Escape Sheffield: Taken

By | May 30, 2021

by Escape Sheffield (website)

Sheffield

2-4 players

Languages: EN

60 minutes

While on the search for your friend who you believe has been kidnapped by a notorious serial killer, you got caught up in the middle by being kidnapped yourself!! The killer has locked you in his workspace where one of his previous victims left some clues on how to escape the killers clutches.. he however was unsuccessful with his escape, how will you do?! You have 60 minutes to escape before the killer returns to finish the job!
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Overall rating

Rated between 2 and 3 out of 5

based on ratings from 43 users
combined with 6 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 61 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hostingillogicalplainvery difficult
First of all, need to say that escape sheffield other 3 rooms are far superior to this one, and every time we have been the hosts have been absolutely amazing and this time was no exception to that.The theme is taken, a serial killer/kidnapping escape room…. Set in a building managers office???? The room looks like an office and is very plain and uninspired, so if you enjoy heavily themed experiences then this isn’t the room for you.Next the reason why this room is so difficult is that NOTHING is signposted, we found an initial hint that led to a dead end and this was the experience throughout, just frustration after frustration around every turn.  Some necessary items were so hidden that even after being told to look for them it still took a lot of searching to find them. This frustration is compounded by no sense of direction or continuity throughout the room.Moving onto one of the biggest problems, one massive time wasting “puzzle” that requires no thinking/puzzling whatsoever. Our other major complaint was that some puzzles have no way of telling the direction for the order, (I.e. left to right or right to left?), especially when dealing with long directional padlocks this was extremely unnecessary. I checked with our host afterwards and they confirmed there was no way to tell the correct direction of the sequence, you just had to try both.Overall it was disappointing given how much we enjoyed the other rooms here, if they’re contemplating replacing a room in future then it 100% should be this one.
ShaneKarlSmith experienced rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
abooth expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 21 Jan 2022 Team size: 1 Time taken: 58 Outcome: Successful escape!

Quite sparse on design but a decent theme, some fun puzzles. Got a problem with some really unnecessary red herrings and an absoute time killer of a puzzle, but it worked my brain and I had fun. Ran it alone.

Jordan Brown experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 23/08/2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 51:21 Outcome: Successful escape!
countermeasures8690 rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 3 Oct 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: <10m Outcome: Successful escape!
great hostingillogicalbroken techvery difficult

Not the best escape room we have done but we still had fun and the host was great. This is not the best escape room for newbies, a lot of the solutions were poorly communicated and not communicated well, and some of the tech just didn't work properly.

One puzzle was so faffy which took 10 mins and required no brains to solve, only patience. Puzzles like this really leave bad stains on the experience for me

We had fun but there is better one's in Sheffield.

🤘The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
plainunoriginalstiff padlocksquite difficult

I worry that the reason this room is considered "difficult" is because of the lack of signposting. There was multiple padlocks of the same type (letters, directions, numbers) with no indication which was which.

 This meant trying the code on multiple padlocks, several of which required more than expected force to open. Some puzzles had very little indication of the starting point of the answer or order of the numbers or letters.

There was one large puzzle to get a key which was really long and unsatisfying. The room was essentially just an office and wasnt immersive at all. 

I think with some padlock changes, increased signposting and a little more ambience, it could be good. There were a few good puzzles, but none were difficult. The final puzzle was a little tricky, which was fun! 

🔐James Bloodworth expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 21/09/2020 Team size: 2 Time taken: 46:30 Outcome: Successful escape!
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 2018 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

Most of their rooms are absolutely perfect for a team of 2, specially Taken! I would not recommend it for more than 3 players.

🔐James Bloodworth expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 19/06/2021 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hosting
I would need all of my particular set of skills as I was taken prisoner by the nicest possible GM.  Needless to say this is a split start where one you starts locked up but you need to work together in order to escape.  Nothing here will amaze you and (like most rooms here) there's one search puzzle I feel is a little harsh but the rest flows well and we had a great time.
🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
grogu42 experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5

Good first game for people new to the escape world. Puzzles pretty standard for enthusiasts, but still fun non the less.

Fiona Smith experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2
Tim Cooper expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 40:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
illogicalplain
Donna Artis rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Brian experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
Sarah281 rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 11 Aug 2021 Team size: 2 Time taken: 53.46 Outcome: Successful escape!

Not what I originally thought the room was going to be, felt the themeing was a bit off par, Good start to the game - couple of red herrings to keep us gripped. Ignoring the themeing the puzzles were pretty straight forward only got stuck a couple of times as not knowing where to go next. Didn't put me off playing another room.  

windy 77 rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!

Loved  this room made me jump when when we found the dummy.

matt_keds expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 24 Dec 2018 Team size: 2 Time taken: 54 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hostingunoriginal

#9

The first room we completed at the fabulous Escapism was ironically the least enjoyable there. The room seemed a little plain and the props a bit dated, but this is only in hindsight - we had fun while we were playing. The theme was pretty generic but it’s still worth a go. If you’re heading to Escapism though, all of their other rooms are really good fun and have more immersive set decoration no storytelling so try those first, especially Radioactive or Legacy.

Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Played: 07/01/16
Arjay Henshall expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: Team size: 2 Time taken: 56 Outcome: Successful escape!
Simon (The Overthinkers) expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 3 Jan 2019 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50:39 Outcome: Successful escape!
Ollie C rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 19 Jan 2017 Team size: 5 Time taken: 49 Outcome: Successful escape!
unoriginalquite easy

Great beginners room if you're new to the world of escaping. The room theme is a bit plain and there isn't much story but it has some fun puzzles. Experienced players will breeze through most of the room.

abooth expert rated this:Rated between 15 and 15 out of 5
Played: 9 Jul 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 38 Outcome: Successful escape!

Pretty woeful game tbh. Not a great use of space, not very thematic, couldn't hear the video. We absolutely burned through it and then spent about 15 mins on one stupid puzzle that's designed only to waste time and slow people down due to the rest of the game being so easy. It also has nothing to do with the theming of the game.

thehermit experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!

Great little room for players new to escape rooms. 

TheEscapeBoomers expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
plain

A little plain compared to their other rooms - Although I believe it was on first there. 

Scotus0 expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 14 Oct 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 34:34 Outcome: Successful escape!
plainunoriginalvery easy

Like Taken Candy From a Baby

Since I was making an on-the-day booking for a team of 2, I chose Taken.

Story

Rescue your kidnapped friend(s) and escape the hostage situation.

Puzzles

On-theme, but incredibly easy. A bit of searching here, a bit of thinking there.

Mise en scene

A straightforward but immersive enough space that did the job of looking like a kidnappers’ hideout.

Final Comments

It would work fine as a beginner room. I should have been braver and booked us a 4/5-star challenge: we received 2 clues and escaped with 25:26 left on the clock.

ashpf experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
🤘The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
EscapeCarrtists rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 25 Jun 2019 Team size: 2 Time taken: 52:03 Outcome: Successful escape!
quite easy

This was first Escapism room, overall quite an easy room. Shame about the aged puzzle if it wasn’t for this we would have gotten out with 30 minutes remaining

StaceyF expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 21/01/2019 Outcome: Successful escape!
Speedy Sloth expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Dani Rose Forder expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 23 Apr 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50.35 Outcome: Successful escape!
😨creepy

A very average game, would suit first time players or if you have exhausted all other games in the area. The production design was pretty poor, the blood was done with what looked to be a red emulsion paint, the props had seen better days. I felt as though we were very much in an escape room plonked in a room rather than in the serial killers lair. We still spent plenty of time in the room and had to ponder with a couple puzzles requiring a few hints (though i feel some were required from lack of sign posting/illogical jumps), it just felt a little lack lustre & old compared to their other games. 

Daniella Johnson rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 24 Jul 2018 Team size: 3 Time taken: 51.00 Outcome: Successful escape!

Ok game but nothing special. They definitely have better games, but this was one of their first games I believe.

Jess_keds expert rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
plainunoriginalvery easy
Zoë Myers rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
bingerz08 rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 25 Sep 2016 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
Jordan Brown experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 11 Apr 2018 Team size: 2 Time taken: 55:10 Outcome: Successful escape!
kman expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 02 Mar 2019 Team size: 4 Time taken: 52m 48s Outcome: Successful escape!
TheSinger expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

This was my first ever escape room. So I owe it thanks for sparking the flame that I never knew existed inside me. 

At the time everything was new to me but upon reflection after a number of years it would have seemed a fairly basic room having played a number of rooms  

MaliceInWonderland rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalfunny
I really enjoyed this room, there was one puzzle that took us ages but we were laughing so hard that keeping getting it wrong just made us laugh harder. Really good fun! 
Richard Horton rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5

Reviews by escape room review sites

The second game at Escape Ipswich (and also at various other branches of Escape around the country) has you investigating a serial killer, and inevitably you've found yourselves caught and in danger of becoming his next victims. Naturally this killer enjoys toying with his prisoners in the form of leaving them puzzles that they might be able to solve to escape.

Like the other game we played at the venue, there's not a great deal in the way of decor here. Forget dank basements, this serial kille...

Plenty of puzzles, a fair number of locks and good but very much IKEA-esque decoration. A perfectly reasonable game but with nothing to get very excited about.
One of their first rooms, which shows, could do with a revamp as it’s not up to the same standard as their other games. Click the link to read our review!

See also