elfgrunge

Ohhhh my god. Second game of our Netherlands trip and absolutely blew us away. Beautiful, massively impressive, and a game that really cares about your EXPERIENCE. Phenomenal stuff. 

I really liked this. A very nice step up in quality in terms of murder mystery case file, the filmed sequences are extremely slick, with some really fun dialogue and great actors. 

Props are also a gorgeous quality - I got weirdly excited that a receipt for something a character bought came on actual receipt paper. 

I really hope the company makes more! 

I don’t… understand. Clearly a lot of money has been put into the design of the actual board game, it’s got some beautiful art and it’s nice that it’s fully functional, even if it’s just basically Ludo. But it’s like an afterthought. Playing the boardgame is entirely separate from the puzzles, you do not have to do it. 

Every piece of this was just about putting things into a website. Puzzles range from “okay” to “tedious”, and the story was… fine. 

Why is it themed about a board game if playing the board game is irrelevant?? It’s such a good concept and I’m so thoroughly let down by it. I feel bad giving it such a low review, but the marketing gets your hopes so high for what it could be. I think if I expected less I would be less frustrated. 

Had the delight of being a test-group for this game's first run with the live actor included, and we absolutely adored it. It's kind of a game in two phases - a linear, puzzle-light roleplay, then blending into a non-linear puzzle-run at the end, while keeping a consistent tone.

 A (non-scary!) live actor will be in the room with you for the first half, and I think that section is about getting back what you put in in terms of immersing yourself. This is a SILLY game, you will enjoy it more if you get silly with it too. You might have a little down-time between obvious puzzles, so why not do what we did - convince your guard she should really be joining in on prison yoga, probe into what exactly drives someone to a career in law enforcement, and construct an elaborate story about the rats that are for sure in your cell offier I don't know what you're talking about I've never passed a note in my life it was the RATS!

... Anyway. Things may have changed slightly since ours was a test game pre-opening, but I can assume only for the better. I can't wait to see what Nomad does next!

It’s a very pretty puzzle box, with some very creative uses of its format. How the inner workings are created is entirely beyond me, so I at least enjoyed working my way through it to see how it operated. Unfortunately I have no idea how you’re supposed to complete this without additional instructions from the website - but maybe that’s just on me for not having the patience or brain for this kind of puzzle. 

I REALLY liked this room. It has its flaws, some places signposting could be better, but it’s the kind of stuff that by then end you don’t really remember, just the good stuff. 

Because the stuff it does well it does REALLY well. I love a room that gives you a real-world item and tells you to use it for its practical purpose, it really makes the whole thing feel legit. It absolutely delivers on the fantasy of a heist, more than I’ve seen before. Clever GM interaction and good tech really sell it. It’s one of my new favourites. 

Obvious first addendum of “this is not an escape room, do not go in expecting it to be, they say so on their website etc et” 

…. But seeing it pop up here, how can I NOT say it’s my favourite thing I’ve ever done? It’s incredible, just genuinely incredible. Someone else has already left an excellently detailed overview, but if I can convince you to go in vibes alone: 

I have never felt cooler than running full pelt down a long, long hallway, seeing the stretch ahead of me has filled with smoke from a sparking, broken canister, calling out “CAPTAIN, FUEL CELLS ARE DOWN, I’M GOING IN” and bursting through it like a cloudbank, twisting fuel cells in and out of their docking chambers, until I see power reignite, and we jet away from the firefight we were sorely, sorely losing. All while in a sick jumpsuit. 

Bridge Command raises the bar of what an immersive experience can be by a ludicrous degree , and the staff are both incredibly committed to the world they’ve created, and are just so, so nice. The immersion is so high, when we stepped onto the ship we would be piloting, two of my teammates started crying from joy. It’s just that good. Go play Bridge Command. (We recommend the final slot of the night for peak vibes - nothing like arriving to an empty starship all to your crew and your crew alone)  

I’d add ‘funny’ ‘clever’ and ‘story driven’ tags too if I could - this is easily the most impressive room I’ve ever been in - this is proper theatre. 

It’s puzzle light, but atmosphere heavy, and I think that’s how I want all my games from now on. It was my first real horror game, and if you’re a scaredy cat like me, you’ll be fine, it’s worth it (though I did mention this to the staff first so they may have toned it down a notch) 

As soon as you start to notice HOW exactly it’s done, this room becomes 10X more impressive and interesting too. I’m going to be thinking about this for a LONG time. 

A really beautiful, high tech room with a great atmosphere, and phenomenal hosting. The team at The Room are absolutely brilliant, so committed to their jobs and always helpful, in-character and willing to chat and show us around at the end. 

I felt a few puzzles let it down a bit, in terms of being both fairly standard, and perhaps needing some better sign posting. Still a 4/5 experience though because with an atmosphere like that, how can it be less. 

For accessibility though, it won’t be up your ally if you aren’t up for large amounts of tight crawl spaces, and the dark. They aren’t kidding about that warning. 

I absolutely adored this room - it’s probably my new second favourite. None of the puzzles will be too challenging, but they’re just FUN, so much fun, it’s really the kind of room you can throw yourself into and you get the most out of it when you’re playful with it. 

Don’t take it too seriously, don’t treat it as a time trial, just enjoy it. I was worried the 90’s theme would be a bit under/overwhelming, but as someone who wasn’t even born then it still came off as delightful and charming in a cheesy way. It had some really interesting puzzles and game mechanics that I’ll be thinking about for a while. 

Really enjoyed this one! Might be in contrast to how poor the previous one I did was, but I struggle to believe the same people made both. The art style is delightful and stylistic, the puzzles all make sense (except for the finale which…. Grr), and it just all round was a very nice use of the game mechanics and app this system uses.