Dan Getliffe

I did not expect to love this as much as I did - this is probably threatening to be my favourite room! 

What I really like about this room is that the effort taken into putting the set together is really clear to see. It's not uber detailed - it's not trying to shower you in huge amounts of props and colour. It's thoughtful and considered, and it makes it very immersive. 

The puzzles are brilliant - there's a fair amount of them to do and they are varied but they are rewarding and pleasingly non-linear. The flow is great and I was buzzing by the end. 

It made me very happy to see a room that makes good use of music. I have been disappointed as of late with the sheer amount of silent rooms in the UK recently. Sound is so important to immersion and energy, and this room knows it. Admittedly it is mostly pop tunes, but there are some really fun switch-ups and also certain tracks play where the lyrics are relevant to what stage of the game you are in. I really enjoyed the last one that was played when you need to escape! 

A few minor niggles were that it is showing it's age and needs a bit of TLC. It sort of fits with the theme but it is overdue a little. Didn't matter much at all but was a little noticeable. Also we were waiting a while for the room to be reset and a couple of the puzzles were having technical issues. These things happen I guess - nevertheless our host was great and was doing a stellar job - he managed to get the puzzles back and up running in good time while giving us a bit extra time to compensate.

Just really clever and an absolute blast from start to finish. A real enthusiasts joy! 

I had high hopes for this room after seeing it come 19th in the UK Escape Room Awards, but unfortunately I came away from it a little disappointed. The space theme is a crowded genre in UK escape rooms - you've got really great ones like Orbital, Galacticus, Citizen Erased and many other rooms use a similar theme. I didn't feel that this one got particularly close to the heights of those three above.

In terms of the good, the tech is great and there are some really great moments. The puzzles are thematic and link in well. The story makes sense throughout and the set design is pretty good for the assumed budget and space that they had. 

In terms of the not so good - I found it a little bit empty. I felt like it needed a bit more music/ambience, maybe some more audio/video moments. I also thought that the puzzles, while technically impressive, weren't particularly difficult - especially when it was signposted what you needed to do at each turn. It felt more like a room for families or beginners than enthusiasts. 

I also thought the hosting was very average. It's hard to talk about this without spoilers, but I was also a bit aghast to find out that we didn't actually complete a puzzle, but our host said they decided to pass us anyway as we had put the stuff in the place where it was meant to go. We did, but there was an alignment puzzle after this that we hadn't even noticed or started! So they should not have marked the puzzle as complete. It seems like they were not paying attention perhaps. I have never seen that before (or at least it hasn't been made clear to me afterwards that that was what happened) which was quite baffling. 

All in all it's well put together, and probably good for families or less experienced players, and especially if you are not experienced with the space theme. Wasn't for me unfortunately.

This was astonishing in so many ways - the originality of the puzzles while remaining thematic, the technology on display here, the great use of space (no pun intended) and the brilliant set design. Definitely one of my favourites! There's so much to do but it seems well-balanced in terms of the time allowed and how much there is to get through. We only just did it without any hints! 

If I'm being picky I would probably prefer they get rid of the AI video captain (he's not used much at all, no more than a few minutes) and change it to audio only perhaps so the AI-ness is less obvious. I think escape rooms are a good fit for AI given time and budget constraints (and there was a terrible actor video at Atlantis in Broadstairs that I remember) but I don't think it fits here where everything else is so painstakingly crafted! 

All in all, we absolutely loved this and definitely worth a dedicated trip! 

This was a fantastic room - hi-tech but in a way that fits the theme, and there was a clear story running through that produced some great moments. It also had some fun surprises and great sprinkles of humour throughout, especially in the clues. The puzzles were varied and quite challenging at times too. It's quite a small space that is being worked with (which can sometimes be to it's detriment) but you can only work with what you have - that being said I think this room is as good as it can be! 

My only slight gripe is that I didn't think the hosting was up to a standard I normally expect. Out of the three rooms we did this weekend this one stood out - we were asked to come earlier than our time slot a day after we booked (the day of the booking) but we could not make this work. I don't know if our hosts had other sudden plans that we were ruining (?) but I got the sense that might be the case in terms of our welcome (it wasn't bad or unfriendly necessarily, just something felt a bit off). I was a bit surprised by other reviews on here about the friendliness of the hosts as I did not get the same impression unfortunately. The game itself was run very well in terms of the clue-giving and moving us along however.

A really great room though and still gets a big recommendation from me! 

An absolute blast as usual at Escape Quest - it was a delight to run about like headless chickens and try and solve as much as we could! As always the puzzles were extremely satisfying to solve with some good bits of humour too. 

However, it felt a little bit less spacious than the other three that we've done here now, and I think it lacks the novelty that Titterton's Toffees and House of Illusion have in terms of what you end up doing in those rooms. 

Still great though and an easy recommendation! Great hosting as usual too. 

We had a blast at this one - a really impressive room with brilliant humour, attention to detail, sets, use of space, hosting, etc. The whole package was brilliant! The puzzles were maybe a little easy, but it's a small gripe when everything else was so well put together and thought out! Perhaps some of the most inventive uses of space I've seen in a room while still making sense and keeping the experience immersive too.

A special shout-out to our host Baker Lou who was fantastic throughout! She really set the scene well and was a delight from start to finish. Having been on the end of some bad hosting recently it was great to see that superb hosting still exists out there! It really makes a difference. 

Could not recommend this one more!

This was a perfectly fine room - but I was a little disappointed. I found that there wasn't too much to do, and the puzzles were only good enough, but not much more than that. The story seems to disappear later in the game which I thought was odd as well. Set design is pretty good, I can't really fault it - but I got the feeling that there should be a bit more to see and do. We never really finish sub-40 minutes so I see that as a game that's too short. Good value for money as it was quite cheap by nowadays standards. 

A fantastic room! The puzzles are the highlight, with great variety throughout and multiple step thinking required at points. Theming is really on point too and it's quite a big space that has been outfitted very well. I had a few very minor niggles, hence the 9/10 (more like 9.5/10 really) but this was really great and super impressive!

This was an absolute riot from start to finish - it's difficult to say much without giving anything away but this was such a hilarious experience. It's a little different to your standard room! It's a bit on the easier side and there are a few bits of theming that I think could have been done better and maybe made a little safer too (most of it is good though) - but all in all we had a brilliant time that was definitely memorable! 

As usual from Escape Quest, just brilliant from start to finish. The hosting is fantastic, the puzzles a blast to solve and this one had some really funny moments as well. I also thought the storyline going through was really strong too, and easy to grasp! Can't wait to finish the set and complete the other two we haven't done soon. 

This was a fun room, quite unique in its ambition and also some really interesting puzzles. I thought that the story was a bit ramshackle (with a bare bones intro video), and the theming was lacking in some areas. It was good theming overall, but there were a few bits and pieces that could have been better hidden (a broadband router with a label was quite funny, at least it wasn't necessarily out of place) to add to the immersiveness. It just all felt a bit 'I'm clearly in a set'. I think you need to go all out if you have ambitious theming and want to capture that immersion - this room sort of stops short of filling out the empty spaces with theming at a point and it's very noticeable. 

That being said the puzzles are enjoyable and a bit different so worth doing for that alone. 

This one was quite inventive and had some fun pop culture references sprinkled throughout. It’s a little too easy and super linear, but it had some fun moments and some decent theming (I think this part could be improved slightly though). Good fun!

I was super impressed by this room - it’s quite a small space but they’ve done really well with it. I’m a sucker for Jurassic Park references too and there are tons of them here which was super fun. The puzzles are really well thought out, and fit the theme superbly. There’s also some steps required in your thinking that reminded me of Escape Quest’s rooms - and that is a very good thing! Nothing to fault here - fantastic hosting, great theming and top of the range puzzles! 

As usual with Hounds, the theming and immersion is top-notch, but the hosting here is just on another level entirely - it's absolutely brilliant. Our host was in character the entire time, with some fantastic story-telling and superb one-liners thrown in there. I cannot praise this aspect enough! I've been a little fed up recently with some of the hosting on our recent rooms that we've done elsewhere, but this reminded me how it's supposed to be done and how a great host can elevate the experience! Revived my faith in the UK industry a little bit. 

The room itself is great as well, very good theming throughout and some great tech elements, and the puzzles were fun, if a little on the easy side at times. This is probably my only gripe - there wasn't much brain power required to solve them, it was just a case of figuring out what it was you needed to be doing, then the solution wasn't that difficult to figure out. I might be being a bit harsh there - it didn't affect my enjoyment anyway. 

Overall a fantastic experience that's well worth your time - the hosting of all their games (including this one) is amazing!

A heck of a lot to do (so we were glad there is a 90 minute version for two players now) and I liked the heist layers to it, but I thought this room looked very tired and broken in places (one of the puzzles is clearly broken and is thus easier to complete). Theming is a little rough and tumble in places (a lot of exposed wiring), and some puzzles are a tad overstretched with obtuse solutions. A large amount of puzzles also rely on solving for a,b,c etc. which limited the variety. 

That being said, I loved rushing around trying to collect as much money as possible, and it did really feel like we were on a heist. I think the overall package could be a lot better than it is though. 

This was a really original room with some fantastic elements to it that I've never seen before! Great use of space too. Solid puzzles if a little on the easy side. 

Let down by poor hosting again as we had the same host as Orbital (they just seemed generally disinterested and hurried us out again). Maybe it was an off day. 

The tech in this room is incredible, and it's super immersive. Maybe could have been slightly more so, but on the whole the set is incredibly impressive! Great selection of puzzles (one was a little confusing though as it was quite easy to overthink the solution) throughout. 

A minor negative was the hosting unfortunately. Our host seemed quite disinterested and was keen on getting us out of there as fast as they could. It was especially surprising when they said they had five years' experience hosting escape rooms! 

This was a very boring, unoriginal room that is clearly for corporate team building exercises. Very limited decor, illogical and broken puzzles, and poor hosting. Waste of time. 

I found this room quite maddening - the theming is superb and it’s quite big which I loved. However there’s way too much to do for a team of two in the alloted time (we got lucky with the extra time) and I found a couple of the puzzles with some stretched logic/unclear instructions. The story was a bit of an afterthought as well which was a disappointment. Not quite the full package unfortunately, but the ambition is appreciated!

Really enjoyed this one - good theming and some great puzzles. They can be a little easy but there’s a fair amount to get through to compensate. Some good variety in there as well, and they link well into the theme of the room. Story telling was a little light though, especially in the last part - feels like somthing was missing there. And I will continually bang the sound design drum on these reviews - get that music turned up! Quality of puzzles makes up for most of these little niggles.

Great theming and hosting as usual from hounds - not sure if I was having an off day but I found some of the puzzles a bit strange (there was a couple that could be easily interpreted in the wrong way). Story was a little loose but good enough. A really good room, just let down a little bit by a few of the puzzles for me. 

This was great fun, some very impressive set design and some great story telling as well. Our GM was fantastic which really made the experience. Puzzles are a little hit and miss in my opinion - this is still an escape room (although different to the norm) but the best parts are the theatrics. Really well done with great attention to detail!

It’s hard to give this a high score as there were two puzzles that weren’t reset properly - destroyed the flow and made us unsure if other things had been done/not done. 

To be fair the owner has since reached out to us and given us a refund (I didn’t leave a complaint at the time) along with taking steps to hopefully stop this from happening again. Sounds like we just got unlucky. 

It was a shame in the end because it’s a decent room!

This is a fun room, some unique puzzles and a humorous GM really helped. Theme is great but maybe not super original, and the space was a little small so felt a bit cramped. Some really fun touches in here though!

This was a very different room with some really cool effects, immersion and transitions. The finale was fun as well! 

Unfortunately there were a bit too many *find the extremely well hidden thing* tasks that made it a bit frustrating. One hiding place was ridiculous - no one is going to look there. This brought the time way down and resulted in us having clues as we were too slow. I would maybe lose those puzzles or at least make the things more findable!

This room was fantastic and a great surprise - not much I can fault at all! Hosting was superb, the attention to detail in the room itself was great with superb theming, and there was a lot of puzzles to do with great variety to each. Wasn’t expecting to like this one as much as I did! Definitely among my favourites! 

Nothing too much to write home about, but there are worse ways to spend a few hours. I like that this wasn’t time pressured either so you can wander round the beautiful surroundings of Broadstairs. Nice materials to use and good use of tech as well. Puzzles are a little easy however. Loses points for the ludicrous price but it is fixed and doesn’t scale with the number of players at least. 

This room is a real disappointment, which is suprising given the usual quality of Escapement. The room itself is tiny (and feels weirdly claustrophobic), the puzzles are quite odd and feel a bit obtuse at times - there’s no satisfaction when solving them. I was just sort of thinking ‘but why?’ the whole way through. The finale is rubbish as well and there’s not really enough to do. A very forgettable experience which is a shame! Also not sure what the name of this room is??? Project Exodus or Egyptian Tomb? Pick one I guess!

Was it ever in any doubt? Yet another top of the class showing from Escape Quest! The puzzles are second to none, and are just incredibly satisfying to solve without any spoon feeding. Just fantastic as usual from start to finish, what else is there to say? 

Probably one of the best themed games we’ve played - the attention to detail is stunning and there are some great wow moments in this one. A few leaps in logic at times and yet another instruction booklet (we don’t like these) but still really really good! 

A surprisingly not that often seen theme, coupled with some fun mini games throughout made this room good value! Good quality puzzles too!

This was superb fun, and something a little different. The hosting was fantastic too! A little on the easy side on occasion, but a really great experience!

A really good experience - not quite up there with the best rooms in terms of puzzles and having enough to do, but the sets are great and there’s a really good finale! I’m not much of a back to the future fan, but if you are you’ll love this one! 

Love the uniqueness of this one, and the host was excellent! Great weaving in of magic and illusions into the puzzles. Definitely aim to do this one with the live element!