Escape Reading: Mary’s Curse

By | June 27, 2026
Top 50 winner in the 2026 UK Escape Room Awards

by Escape Reading (website)

106A Friar St, Reading RG1 1EP

Reading

2-5 players

Languages: EN

Top 50 winner in the 2026 UK Escape Room Awards90 mins

The Golden Heart of Quietmere has been lost for many years.

Ever since its disappearance, villagers have vanished without explanation, and a dark curse has settled over the town. Locals whisper that Quiet Mary, once the village’s guardian, is searching for what was taken from her.

Uncover the truth, find the Golden Heart and lift Mary’s Curse. But beware: many have tried before you, and none have returned.

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Overall rating

Rated between 4.5 and 5 out of 5

based on ratings from 13 users
combined with 1 pro review

Your review

Player reviews

Paula D'Urbano rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 27 Oct 2026 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven

What an incredible game, I could not not have given it 5 stars. It was phenomenally made with so many clever but easy puzzles. All hand made by the team at Escape Reading but extremely immersive. So many cool details to remember and be excited about, starting by the fact that the game starts as soon as you enter. I though the weird and wonderful white noise in the toilet was a great detail too.

Kelly Archer expert rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 11 Jul 2026 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hostingintense

It is so hard to describe this room without giving too much away. It is superb - a great storyline, great hosting and a scope more like European rooms. Enough said, go and play it.

We played as a two but it would easily work with a bigger team

Ellie Jay Ch experienced rated this:Rated between 4.5 and 4.5 out of 5
Played: 22 Sep 2026 Team size: 2 Time taken: 90 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven

Wow!! This is such an amazing room. It begins when you ring the buzzer (arrive as a full group and don’t arrive much before your time just be there at the start time).  We popped to the toilet which was part of the theming.

The game is 90 mins, the most immersive we’ve done in the uk and honestly so cool! We were blown away by the immersion and theming and the puzzles were great. 

There are a lot of surprises (all good).  Although the theming is scary and there is a live interaction there are zero scares or jumps it’s all just themed and id be happy to bring kids ten plus to this room (younger would struggle to follow the story and time).

Loved this and can’t wait for the next one on site - I’d be shocked if this doesn’t become one of the top in the UK. 

☕Joe Brown expert rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
Played: 18 Sep 2026
Full of surprises, there was a great variety of rooms and things to see and do, only let down by slightly more basic puzzles than their last room age of magic.
🏆Annagramma expert rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 18 Sep 2026 Team size: 3 Time taken: 67 Outcome: Successful escape!
🔐EscapedBear expert rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 19 Sep 2026 Team size: 3 Time taken: 67m Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulcleverimmersive
Emma Macedo expert rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 28 Aug 2026 Team size: 3 Time taken: 86:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalcleverimmersive

FANTASTIC! This has got to be in my top games I have played and what a brilliant game to play for my 90th ever game. 

They are sure correct when they say the experience starts as soon as you enter the building (luckily they still allow you to use facilities first) but yes you enter into the Village of Quietmere straight away. After a clever and different little briefing, the game began and the immersion was there from the get go. I'm not usually a fan of games with live actors or scary rooms and whilst this wasn't particularly scary, having the games master actually popping up and being part of the game was a first and I really loved it. The puzzles were a good mixture of padlocks, tactile puzzles and automated mechanisms and the whole time I felt fully immersed in the setting and story.  Without giving too much away, from very early on we experienced some really clever parts to this game that we havent come across before. The themeing and attention to detail was brilliant throughout and you can clearly tell a lot of time and consideration has gone into the design and build of this 90 minute game. We completed the objective with 4 minutes to spare as a team of three players and at the end had a great chat with our host about the game itself and how it has compared to other experiences, but like I said, this one is definitely up there as one of my top 10. Thank you and congratulations Escape Reading on an amazing game! 

Fancy Chickens experienced rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 9 Aug 2026 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverimmersivegreat hosting

Brilliant room, we had a great time. Immersive from the moment you arrive, with great design, so many great little touches and brilliant hosting. I think we forgot there was a time limit, we were just having fun! Can’t wait to play the next room now!

Just to note that this isn’t a scary room, though some children might find one aspect a bit creepy. We can’t do scary rooms but we had no problem at all with this one. 

dak515 rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting
Roni Dunn rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 8 Jul 2026 Team size: 2 Time taken: 87 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techoriginalimmersive
2For1 experienced rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 5 Jul 2026 Team size: 2 Time taken: 70:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverimmersivestory-driven

We have done all of Escape Reading's rooms and was so excited to see they had built a this new room. 

WOW is all we can say! Just when we thought they couldn't top their current rooms! This 'room' was amazing! So many unique parts and fun puzzles and fantastic Hosting! 

The minds behind their builds really are amazing. Great work once again Escape Reading! 

jakea256 expert rated this:Rated between 4.5 and 4.5 out of 5

This was such a fun room! The puzzles were really creative and fit the theme perfectly. The immersion from the get go was also excellent. Highly recommend!

TeamHawley experienced rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 27 Jun 2026 Team size: 2 Time taken: 89 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting😨creepy

What an absolutely brilliant room. From the moment you enter, you are fully immersed. Fantastic hosting, clever tech, super puzzles - this is an absolute ‘must do’ room. Best room we’ve done for a very long time!

Reviews by escape room review sites

I’m loving Reading’s resurgence as an escape room destination, and Mary’s Curse is another great addition to it. I’m intrigued to see how this venue develops, but it’s started strong and the potential for something really quite special is huge!

See also