Breakout Manchester: Virus

Vexed by Virus

When I found out this room had closed, I was very pleased!

Story

Uncover the work of a group of scientists who have succumbed to the virus that has broken out all over the world, retrieve the antivirus and save humankind. It was your typical find-the-antidote-cure-the-world story.

Puzzles

Unfortunately, we ran into a couple of equipment-related problems. When we had one 'article' to find, it eventually became apparent that it was physically inaccessible. After spending ages frantically searching, we were simply given the answer in order to progress and had an extra five minutes added to our time. There later came a point where one of the 'puzzles' involved watching two egg-timers. This was very time-consuming (in a place where every second counts!), frustrating and, well, tedious. Even if we did break out, I felt like we’d had too many hints to warrant a well-deserved victory.

Mise-en-scène

It felt run down compared to the rest of Breakout’s rooms. The props and surroundings were not mind-blowing, and there was an abundance of red herrings.

Final Comments

We got about three quarters of the way through the room before running out of time. Due to the aforementioned issues, this was (and probably still is) the worst room I’ve ever played.