gimiabreakout

This game very quickly exposed who the wimps in our team were! Had us screaming, jumping and sometimes just outright running away. But it was a fantastic laugh afterwards once our heart rates had calmed down to look back at the experience.

Immersive set and a fantastic games master who really set the scene and story for us. 

It’s clear why this game receives such fantastic reviews.

The first puzzle of the game was fantastic, something none of us have experienced before and we thoroughly enjoyed the discovery of this as a whole team. Very cleverly done! 

Lots of puzzles and we loved the link to the history of Derby, immersive and incredible theming paired with a great games host.

As Peaky Blinders fans we were eager to try this room. 

We knew it was an older room so the set being a little worn was to be expected, but it completely ruined one of the final puzzles in the room. The objects we needed had been so worn down that the writing on them was really difficult to read. We’re quite experienced players so had flown through the room up until this point, but finally got stuck. We’d got the basic idea of what we needed to do, but the information needed was so worn away that we disregarded it as being the answer as we thought that surely it wouldn’t have been accesible to those with slightly poorer eyesight. We puzzled for a good 5-10 minutes and finally asked for the first clue of our game, to which we received a response from the GM telling us we were doing too well so we had to wait 5 minutes to ask for help.

So we stood and waited for 5 minutes, which lowered our enthusiasm and excitement and ruined the flow. I understand that if a team are doing well you don’t want them to ask for a hint if they don’t need it, but it wasn’t a case of us not understanding the puzzle, and it had been a fair deal of time on this compared to the rest of our room. We had a discussion about whether to ask for a hint as we don’t usually like to, but we could feel ourselves losing enthusiasm and getting frustrated.

The first 80% of our game was great, we were enjoying working as a team, solving puzzles, and loved the immersion of it being a peaky blinders room! It’s a shame that this final part put a dampener on our escape experience. 

Had some great puzzles and challenges but felt it was quite linear for a group of 5. At times some of our group were stood feeling like a bit of a spare part with nothing to do. Set was great, very in keeping with the theme and our games master Tanya was fantastic, friendly with a great sense of humour. 

Had a little technical issue due to a touch screen aspect of the room where one of our team had pressed something unknowingly that switched off the in game screen, but our games master dealt with it quickly and well and still remained good humoured despite the mishap.

Our first ever escape room so we weren’t sure what to expect and this is probably what lead to our downfall! I know this game has closed now but still a fond memory as it was our first room years ago.

Set was immersive, however we did find at times we were struggling to see due to the poor lighting- I know this was in keeping with the theming but at times it felt like we were failing elements due to not being able to see rather than not actually understanding the puzzles.

A lot of this room felt like it was about finding things, and only now as more experienced players do I understand where we went so badly wrong- more than likely due to our nervousness of what we could/couldn’t touch or turn over and what to expect etc. First time player nerves! 

There were some very cleverly done puzzles that my friends who’ve done this room and I still remember fondly. It was a good escape room to start with on our journey into escape rooms and I’m glad we played it, it was definitely an eye opener into making sure you thoroughly search your escape room first! 

The set for this room was very immersive and did get us feeling excited when we entered, fantastic theming and that sense of a great game being ahead of us.

However… The game flow and puzzles did not feel very logical, and we were left confused for most of our experience despite completing puzzles correctly. Towards the end of our game one of the puzzles wasn’t working correctly either, which added further to our confusion and lead to the games master having to intervene to fix it. 

Definitely one of the more basic rooms we’ve played but did still give us some satisfaction as we pieced together puzzles and solved things. Game flow felt a bit lost at times. 

I think compared to other escape rooms it was quite plain, and at times felt like it was a case of lowering the lights to try and hide the lack of set design and to make puzzles more difficult. This made it a little harder to feel immersed in the game, as it very clearly felt like a simple room containing a few props and bits of furniture rather than the story that the game was trying to tell. 

The host was friendly enough, didn’t seem quite as passionate as other hosts we’ve had but was very accommodating for our last minute booking. 

Friendly hosts who were accommodating and some fun moments of solving puzzles but otherwise a standard prison themed escape room. Half our team did end up standing around not really doing a lot whilst waiting for the other half to complete puzzles in order to free them from an area.

Our game was ruined a little by the final puzzle being broken despite retrying it several times.

A fantastic escape rooms for those who are a fan of horror! 

The set and props were all great and in keeping with the theme, and it was a perfect mixture of suspense, horror and puzzles. 

The owner was very passionate and an absolutely brilliant games host, good at sensing when to clue, and doing so without robbing us of any sense of achievement by clueing us too much. Just the right kind of nudges.

The only reason I’ve gone 4 stars is that there were a few parts of the room where I do genuinely think we’d have had no clue what or how to do something without the games master, as links/signposting were sometimes not the clearest. 

I liked how this horror room didn’t just rely on cutting the lights mid-puzzle or scary noises now and again like others do… Without revealing any spoilers, you’ll definitely be thrilled by just how immersive this room can get! 

Our first horror escape room and it didn’t disappoint. It was very immersive and intense, not as many puzzles as other rooms but in this instance it worked because the horror aspect was enough to keep you from working as quickly as you normally would! Definitely an experience, one I’d recommend just for the fun of doing it as a group and giggling at one another in fear. 

We visited at the end of July and played Extinct as it was listed as the most difficult room available. As a group we had all played a fair few escape room, so we were eager for the challenge. The host who greeted us was enthusiastic and friendly, and I will give them credit where due for the great dedication they showed remaining in character for the entirety of our room! 

Initially entering our room the set was great with immersive sounds and props- quite dark but this was due to the atmosphere and nature of the room theming. It was a little difficult navigating the space as a group of 4 with only 1 or 2 poor light sources, but I imagine this was to encourage us to work together. I do think the lighting affected the hosts ability to run the room for us though, as on completing a puzzle she had to wait for us to tell her we’d completed it over a radio. We weren’t aware that we had to do this so lost a little time standing around and didn’t get that instant sense of achievement after having solved something.

Without revealing any spoilers, travelling through our escape room we were starting to enjoy completing challenges and puzzles. Whilst the host was clearly very enthusiastic and passionate, it did feel like they were talking a LOT through the radio to us when we just wanted to be left to work through the room ourselves. We had plenty of time left so felt a bit puzzled as to why the games master was giving us so many nudges and talking to us so much. This felt a little frustrating after about 15 mins, especially when we’d be working through a puzzle and would sometimes feel as though we’d been cheated the satisfaction of coming to the correct answer ourselves. By about 20 minutes we’d stopped replying as much on the radio as it felt a bit too overbearing and was completely ruining the immersion of the game.

Whilst the room itself was themed well, it didn’t actually feel like there was that much to do. It felt like a lot of the game was padded out with films or audio and without this aspect- and interruptions from our games master- I feel that our team would have completed it in probably just under half an hour. Not a time that reflects the difficulty the room is rated at.

A well thought out game with a variety of puzzles and surprising elements, a fantastic escape room. 

The puzzles and props were authentic and well in keeping with the theming, made better by being located underground in a real cave! Truly special, professional and incredibly well managed.

Wow! We still talk about this room months later.

 Fantastic theming, incredible games host and what a finale! 

This game is absolutely well worth playing, and it’ll be clear once you’ve played it why it receives such glowing reviews.

There was always something to do and at no point during the game did anyone in our group feel like they were just stood around waiting or feeling useless. The staff were all really friendly and our host James was incredible- he remained in character throughout and really added to the experience of the room. He was good fun and a great games master.