Neverland: Wizard Trials

The room was ok and the wand mechanism was a good idea and an interesting new mechanism to interact with the room. Downside was a number of puzzles just seemed to be trial and error rather than any kind of actual solve. At least one puzzle was faulty where pressing one button didn't always register. This wasted a lot of time as we had to attempt it over and over again. A second puzzle required us to trigger something repeatedly to watch and solve. Despite doing the same thing each time it seemed to only actually trigger the puzzle at random. Again not sure if something was faulty or if we never actually quite worked out how to make it work at all and were just triggering it by accident. Different areas of the game require ducking through a small opening repeatedly. There was no protective foam of any kind and my spatial awareness isn't good which resulted in me hitting my head over and over again to the point that I nearly gave up. I did love the idea of matching up escape rooms with a bar setting and it was nice to have a drink and discuss the game afterwards.

Good things: Cool theme, I liked the wands, beautiful rooms which were definitely of a high quality build. 

Less good things: Sadly not the best room from Neverland. We have tried 4 other rooms from this company and they were all amazing so this room was kind of disappointing compared to the others. 

Story/theme: The theme was Wizard Trials and I'm a big Harry Potter fan so I was super excited for this theme. It was okay but I think they could have done more to emphasize the magical universe. 

Puzzles: It was a 3rd generation room but honestly I think that the mechanisms felt a little heavy... Not faulty (they worked as intended) but sometimes too difficult to interpret what was meant to be done. 3 of the puzzles were "read symbols" mechanisms and 2 other puzzles were "trial and error" mechanisms. Also a few locks. They had a few cool puzzles but sadly the rest were not to my liking because they felt heavy and not that logical.

Room/decorations: Nice build but I think they could have done much more to make it feel magical. It had so much potential but really missed something. I would have loved to feel more like I was doing magic with the wands. They could have used smoke, shaking walls or objects, flashing light or other cool mechanisms. The Aztec room by the same company was a very cool example on how to make a room feel magical. 

Hosting/company: I love Neverland. It's such a cozy place in the basement and it's also a really nice bar. When you finish a room you unlock a special cocktail which is also a fun detail. Hints work great through a screen in the room. 

Difficulty: It's 4,5/5 on the website which means it's the most difficult room from this company. It was definitely more difficult than the 4 others we've tried. 

Photos: You are allowed to take photos inside the rooms while playing and they will also take a team picture in the end if you ask.