properly! We'll definitely be back, and we'll bring the whole team!