Mission: Breakout: Underground 2099

There was so much wrong with this room it's hard to put it in a review. TLDR. Don't play unless it's super cheap. 

I can count on one hand the number of supposed puzzles in this room, two of which were pretty much identical, one cool concept which felt clunky, one split puzzle and one laminate overlay. Everything else is not able to be classed as a puzzles, simply actions. 

(Stop reading as more spoilery from this point, without being true spoilers)

The gimmick of the room was battery charge backpacks, and it was mentioned in the briefing that you could pass energy between players. This was used once, required one person and that was it. The charge feature was used twice, despite this bag being clunky having a long wire which hindered easy movement. Much of a pain for a true fun gimmick. 

Lighting was incredibly poor, with it being an active hindrance for everyone (18-25 yr olds so not poor eyesight) and progress was only possible when the GM flicked a light on at a few points in the game. Darkness should never be a blocker. Atmospheric yes. Hindering, no. 

Almost all of the technical elements felt GM controlled (even if they may not have been), and the things that didn't felt unnecessarily clunky and not smooth at all. Not the experience you want - if this is your 2nd/3rd room, this might have put you off going to other companies. 

On the topic of GM - our GM, known only as 'big cheese', seemed attentive, however briefing was lackluster for the room, it felt like she was very new (or one would hope very new). Clues came through a walkie and on numerous occasions came through once we had done the thing/was irrelevant. We found ourselves needing to ask for help when certain pieces ended up in a portion of the room which was unreachable, with sections being closed off as we went (as is this conveyor belt business model). Ludicrously poor game design for this to be possible. 

Amazing building, multiple rooms, decent host and some special immersive moments with cool tech and theming just let down by sometimes basic puzzles or sections that won't work without help from the game master. This made what could have been a really enjoyable experience quite stressful!

Great hosting by professor boo!

Unique setting in an abandoned underground station.

Great tech, logical and at times needing a high level of cooperation between players. Highly immersive. Unmissable.

Completely agree with the other review here. Game felt illogical and we never felt like we actually ‘solved’ anything. Just felt really poorly thought out to the point that you sort of lose interest. At one point we got a code, were told by the host that the code wasn’t needed, moved rooms and got locked through and the later had to try and remember the code. Really silly. Quite enjoyed their Codebreakers one. This was a step down. 

The room is placed in quite impressive setting and is big and complex with multiple features that show the determination to create a special experience (including live actors, division kf the team at one point to divide the tasks, including special gear each llayer gets). Unfortunately, there are not many puzzles that would be logical or make any particular sense, at no point did we have a satisfaction of solving something and we had to be quided by the host a lot because the whole room was exceptionally illogical. Moreover, it included some broken tech which was just annoying. Therefore, our overall experience was frustrating rather than enjoyable. Would recommend a different room!