Steph Norchi

Wow. What an experience this place was. 

I'm not going to lie, we were a little nervous going into this regarding how it would work; would it be too easy and just catered to families, or would it just be lots of basic puzzles littered around to complete when you fancied. But I can honestly say any expectation we had was blown out of the water!

Firstly - as an escape room, the cottage is SO WELL DESIGNED. There's a huge variety of puzzles which broadly range in difficulty, making it fun for all ages and experience levels. There is a brilliant progress logging system so you can keep track of how you are doing and there are stages of completion, so even if you dont finish everything, you wont leave disappointed.  Information is anywhere and everywhere, almost every part of this unassuming cottage has a purpose and a reason for being there, but even so, there is still plenty of signposting where necessary so it was always clear which elements were connected. (There is also a lovely hint system on-site for those who need it, without ruining the immersion).

The story was compelling and beautifully woven throughout the whole experience, starting before you even get to the cottage and incorporating a fantastic little walking tour of Tewksbury.

We also loved the attention to detail when telling us we had not been successful in a puzzle. This lead to MANY amusing moments which I think we will remember for a long time.

I honestly cannot fault it. It was a fantastic experience that kept us (an experienced team) busy for a full day. As accomodation it was superb, very clean and tidy (until we started ransacking the place looking for clues haha) and the location is great. Parking was a little tricky but as we turned up late friday night the car parks were a little emptier. 

Make time for this amazing weekend, it won't disappoint!

Another lovely family-friendly room from this company. Like stepping into Santa's cabin, it felt Christmassy and fun. Lots of non-linear puzzles to solve based around retro tabletop games. Pretty easy room where everything is very logical and flows well. A great room for children but still good fun for adults too.

Light-hearted, family-friendly and lots of fun. I would say it's a fairly easy room where children can get involved in every element. We only took so long due to our own stupidity and failure to check the obvious XD. Most puzzles have a fun twist or at least an element of playfulness to them and everything was very logical. Contains lots of the usual padlocks, including the dreaded directional lock. 

The third and final game of our morning here, and in my opinion this is their strongest room. It is super family-friendly and definitely suitable for kids and adults alike. Don't be put off by the spooky theme because it's a lot of fun and not scary at all.

It's a really clever game with some beautiful theming and it's very different to their other games. The puzzles are really creative and we found ourselves really immersed in the story with all of its twists and turns, at times forgetting that we needed to solve a mystery.

I wouldn't say there are red herrings, but due to there being a standard and a pro mode, not all of the puzzle elements in the room will be used for your run-through, which is something to keep in mind. 

We also had a different GM for this room compared to the other 2 and it made a big difference. If there was a maglock that opened which we didn't notice, there would be a ghostly reminder or hint to guide us in the right direction. Though I will say that this was maybe a little too direct at times.

Overall a really fun room that I highly recommend for families.

However, this room unfortunately had me annoyed from the very beginning. The rooms are intentionally dark to begin with, which is fine. But this meant that I was feeling around, poking and prodding everything to work out what we should be doing. Until i came across something sticky... Luckily we brightened the room up pretty quickly, only for me to discover that the sticky feeling was wet paint. Bright green, wet paint. The colour had come off the top of one of the puzzle elements and instead of just letting us work out what the missing colour was (which would have been easy enough), they covered it in wet paint. I got very lucky that i didn't wipe it all over myself and had a tissue on hand to clean up a bit (as there are no toilets in the venue, only the shopping centre, which would have taken time away from the room).

Moving on from that sticky situation.... there was a really great balance between the 2 starting zones, meaning there was lots of back and forth between the mini-teams and not too much waiting around for the others. We were out of there pretty quickly and reunited to find LOTS more puzzles to complete.

The main bulk of the room is almost entirely non-linear, so we were in our element with the divide and conquer approach. There is a great variety of puzzles in here and a mixture of combination locks, keys and maglocks.

We managed to skip a few steps in here and soon realised that we needed to go back and complete everything. You will need to do everything, so there is a lot to do.

This is where we encountered issue number 2. There is a puzzle where we found a solution which perfectly met the criteria and it didn't work. We got stuck here for quite a while trying different solutions, coming up with multiple different solutions and nothing working, until finally one did. We asked the GM at the end of the game why the other solutions didn't work and she couldn't give us a reason. The reasoning she gave for the correct solution, also matched the first answer we gave but it didn't work. They clearly haven't accounted for there being any other solutions, which there are. So this was rather annoying.

Getting into the last room felt a bit janky and I wasn't sure we were even doing it right, as it was quite a stretch at times and felt like we were taking shortcuts, but apparently, it was correct. All of which was done whilst being blasted with really loud music so we couldn't hear each other very well. 

Overall, it was fun, and the puzzles were good, but much like the first room we did, it needs fine-tuning and some better thought putting into certain elements.

Edit...

LevelUp have since been in touch and provided a detailed explanation on the solution to the puzzle I mentioned. Their reasoning does now make sense, however, it certainly didn't at the time. Maybe it just didn't click for our team, but personally, I would just swap it out for a clearer puzzle.

This is a lovely room with wonderful theming and a great use of space. There are some physical elements to this room so it isn't advised for anyone with mobility issues. We really enjoyed the variety of puzzles and the room kept us all fairly busy the whole time. There was a lovely flow to it and a good sense of progression due to the clever layout. 

There were some really nice effects used in the room.... and one not-so-nice one. We were warned about said effect at the beginning and asked if we were happy, however, what was described wasn't really how it was at all. I don't know if it was a bit broken but it ended up just being unpleasant and annoying. This could be utilised really well but for us it was not.

However, my main issue with this room was a GM issue. There was a certain puzzle where we completed it pretty quickly and received a code, tried it in all available padlocks to no avail. We even had multiple team members try the locks just in case, but nothing. So we began spiraling, searching everywhere for a different code or a different way to interpret the information around us. We must have spent the best part of 15 minutes believing we were wrong. Eventually giving in and doing what we never do... asking for a hint. To which we were given the response "You have the right code, you just need to give the lock a really strong pull". In the pre-room briefing we were told; no excessive force was needed. They really should have mentioned how that doesn't include padlocks, because some of them really did need some force. Also, not letting us stew for 15 minutes and just a polite hint to give the lock a strong pull would have been appreciated.

Overall, it's a really nice room with great potential. It has some lovely puzzles, great theming and is really family-friendly. With some fine-tuning, it would be a fantastic room. The small issues were annoying but not enough to spoil the fun.

Let me start by saying that this wasn't even the room we were supposed to be doing. We had booked Hexmore, and on arrival we were told that Hexmore was so broken that he didn't want us doing it and he asked if we were happy to do Titanic instead. So I was already annoyed that they didn't contact me in advance and ask us to change (what would they have done if we had already done Titanic before?) we were taking some friends for their first ever escape room and wanted something easy for them. It's a good job we were experienced enough to help them through it; because this room was a mess! 

The GM was completely unenthusiastic and unhelpful. He led us to the room where we were given no briefing whatsoever. No health and safety, no 'these are the sort of locks you might find', nothing. Just told us that because of the mixup he would give us 90 minutes and sent us in. There is a lot of GM intervention in this room so if you get an uninterested GM like we did then this room is not going to be as enjoyable. 

HERE IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING! The rest of this review does contain some spoilers.

The first area was in my opinion the best room, theming was great and there seemed to be lots of puzzles for everyone to solve. However... on inspection, the puzzles were badly damaged. Clues were stuck to elements using stickers, half of which were missing and you could just about see where they had tried to carve the missing clues back onto the objects, but it was very hard to see and very clearly not intentional - just broken. Here's the one that got me the most agitated -  the numbers for one of the clues had been stuck on/scrawled in the wrong order! So the solution was spelled wrong, very confusing. But it wasn't just the clues that were broken, one of the key puzzle elements that we collected instantly fell apart in our hands so we had to keep putting it back together until we found out where it needed to go.

There are also a lot of red herrings throughout this room which may well have just been old broken puzzles that they didn't bother to fix.

Moving on to the next area involved some crawling (there was no prior warning on booking that there would be any physical activity). However, we quite liked it and it fit with the theme. 

The next area had such potential, this was the room where they could have absolutely gone to town on the theming but it was quite the opposite. Very minimal and very cheap. They had large black panels on the wall in place of windows. They could have at least put some artwork there that made it look like you were looking out of a window, not just solid black panels. What few elements there were in here were just more red herrings and we were so convinced they should be puzzles that the GM just used the microphone to tell us exactly where to find a hidden clue (which we hadn't asked for and was so direct it was very aggravating).

In the next area were were then tasked with the typical morse code puzzle, but the GM didn't even let me finish putting in all of the information before he activated the next step, so it was rather pointless. 

To end it all off, the finale was rather weak. The premise was cool but the budget fir theming must have run out as they seemed to give up on it. This section of the game was aimed at 4 players so may have been tricky with less, especially as the elements didn't stay put without you holding them. The game then just sort of finished and we were left wondering if we were meant to just press the switch to exit or wait for the GM to eventually turn up and let us out. 

Overall, I was left very disappointed by a game that I had heard good things about. The room seems dated, it's broken, it's rather illogical in its puzzles and red herrings at times and the GM was a let down. The whole location (not just Titanic) seemed very unprofessional and in need of some serious work. The newcomers enjoyed it, but as enthusiasts were would definitely not recommend it.  

Let's start with the positives... the theming in here was great! They really made an effort to make it feel like a jungle, and there are no padlocks in here, regardless of what you may see (I'll explain later). It is also very a physical room (which there was no prior warning about), thankfully our team quite enjoyed all of the crawling and climbing. 

However... other than those slight positives, this room was a disaster. The GM seemed completely uninterested and unenthusiastic. Before entering the room there was no brief whatsoever. No health and safety (which there really should have been considering the room), no story set up, just a quick 'here's your room, here's your walkie for the hints, it's dark so you can use a phone torch'. Which with 2 complete beginners in our group was not a great start. The GM also starts the game in the first room with you! This was not only unnecessary as he did nothing, but was very offputting having him just standing in the corner. The game started by him telling us exactly where the find the first clue: we didn't ask for a clue and tbh didn't even know if the timer had started or if that was just some story set up. When we solved the first puzzle, the solution didn't match the clue in the journal, so we carried on trying, and eventually, we spotted the open door, the GM told us it had been open for ages and then left.

There are also a lot of GM-activated elements in here, so having a GM who didn't really care, ruined it at times and make some things more confusing then it needed to be. Now for the kicker - there are a lot of broken puzzles! We even had the GM come into the room mid-game at one point because we had opened a panel and moved something that had an unlocked padlock attached to it thinking another team member had done it (turns out that lock wasn't for us).  

Unfortunately, I left the room feeling very disappointed. The newbies of the group still enjoyed themselves but to an enthusiast, I'd say give it a miss.

(Also, not sure why etr has this as a 90 minute room as it is only 60 minutes.)

We absolutely loved this room! Communication is one of our team's strengths so we found the puzzles in this room fairly easy, having found 5 lanterns in about 15 minutes and all 8 by the end. However, it's probably one of the most fun rooms we have done. It is really unique and makes you think in a very different way to your standard room. It's worth mentioning that this is not a scary room; there is nothing at all in this room that is meant to be even remotely creepy other than for anyone who would have a fear of the dark.

Our side mission score - 55,000.

This room was good fun and there were plenty of puzzles to keep us busy for the whole 60 minutes. We unlocked the door pretty early on but then chose to stay in the room and complete more puzzles to boost our side objective score. There's a fantastic range of puzzles of varying difficulties that make the room accessible to all teams from beginner to expert. I do however have 2 criticisms... The room is very small! With a team of 4 it was very tight and we were constantly in each other's way. I believe this was moved here from Peterborough where it was in a bigger room, but here it just feels cramped and more like an office than a bank vault. My other issue was that there are a lot of red herrings. The GM afterwards told us that it's set up in a way to let them add in more puzzles at a later date but this just added extra confusion to the game as it is, such as finding codes for locks that don't exist.

Fantastic experience. Totally unique from anything I have done before and hillarious from start to finish. The actors were all amazing and I was completely immersed. Well worth a visit if you fancy something different!

We were initially concerned about this one due to the website saying there would be loud sounds and frequent jump scares, which are both things that I am particularly sensitive around. But it was absolutely fine, there was only 1 jump scare that I noticed and I don't recall any loud sounds. I guess it could be dependant on the game master but ours seemed very tame - more like just a dark room with some ambient sounds. The puzzles were pretty varied and interesting, though it was quite hard at times to work out which information is for which puzzle. Both rooms I have played here are very padlock-heavy (which we don't mind, but I know some teams prefer rooms without them), so be prepared for that. I think overall the room was good fun for the price, but I would have liked it to have played a little more to the cabin in the woods theme, rather than just a dark old room. 

Great room with some puzzles we hadn't encountered before which was refreshing.  Not sure that all of the puzzles really fit with the theme, but equally they weren't so out of place that it was jarring at all. The room worked really well with how our team thinks so we we found it pretty easy, but depending on the team some may find it quite a tricky room. Not really scary at all, just a bit dark at times.  My only slight issue was that some of the more hidden clues were quite hard to read/see. We managed fine, but some people may struggle to read them.

All I can say is WOW. Absolutely incredible, from start to finish it was perfection, so many twists, every room had us in awe of what could be achieved in an escape room. The room is very story-driven, and captivating throughout, and the puzzles are beautifully woven into the theme. Nothing felt out of place or jarring, it was engineered perfectly. I cannot recommend this room enough!

I thought it was a clever use of a small space that really tested your communication skills. Personally, I prefer the bigger escape rooms, so this one felt quite restrictive to me but there was plenty to do with a great twist at the end to keep you on your toes.

One downside was that tech wasn't used properly where it should have been. We spent about 5 minutes putting the same code into a keypad before it worked, only to later find out that it's actually not automatic and is controlled by the GM who clearly just wasn't paying attention.

After hearing so much hype about this room I had high expectations. 

There is no doubt that this is a fantastic room, but above the incredibly immersive theming I didn't feel that there was anything new or different here. If you know Brighton then maybe it's more interesting but to someone who doesn't, it was just another escape room with lovely set design. Out of the 3 we did here it was certainly their best.

I spent a lot of time wandering around looking for something to do as my teammates already had all of the puzzles covered. For an experienced team it felt like a fairly easy room with all of the standard puzzles.

The GM was great and only gave us 1 hint to ensure we kept a nice flow.

There was also a broken element right at the end, so thankfully it didn't cause any flow issues with the game, but it was quite anti-climactic. 

Good fun, brush up on your dancing skills for this one! Some clever puzzles but we were ultimately let down by broken technology. We were prewarned before doing in that there was a broken element but it was really quite disappointing. A puzzle that relied on 2 players communicating, where only half of the puzzle was working, we completed the good half about 3 times before the GM marked it as completed. We wasted so much time fighting with dodgy tech. I feel like all the dancing and music was ultimately to distract you from how broken that room is.

Wow! What a room that was. The theming was incredible, the scale was amazing, and everything was really well thought out. Only 1 frustrating skill-based puzzle in here that I think either needs simplifying or replacing, but thanks to some clever GMing it didn't take away from the experience at all. 

This is a hard room. Do not underestimate it and do not attempt this as novices. As the last room of doing all 5 of Tulley's rooms in 1 day, we decided to stick to the 60 minutes instead of the optional 90min version. Wow, there is so much to do! It was 'go, go, go' constantly for the whole hour. Do not be afraid to ask for hints because it is well worth seeing this entire room. 

Ed was the best GM we have ever had. He was absolutely perfect and made the room even more fun with very subtle hints when needed, that were completely in keeping with the theme.

Potentially one of my top 5 rooms so far! Fully immersive from start to finish with amazing room designs and a large variety of puzzles that worked really well with the theming. Great for groups that like to 'divide and conquer'.  So much to do! We didn't have a single moment to stop and slow down, there was always something for all 4 of us to be doing. Good communication is key and don't overlook the obvious!

What a fabulous room. It incorporated so many different elements, puzzle types, and fun twists. Definitely a step up in difficulty from mutiny and outfitters but still manageable. One piece of technology was a little dodgy but with a little help from the excellent GM we got it sorted without losing any immersion. I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil it, but you won't regret this adventure!

Lovely rooms with a typical escape room feel. Fairly linear flow which didn't work well for our particular team as we like to solve multiple things at once. Nothing particularly outstanding here but still a fun room with lovely theming and great puzzles.

Big rooms, gorgeous theming, fairly easy for an experienced group, we took a leaderboard spot whilst trying to take our time and enjoy the scenery. Lovely flow through the whole room. Very hands-on with lots for everyone to do. Great fun, family-friendly and well worth a visit!