by Houdini's Escape Room Experience Stafford (website)
Grey Friars' Pl, Stafford ST16 2SD
2-8 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
based on ratings from 70 users
combined with 6 pro reviews
Your review
Player reviews
Unfortunately, there were a few things that weren't great. The health and safety briefing at the start didn't include all of the information needed, so the GM then kept coming into the room to point out things he forgot to tell us (including 'when the phone rings I'm trying to send you a clue'- we were not told this, and prior just thought it was background noise!). He also came in to explain that some puzzles weren't working- it didn't affect our game too much at all, but it is something to note if you really enjoy the immersion aspect. It's also important to note that the GM directly interacts with the game, and you need to shout out answers in order for them to open something- I didn't mind this, and our GM was very attentive with his responses, but I can imagine that this might not be everyone's style.
I think this is definitely worth doing if you can get a deal on it (we used the 2 for £40 deal), but it's not one to travel for.
Titanic was an original theme which is something we value in a room. Great use of space without feeling either empty or crammed. All of the puzzles were relevent to the story and did not feel shoehorned in and provided a decent level of challenge for an experienced team.
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!
Thoroughly enjoyed this and the combination of puzzles. I personally would have preferred to play as a smaller team as I found so many people meant you werent as involved BUT that doesnt take away from how wonderful i found this room to be. If I could do it over, I would any day of the week.
We really enjoyed the Titanic room. It was immersive and different to anything else we had played with some great features and plenty of puzzles along the way. The set was far bigger than we thought it would be. We became stuck a couple of times but we were helpfully guided back on track by our gamesmaster.
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...
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.
See also
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Southampton: Escape the RMS Titanic (Southampton)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Birmingham: Escape From Titanic (Birmingham)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Cheshire Oaks: Escape from R.M.S. Titanic (Cheshire Oaks)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Nottingham: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Nottingham)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Coventry: RMS Titanic (Coventry)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Greenwich: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (East London)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience York: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (York)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Crewe: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Crewe)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Southampton: Titanic (Southampton)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Swindon: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Swindon)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Milton Keynes: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Milton Keynes)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Dundee: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Dundee)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Worcester: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Worcester)
- Houdini's Escape Room Experience Sheffield: Escape From R.M.S. Titanic (Sheffield)