Lockhill: The Sanatorium

by Lockhill (website)

Deligiorgi 55, 10437

Athens

1-5 players

Languages: EN, EL

90-150 mins

"The sanatorium is no longer used. From what I've read, it was used for both the mentally and the physically impaired and the living conditions in that place were truly horrendous. The strange thing is the other day I was passing by, I swear I think I heard someone screaming from the inside. I surely must have been mistaken though because it was closed down long ago."

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Overall rating

based on ratings from 10 users
combined with 5 pro reviews

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Player reviews

caroline354 expert rated this:

👻scary

matt_keds expert rated this:

Played: 1 Nov 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

value for moneyimmersivestory-driven😨creepy

Jess_keds expert rated this:

Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

beautifulimmersivestory-driven👻scary

I should start by admitting that I convinced my husband to play this with ‘day mode’. So we had the full puzzles and no live actors. This was a good opportunity for me to experience a scary room without the fear of something chasing me/jumping out. It was nice to have the opportunity to explore the expansive layout, without sweating at every turn. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary though! The music is timed well and they definitely knew when I was feeling confident as they would ramp up the sound bites whenever I would walk around on my own. It was easy to see how terrifying this would have been with the actors as there is no place to hide. The layout is expansive enough to feel like you could get lost, without being overwhelming. I truly felt like I was in an abandoned sanatorium, as the set-design is beautiful. I was so grateful to have full access to a fully functioning torch throughout the experience. It’s possible these aren’t available during the midnight mode, best to ask!

The puzzles were themed well to the story and the clue-system complemented the story. For the first time in a long time, I came out of the room with many questions. We had somehow not done roughly 3 puzzles yet somehow escaped successfully. We escaped with a minimum of 20 minutes spare so we couldn’t understand why we weren’t able to complete these puzzles. I felt like it ended abruptly. The GM spent his time (still in character) explaining why it works this way, but I still don’t fully understand. I imagine with the actors and completing all the puzzles would make this a 5 star room.

gaia00 expert rated this:

Played: 18 Sep 2022 Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!

immersivestory-drivenintense👻scary

Jens (Bruteforce) expert rated this:

Played: 17. November 2022

immersive🧟terrifying

abunai expert rated this:

immersivestory-drivenintense🧟terrifying

Anonymous rated this:

Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!

immersivestory-drivenintensequite difficult💀extreme fear

The. Scariest. Escape. Room. At least the scariest I've ever done. Unbelievably immersive, and cleverly designed. If you're looking for an experience you'll be talking about forever, this is it.

Truthfully, you need to do Midnight mode to get the most out of the game.

Magical set that truly becomes part of the character of the scares - we were left constantly wondering how 'something' appeared 'there'.

In terms of design, once you're out, you'll realise how clever some of the mechanics were to ensure all teams get a decent experience, even if they're too scared to do much! Play it - the therapy bill afterwards will be worth it.

Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:

Played: 23/10/19

🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:

🔐James Bloodworth expert rated this:

Played: 20/04/2019 Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!

Lock Hill claims to be the most thematic escape room in Europe and they are onto something, from the moment you enter the foyer you are transported to the world, there are three rooms at this venue and they are all in the village of "Lock Hill", all the GM's are always in character and it gives a level of immersion rarely seen in Escape Rooms. The Sanatorium has three difficulty levels and you choose before hand, daylight is normal but with no live actors, night is half the puzzles but live actors and nightmare is all the puzzles with live actors! We chose daylight as one of our number had an injured foot and didn't fancy it. This is a hard room with some really complex puzzles to get your head around. Clues are given over a phone and still given in character. This was a tough room without worrying about what might be round the corner. I've been torn about whether I enjoyed this or the manor house more but I think this one just gets over the line.

Reviews by escape room review sites

A fantastic experience, creepy even in non-scary mode, and potentially terrifying in the scarier version with actors. It’s got good puzzles, a great sense of exploration, “fun” character interactions and amazing theming. If you’re in Athens, and think you can cope, play this game, ideally in MIDNIGHT mode.

9.6 / 10.0

The Sanatorium is the third part of a trilogy about Nathan Jones, a professor of the University of Boston, who spent the last year researching a recent archeological find, from a small and good forsaken village in the north. Now he’s missing for two month.