Houdini’s Escape Room Experience York: Escape From Alcatraz

After having really enjoyed Titanic I had high hopes for this room, but unfortunately, it was an enormous let down.

It started off badly when the GM told us we 'didn't look experienced enough' to play this room (she said it had a 23% success rate), and laughed at us when we said we were still willing to give it a go. I've never encountered a GM like this before and we were all left feeling quite uncomfortable. 

The game itself was difficult purely because the puzzles were illogical. Once found, they were easy enough, but to actually locate what the puzzles were required huge leaps in logic. It just became a guessing game. The room was also relatively plain, and the design got worse as the game progressed. One section was a plain white room with about 5 props in- I've never seen an escape room so sparse. 

We were clued through a hatch in the door, which was a fun idea, but our GM was talking to her colleagues while we waited for her to clue us. This totally broke any sense of immersion, and we almost considered leaving. 

We did eventually escape, though the final puzzle was broken so this was revealed by the GM coming in at the end to tell us that we'd completed the room.

I would absolutely not recommend, there are much better options elsewhere.