Houdini’s Escape Room Experience Cheshire Oaks: Escape from R.M.S. Titanic

By | November 26, 2021

by Houdini's Escape Room Experience Cheshire Oaks (website)

Coliseum Way, CH65 9HD

Cheshire Oaks

4-7 players

Languages: EN

60 minutes

On April 10th 1912 the largest ship ever build left Southampton on her maiden voyage. She was called the ship of dreams, transporting people to New York in the height of luxury.

​Just 4 days into the journey disaster struck as she collided with an iceberg.

On board, as first class passengers, with the impending doom; what would you do to escape the ill-fated ship?

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Overall rating

Rated between 1.5 and 4 out of 5

based on ratings from 68 users
combined with 6 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

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

Didn't really enjoy this game at all - Some things were broken, or just didn't make sense and felt like frustrating tasks and not an escape room. 

roberts0502 experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 24 Jun 2022 Team size: 3 Time taken: 55 Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverimmersivegreat hosting
arandzom experienced rated this:Rated between 15 and 15 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
illogicalpoor hosting

Worst escape room experience I've had - whilst the room itself wasn't too bad (although a few of the puzzles seemed to need a bit more though) - unfortunately the host made it a really uncomfortable experience.

Things started off badly when we couldn't figure out how to get in after knocking on the door but after 10 minutes of being stood outside someone (who later turned out to be our host) came out a couple of times and walked straight past us.

He eventually ushered us in aggressively and started to complain that we had booked the last slot of the evening and he wanted to go home.

During the room itself, there were points where he injected in an exasperated tone, almost as if he was annoyed we weren't speeding through the room because 'he wanted to go home'.

Made for a really bitter experience and unfortunately won't be going to Houdini's again.

coco974 rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 5 Jan 2022 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken techoverpriced

Definitely not our favourite and has put us off trying any more at Houdini's! 

The very first puzzle we encountered a problem (vital information missing) and had to call for help straight away. This continued throughout, at least 3 times we had to ask for help because something wasn't working as it should, which was really disappointing. 

The GM was lovely, and very happy to help, but sometimes his clues relied on us having prior knowledge of the Titanic (which I am lacking!). 

The clues are via an old style telephone, meaning if you have made it beyond the initial room it can be time consuming to get back to get help. 

The theming of the room was fantastic! The decor, details and sound effects were brilliant.

The puzzles and clues were clever and original (some things in there we'd never seen before) it's such a shame that some just didn't work. 

We got a little ribbon trinket for successfully escaping which was a nice touch but it doesn't make up for the broken room!

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
illogicalunoriginalquite easy
Not a great experience…host and staff really nice but room not great. Really dirty in places and we found that we didn’t really need any clues to start with as you can see all the ‘hidden’ keys straight away. You have to crawl backwards and forwards quite a bit which again was quite dirty. Didn’t really flow as I like to complete one room and move on. Such a shame as everything is there to make this loads better
TeamHawley experienced rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivengreat hostingepic
Anonymous expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
tatty

Poor state of repair. A cool effect that I had heard about is no longer working which was disappointing. Needs some maintenance urgently. Still a playable game but living off its reputation rather than the reality. 

Billa Babybel experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 14 Aug 2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 51:25 Outcome: Successful escape!
historicalillogicalbroken tech

Seemed easy for a 90 min room - I expected more. Good mix of puzzle types. Some things seemed to be there as red herrings (either that, or we missed a puzzle but still got out!). A prop was missing and we had to be diverted to another room so it could be added, which felt pretty poor. There were a couple of things which didn't work as they should all the whole room felt quite decrepit and in need of a spruce up. 

kman expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 19 Aug 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 1h10m Outcome: Successful escape!
originalillogical

First of all, this room was EXTREMELY HOT. There was no ventilation, or air-con, except for one fan in one of the rooms. We went in the evening and it was still hot.

The game itself was fairly different and there were a nice arrangement of puzzles to clear. Some puzzles were excessively long which didn't need to be, and one puzzle you couldn't hear back yourself, so you're left wondering whether you've done it right or not..

There were a few red herrings that put you off in the game, which I feel was unnecessary. One of the final puzzles was not working which was explained to us was due to the heatwave, which was a real shame.

The room also felt very dated, worn out, in need of an upgrade, and cleaning as there was a lot of dust gathered in places. 

Lawsome Foursome rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Played: 3 Aug 2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 35:26 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting

We had a fantastic experience in Nottingham.  The story telling was fabulous.  One of best we have played

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Reviews by escape room review sites

‘Immersive’ is a worrying term for a game based on the sinking of the Titanic, but fortunately they don’t take things as far as plunging players into the icy waters of the Atlantic. Instead, this game places the players in an upper class berth on the doomed ship, just as it begins to sink.

Houdini Escape excel at providing a good experience before and after the game, starting from the atmospheric lobby and the mini-cinema used for game briefings. I particularly admired the way they use a simple...

A good intro and cool transition into the game. A beautifully themed space, with a sense of exploration across the ship and attention to detail that really helps with immersion. Solid puzzles and good theatre throughout the game. Titanic is probably the most impressive of the games in Southampton and well worth a trip if you're in the area.
We loved the attention to detail in both the game, and the waiting area. The room itself had touches that were historically accurate, and the reception had a poster of the Titanic that was signed by the youngest survivor of the disaster.

Let’s talk about climaxes. The one thing all good games shouldn’t do these days is to leave you unsure whether you have actually completed it. It definitely shouldn’t be dependent on the GM walking in and telling you. 

As it turns out, the room has a lot going for it. It sprawls over several rooms (well, "cabins"), it looks fairly realistic (except for lack of motion, I guess) and proposes a few tasks I had never performed before (something I always appreciate after playing so many rooms). There are many references to real-life details in the puzzles, to the point where Titanic experts would probably be able to circumvent a puzzle or two. Yet, having said all that...

I had never heard of Houdini Escape rooms before, so when it was suggested that we do one of their rooms, I was unsure what to expect but was up for the challenge. They have multiple locations around the country and with Southampton closest we headed there and it seemed only apt to do the Titanic room. When we arrived we were greeted by the nicest host/games master who i'm so sorry but I don't remember his name. He is an absolute credit to the Houdini team. His passion and enthusiasm for his job was clear to see and he really made the whole experience, from checking in to escaping that much more fun and entertaining.



Houdinis Escape Onslow Road Southampton: Titanic

November 2022

Overview 

This was Second visit to Houdini’s in Southampton after visiting the their Tenpin location earlier in the day taking on Extinct. We had booked in at their Onslow Road location for what is arguably the best rated escape room in the country, Titanic. This was our first 90 minute room. There is a car park nearby where you then have a 2 minute walk to the location so not too bad at all. The reception area is decorated as you would expect for an old immersive experience but it is not as grand as the Tenpin location. You are given an iPad to complete your information details and sign waivers. We were taken to an old cinema style room with popcorn machine and cinema screen ready to show us our brief. 

Room impression

The room is up to 7 people, however, we would not recommend going with a group of that size. Some of the areas in the game are quite tight and as a team of 4 we did struggle a little bit in some parts. The set of the game is as you would expect, fully immersive and completely in keeping with what task we were taking on. We would say that some of the props and games in the room were starting to look a little tired and were not as impressive as Extinct that we had done earlier in the day. In saying that, they had done a brilliant job in creating an immersive experience that we did all enjoy. 

Puzzles

At the beginning of the game we found it quite easy to split up and tackle a few games on our own but as the experience went on, the games did become linear. As previously mentioned, some spaces were quite tight and this left some of our team stood watching whilst others were attempting the solve some puzzles. This put a little dampener on the experience for us and with much bigger teams, we can imagine this being quite a big issue. There were a lot of hide and seek games during the experience and at the beginning a few padlocks were to be found but on the whole, the puzzles were varied and fun throughout. It did take us a while to work out that when we did get a puzzle right, a ship’s bell would ring. We’ve not experienced this before and it was a nice touch to add to the immersive experience. 

Game Master Clues

We can’t remember asking for any help during Titanic. Our games master did keep a watchful eye on us and if we steered slightly off track then a foghorn would sound which let us know we needed to have a little re-think. We were told that if we needed a clue all we had to do was ask and she would have came over on the speaker system. 

Round Up

We had high expectations of this room and to the large part it did not disappoint. A lot of effort has gone into making one of biggest tragedies in human history a tasteful experience. You could see that game was starting to look a little tired on some of the puzzles that will probably need addressing at some point but it kind of added to the history of it all. This game is a must when visiting Houdini’s Southampton.

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