by DarkMaster Escape Rooms (website)
Unit 5, Plumyfeather Farm, Plumyfeather Road, Lye Green TN6 1UX Crowborough
3-6 players
Languages: EN
The Dark Master has been toying with experimental shrinking and enlarging technology — capable of altering molecules completely. Reports confirm he’s shrunk such a weapon and hidden it inside the abandoned toy shop Shamley’s.
That means we’ll have to shrink Recruits (that’s you) so you can search amongst the toys, locate the weapon of mass reconstruction and return it before the effect wears off in 90 minutes. Are you up to the challenge?
Overall rating
based on ratings from 16 users
combined with 1 pro review
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Player reviews
It was time to return to the Darkmaster, for their third birthday offer was a great opportunity to get back down as we were passing through. Shamley's is a massive game, and certainly is a 90-minute game and not a 60-minute game disguised as a 90-minuter. Puzzles were mostly coherent, with a number of aha moments. We were stumped by one non-puzzle aspect of the room which felt like poor design upon reflection rather than just us being silly. If that aspect would have been different, I would have felt much more satisfied with the room as a whole. I also felt the ending, whilst unique, was also quite weak. One puzzle is in the wrong place in the room and so the pacing felt off from the start. Good puzzle, wrong place in the room . This puzzle's answer was also not quite satisfying since it didn't feel clear and found ourselves working out the answer from the most solid pieces of the answer (yes slightly confusing but if you play you'll understand).
This is now the second visit to DarkMaster, and the second time we have left feeling like the GM could have had a little bit more enthusiasm and just felt like with a little more oomph, it could have really made this room. Briefing was very, well, brief, the greeting was fairly standard, and the end of game entry and debrief really felt forced and a little on the awkward side. It's for this reason I can't give any more than the 3.5 stars here. It's probably a high 4-4.3 star room, with slightly more from the GM.
A magnificent behemoth of a room that provides a challenge that teams seem to either love or hate; we loved it and both ranked it as our favourite room at the venue but it could be a frustrating one and, with such a low escape rate, I can see why there are mixed reviews.
Saying that, our take on it was that having such a challenging room with so much to do - and having a whopping 90 mins to do it in - was a task we relished and there was a real sense of achievement in getting out with time left on the clock.
Setting-wise, this is incredible; the immersion feels real, as the build is so good. It's choc-a-block full of locks, which appeals to us but some of the more enjoyable elements of the room didn't involve locks, so there's a super mix of puzzles.
As a overall experience, there were moments of stress but it was incredibly enjoyable and we talked about this room for a long time afterwards.
I was a little disappointed in this room after seeing so many good reviews. There's a lot of stuff to like about the room but I found several of the puzzles a bit uninspiring.
Struggled to get going in this game and so much to do even with three experienced players we finished slightly over time. Was ok, mix of puzzles and some very time consuming ones. The noise from the game next door was a little off putting but a cool and unique clue system and great hosting
Reviews by escape room review sites
I don’t think much can prepare you for Shamley’s. In many ways, it is best to go in blind to avoid spoilers and enjoy the surprises, but at the same time we are glad we had some warning.
A very clever, fun, immersive escape room with plenty of surprises!