Robert Storey

It was time to return to the Darkmaster, for their third birthday offer was a great opportunity to get back down as we were passing through. Shamley's is a massive game, and certainly is a 90-minute game and not a 60-minute game disguised as a 90-minuter. Puzzles were mostly coherent, with a number of aha moments. We were stumped by one non-puzzle aspect of the room which felt like poor design upon reflection rather than just us being silly. If that aspect would have been different, I would have felt much more satisfied with the room as a whole. I also felt the ending, whilst unique, was also quite weak. One puzzle is in the wrong place in the room and so the pacing felt off from the start. Good puzzle, wrong place in the room . This puzzle's answer was also not quite satisfying since it didn't feel clear and found ourselves working out the answer from the most solid pieces of the answer (yes slightly confusing but if you play you'll understand).

This is now the second visit to DarkMaster, and the second time we have left feeling like the GM could have had a little bit more enthusiasm and just felt like with a little more oomph, it could have really made this room. Briefing was very, well, brief, the greeting was fairly standard, and the end of game entry and debrief really felt forced and a little on the awkward side. It's for this reason I can't give any more than the 3.5 stars here.  It's probably a high 4-4.3 star room, with slightly more from the GM. 

Whoever designed this game was not drinking XXX Moonshine at the time - everything flowed really nicely and was decently signposted. 
Set dressing met and exceeded expectations with little in the room not being used.

One puzzle we needed hinting towards as we have become accustomed to tuning out this particular thing often found in rooms as set dressing/design, potentially could have done with a little more signposting. 

Very clever ending and interesting points system, as awarded by the GM.

Huge thanks to Cassidy (or as non-southerners call him, Joel) for being a great host (If i'm to be really picky then perhaps some nudges came a little too early, especially with the time we had left, but one of them we definitely needed!) 

For me, a room has  to REALLY be special for me to give 5*, and I can't quite give this room the full 5 but it is really pressing up against it. Will be back for Ethics (the room we had actually booked  for, some mistake on their end meant that we couldn't play ethics  and had to play Discomfort instead (or rebook/have a full refund)) and the Murder Bath Experience :) 

Ironically posting a review on social media about a room which is based around the watcher who hates social media.... but on we go. 

From the word go, the room provides a tense experience which was just enough to keep it as an escape room. Couple of jumpscares and some less than appealing punishments from the watcher himself (though, thankfully those punishments fell upon my teammates rather than me... ). Simple yet effective progression system. 

Great hosting from Alex. 

Also smashed the record of the room by 3 mins! 

Certainly a VERY different game. Could have done with some more puzzles and less searching but didn't leave disappointed at all. 

Beautiful sets and clever use of theming. 

Our GM could have had a bit more life, we started the room rather abruptly (for context we arrived 10 mins prior to booking, as requested by DMER) with very little in the way of room briefing other than "you dont need to do x", "dont move y". No link to story there at all, with the GM starting the game very flatly. 

Ending was underwhelming, with us completing the room with "where do we need to put this??" which could be solved really rather simply with one extra step. 

Was 1st on the monthly leader board..... we were also the first team to play this month.... (though we were assured that the previous month's best time was 44 mins, and checking socials this seems to be the case). 

All in all, a very good different room that is well... different :P 

With just enough Boo for your Buck, scary tale lands itself as yet another masterpiece from EO. 

Lovely theming, great puzzles which as always never ceased to flow as expected. 

If you go down to the woods (EO) today, you'd better not go do one room alone! 

"Okaaaay" is your first reaction after Kelly's briefing but I'll leave that to you to find out why. 

But it all becomes clear once you enter the room and start playing.... yet another great game from EO. 

Everything was logical, and, despite myself being stubborn and completing a task designed for 2 people by myself, we all enjoyed our time on the island. 

Bravo EO :) 

With the newest room at EO testing last time we were there, of course on our mop up we had to play this room last... and boy was it worth the wait. It certainly crashes into my top 3 rooms on account of the playstyle and logic that is present in the room, with some VERY thematic puzzles which just fitted so perfectly together. 

Story driven with little to no puzzle solving required. More of a interactive tv show than an escape room. Harsh, but true.

Hackers have fallen at the puzzle hurdle. There is simply not enough stuff to keep us entertained, the majority is follow order and instructions.. not much searching and a lot of press this button to see what it does. Input this code (which we give you), watch a video and maybe a door will open. 

Great sets!

Everything FELT GM controlled which is not what you want from a game. 

Worth a try as a first room but would be hesitant to play for experienced teams. 

Our second room of the day and we were... glad we did it in the order we did. 

As with Tomb, the set was amazing and fitted the storyline very well. The story was immersive and quite probably near to the best around

BUT, yet again hackers have fallen at the puzzle hurdle. There is simply not enough stuff to keep us entertained, the majority is follow order and instructions.. not much searching and a lot of press this button to see what it does.  This room was not as bad as its counterpart though, which was on a whole different level.

Everything FELT GM controlled which is not what you want from a game. 

Worth a try as a first room but would be hesitant to play for experienced teams. 

10/10 Hosting, by far the best we've had so far. 

The game itself felt straightforward with its own little twists. 

Great attention to detail on some aspects of the set, some touch-ups wouldn't go amiss on others. 

A good concept of a room let down by worn locks, puzzles and a couple of mis-steps in resetting. Otherwise a great room and concept, theming and hosting were good as well. 

With an escape room coming to a town near us... we couldn't resist the (very) short trip to Paradox Parlours. We were met by our game host with enthusiasm and were swiftly led into the room, which we were more than pleasantly surprised to find had an area unrelated to the game to store coats etc, which being a freezing day came in handy! The game itself played out very nicely, with some unique puzzle and a VERY unique (so far, for us) story based progression system. There's probably a couple of tiny tweaks that could be done to make it even better than it already is, and every so slightly let down by a lock being already set to the right combination (though we had solved the puzzle before noticing, so not much harm done other than suspense of not changing the tumblers!) 

After the game, we had a very nice chat with one of the owners, coming away with some very useful recommendations. 

Will be back in the new year when their new games open!

We decided to stop off to play Scarlet as we made our way back home and boy was it worth it!

An original theme and beautiful room, combined with excellent puzzles, both logical and physical. 

GM Kelly was amazing, couldn't have asked for much more!