With the year end, it’s time to again recognise and celebrate the rooms that have managed to end up at the top of the Escape the Review site ranking, based on your reviews and ratings. Almost a quarter are new entries; almost a quarter are timeless classics that have featured five years in a row.
The rankings on Escape the Review are calculated based on thousands of reviews from players of all levels of experience, combined by the site algorithm. There are close to 2000 escape rooms in the UK, which means the games here have higher ratings than 95% of those available.
You can also see this list of games as a map.
Agent Brains: Mobbery (Letchworth)
Of the six popular rooms at Agent Brains, gangster heist Mobbery is the one that gets top marks and a place in 2025’s top hundred.
Beverley Breakout: The Goblins of Toadsmead, Santa’s Elite Squad (S.E.S) – The Final Interview (Beverley)
Magical adventure The Goblins of Toadsmead places in the top hundred every year; and Beverley Breakout’s Christmas room S.E.S. makes a repeat appearance too.
Bewilder Box: Judgement DAVE (Brighton)
A top game winner five years in a row, Judgement Day continues to impress by its thoughtful and clever take on the rogue AI story.
Break Escape Loughborough: Wickedly Oz (Loughborough)
Alongside the company’s Nottingham successes, their original branch in Loughborough also places in this list, with their latest room Wickedly Oz showing there’s no place like home (?).
Break Escape Nottingham: Orbital, Daylight Robbery, Chocolate Factory (Nottingham)
As well as having opened a clutch of games in Nottingham on Market Street, including stand-outs Orbital and Chocolate Factory, Break Escape also now operate the legendary collection game Daylight Robbery.
Case Closed: The Murder of Max Sinclair, Radio Nowhere (Edinburgh)
With no shortage of great games in Scotland, Case Closed have nonetheless managed to grab both the #1 and #2 slots with their two rooms. Note that only one game is available to play at a time!
Cave Escape: Monuments (Nottingham)
A long-established favourite that’s part of the reason why Nottingham is one of the UK’s best-loved escape hubs, this challenging game is set in the atmospheric underground caves of the city.
Clue Collectors: Carnival Crisis (Heywood)
Only open half a year, and new indie venue Clue Collectors are already in the top games list with their circus rescue room Carnival Crisis – which gives them a strong claim to hottest new company of 2025!
Clue Cracker: Temple Quest, Mega Bite, Diamond Dogs (Tunbridge Wells)
One of the south-east’s most loved venues, Clue Cracker once again feature in the top hundred for all three of Temple Quest, Mega Bit and Diamond Dogs.
clueQuest: cQ ORIGENES (Central London)
clueQuest have been around longer than any other UK company, and remain at the top of their game. cQ ORIGENES is a perennial favourite, and I’m betting their recently-opened latest room will also be joining it on this list next year.
Cluetopia: Crash Landing (Ipswich)
Now with 21 rooms across 5 locations, Cluetopia are a popular choice for escape room binges in the East of England. Top rated of all their games is spaceship escape Crash Landing.
Co-Decode: Sub Terra (Swindon)
Now based in the town centre, Co-Decode remains as highly acclaimed as ever, for high-tech mining theme Sub Terra as well as for their spaceship sim CREW and for their challenging play-at-home games.
Compendium Escape Rooms: Turd Raiders and The Lost Golden Plunger, UI-55 (Bury)
Compendium’s latest Turd Raiders makes the list, and UI-55 makes what will likely be its last appearance, since the latter is due to close at the end of February.
Cryptic Escape: Dragon’s Dungeon (Norwich)
Long established in Norwich, Cryptic Escape place in the top hundred for the first time this year with their newest room, the fantasy themed Dragon’s Dungeon.
Deadlocked: The Reading Witch (Reading)
Reading Witch is the biggest and most ambitious game yet from enthusiast favourite Deadlocked – and not only is it one of the top rooms on EtR, it gained the highest rank of any UK room in 2025’s TERPECA list.
Enigma Rooms Doncaster: Arabian Nights (Doncaster)
Starting off the annual crop of top-rated games from Enigma Rooms is the Middle Eastern fantasy Arabian Nights, at their Doncaster location.
Enigma Rooms Pontefract: Escape From Oz (Pontefract)
Second of four Enigma Rooms games to make the top hundred, Pontefract’s Escape from Oz is also one of three Oz themes in this list.
Enigma Rooms Wakefield: GRIMM – Up North, Séance (Wakefield)
The various branches of Enigma Rooms are always well-represented on this list, but especially so Wakefield – both the spooky Séance and the fairy tale collection room Grimm Up North are wildly popular.
EO Escape Rooms: Castaway, The Karma Club, Scary Tale, Backstage Reloaded, The Keyper’s Secret, Joey’s Christmas Cracker (Sudbury)
Each room at EO Escape is different, but all share a quality of design and a consistent level of fun. Last year they had an unheard-of six rooms in the top hundred; this year they’ve done it again, even though two of the rooms have switched out for new ones.
Escapable: The Great Loudini, Outatime, For Sale’m‘, Prank Heist, North Pole Panic, Marv The Monkey (Wakefield)
Not only do Escapable get an absurdly impressive sweep of six rooms in the top hundred, equal-most in the country, but the addition of live conjuring from the venue’s owner makes The Great Loudini one of the very highest-rated escape rooms in the UK.
Escape Brum: Labyrinth – Lord Barrington’s Folly (Birmingham)
It’s currently a photo-finish for highest rated room in Birmingham – but Escape Brum’s heist room Labyrinth is now in the lead, and also in the country’s top hundred.
Escape Nation: Temple of Shadows, The Citadel (Stafford)
Escape Nation places on the list for both their slick spaceship room The Citadel and their latest game Temple of Shadows; if you’re visiting, I recommend catching their third room as well while you’re there.
Escape Plan: Pushed For Time, The Battle for Britain, The Adventure Begins (East London)
Firmly entrenched as one of the two top places to escape in London, Escape Plan’s games have a pleasingly hand-crafted quality that only enhances the intelligently designed puzzles. This year the top hundred features their newest, oldest and most famous rooms: Pushed For Time, The Adventure Begins and The Battle for Britain.
Escape Quest: Henry Fortune’s House of Illusion, Mr Copplestone’s Curiosity Shoppe, Titterton’s Toffees, Percy Pendleton’s Peculiar Predicament, Mistletoe Mysteries (Macclesfield)
To enthusiasts, Macclesfield is synonymous with the phenomenon that is Escape Quest and their series of Chapelgate Mysteries, all of which place near the top of this site’s ranking, as well as the personal top ten lists of many players.
Escape Reading: Ram Raid, Age of Magic (Reading)
Escape Reading are a major part of why Reading is a top escaping destination. I liked all their games, but highest rated are the heist thrills of Ram Raid and the beautiful world of Age of Magic.
Escape Reality Edinburgh: Ritual (Edinburgh)
Now the only remaining branch of Escape Reality in the UK, the Edinburgh location’s survival may have been helped by Ritual, a staff-designed room that’s widely agreed to be a vast improvement on the company’s previous offerings.
Escape Rooms Suffolk: The Jungle (Bury St Edmunds)
A memorably superb jungle-and-archaeology romp, The Jungle left me more than happy to go back and play pretty much anything Escape Rooms Suffolk create.
Escapologic: Curio (Nottingham)
If there was one game that originally cemented Nottingham’s status as an escaping destination, it was Curio, famed above all for its unique twist.
Exit60: Redbeard’s Revenge (Newport)
Two Welsh games made the top hundred this year, and the first of them is Exit60’s pirate adventure Redbeard’s Revenge.
Extremescape: Viking, Lost Tomb (Disley)
Every year I resolve that this time I’ll finally get back to Extremescape and play Viking. Lost Tomb was an expansive, physical room with satisfying puzzles; the consensus is that Viking is even better.
Forbidden Quest: Time To Float (Belfast)
Northern Ireland is not a common destination for enthusiasts looking for top escapes, and we still have relatively few reviews for Forbidden Quest’s epic horror room – but those have been so remarkably positive that Time To Float currently sits in EtR’s #1 spot for the whole of the UK.
Hackers: Blood over Baker Street (Billericay)
Sherlock rooms are often compact and sometimes old-fashioned; Blood Over Baker Street is neither, an expansive and sophisticated mystery hosted at mini golf and entertainment venue Hackers.
Hounds Escape: The Explorer’s Diary, Southern Dis-comfort (Crawley)
All four of their experiences get consistently excellent reviews, but it’s Deep South drama Southern Discomfort and the archaeology adventure The Explorer’s Diary that place the highest. The Acid Bath Murderer would also make the list if it weren’t classified as an ‚escape room adjacent‘ experience.
Hourglass Escapes: Wish Upon A Star (Downham Market)
Every winter there’s a flurry of Christmas games across the country but only a very few end up in the top hundred list, and Wish Upon A Star is one of them. It’s from Hourglass Escapes in collaboration with EO Escapes; the latter’s own Xmas room is the other half of this collaboration, and is also in this list.
Hysteria Escape Rooms: Survival (Chatham)
Everybody loves a dino game – or is that just me? At any rate, there’s certainly a lot of people who love Hysteria’s dino game, in which you have to collect dino embyros before the prehistoric theme park is pre-emptively destroyed.
Keylock Games: Nobody Loves Robot (Wickford)
Sad robot, happy players – Nobody Loves Robot remains in the top hundred for a second year running.
Knockout Escape Rooms: The Locktopus (Reading)
Brand new at Knockout and already in the top hundred list, The Locktopus is a frenetic solve-all-you-can game that pits you against a cephalopodic computer.
LevelUp Escapes: The Shrewsbury Express (Shrewsbury)
This was the year that word spread properly about LevelUp Escapes, and they become one of the UK’s must-visit companies. Not coincidentally, it’s also the year they launched The Shrewsbury Express, a performance-driven game often described as ‚bonkers‘ – in strictly positive tones.
Locked In Edinburgh: The Secret Lab (Edinburgh)
A long-standing staple of ‚best in the UK‘ lists, The Secret Lab was revolutionary when it opened for its oversized technology and frantic gameplay; it remains an Edinburgh must-play.
Locked In Escape Room: Bloodline (Glasgow)
There’s more competition than ever for Glasgow’s top spot, but Bloodline still holds the #1 position, as it has for the last few years; Locked In’s other six rooms tend to get strong reviews too.
LockHouse Escape Games: The Mayan Temple (Cambridge)
LockHouse operate versions of some of TRAP designs that were among the first escape rooms I ever played; but they place on this list for a much more recent game of their own design, The Mayan Temple.
Marvo Mysteries: M.A.R.V.O. Induction (Bournemouth)
Playing MARVO back in 2017 was a magical experience that I remember very fondly. Even after so many years, it seems the magic is undiminished – experienced players still come away from it gushing with the wide-eyed delight I remember.
Mindworks Escape Rooms: Trapped For Cash (Worthing)
Enthusiasts tend to love a fast-paced collection game, when it’s done well – and they rave about this one. I also notice that almost every one of its many reviews is tagged with ‚Great Hosting‘.
Mission Classified: Red Rock Canyon Reloaded (Grimsby)
Red Rock Canyon comes in 60 and 90 minute versions, both of which get excellent reviews, but – unsurprisingly for a fast-paced collect-em-up – it’s the longer version that enthusiasts tend to go for.
Mythologic Escape Rooms: Raiders of the Lost Galleon (Gillingham)
Mythologic have now closed what was their previous top room Mr Todd’s – only for its place in this list to be taken by their pirate adventure Raiders of the Lost Galleon.
Nomad Escape: The Jail, A Christmas Escape Room (Glasgow)
Upgrading and replacing Glasgow’s branch of Escape Reality, the newly independent Nomad Escape seems to be a huge step up, to the point where not only their prison theme, renamed to The Jail, features in the top hundred, but so too does their Christmas creation.
Paradox Parlours Woking: Wizard’s Enigma (Woking)
I’ve still only played the rooms at Paradox Parlours‘ Guildford branch, but their Woking branch has the company’s top-rated room, with magic-themed Wizard’s Enigma.
Pier Pressure: Loot The Lanes, Pavilion Perplex (Brighton)
My experience of Pier Pressure is that they provide excellent games with outstanding hosting. The undisputable gem in their line-up is of course Loot The Lanes, previously a long-running occupant of the UK’s #1 game slot; but this year their very first room Pavilion Perplex makes the list too.
Prodigy Escapes: The Wizards of Wyvern (Exeter)
Not so many travelling enthusiasts make it down to Devon and beyond, which makes it doubly impressive that Prodigy Escapes have made it into the top hundred this year with The Wizards of Wyvern, in which you must save the magic of Exeter.
Project Breakout: Operation Clearsafe (Brighouse)
Only a few horror rooms make it into the UK’s top hundred, but Operation Clearsafe from Project Breakout places every year; and players can select the level of fear that they’re comfortable with when playing.
Puzzalogical: Alien Encounter (Bracknell)
In the top games list for a second year running, Puzzalogical’s take on a spaceship game is scarier than most. In space, can anyone hear you escape?
Roomination: Escape From The Cursed Galleon (Llanfyllin)
The second Welsh game in this list is, like the first, a pirate theme. Escape From The Cursed Galleon from Roomination gets great reviews from those who’ve visited, and it looks like the venue may soon open their second room.
Roomsmiths Escape Rooms: The Rubicon (Plymouth)
Roomsmiths‘ quirky first room was a memorable highlight of a trip to the southwest when I played it back in 2019, and it appears they’ve upped their game for the follow-up The Rubicon.
The Escape House: Spellbound (St Neots)
Spellbound from The Escape House was 2024’s highest-rated new game, and one year later it’s gaining as much praise as ever – if not more.
The Escape Room Cottage (Tewkesbury)
I always find it tricky to tell if this experience is still open – because every scarce slot is booked up a year or more in advance. Several more stay-and-escape experiences have popped up, but The Escape Room Cottage remains in a league of its own.
The Escapement Margate: The Pit (Margate)
With a long history of proving that the most fun you can have in beach town Margate is indoors, The Escapement have a set of well-loved rooms, of which underground challenge The Pit remains the favourite.
The Escaporium Halifax: Area 51½ (Halifax)
Everything built by The Escaporium exudes charm and care, and on top of that Area 51½ packs in a feast-ful of easter eggs and movie references. There’s no end of things to enjoy about the game, which is fortunate, since I suspect it’ll be featuring on this list annually for many years to come.
The Escaporium Liverpool: Wee W.I.L.L.I.E. WinKey (Liverpool)
The Liverpool branch of The Escaporium continues to gather reviews as enthusiastic as those for the Halifax branch, for cute robot game Wee W.I.L.L.I.E. WinKey.
Top Escape Rooms: Casino Heist (Worcester)
One of the regularly recommended companies in the Midlands, this year Top Escape Rooms feature in the top hundred for their room Casino Heist, previously available at Lakes Escapes in Cumbria.
Tulleys Escape Rooms & Games: SpellCraft, Dodge City, Mutiny, Nethercott Manor (Crawley)
Playing the games at Tulleys is a rite of passage for enthusiasts – sprawling and lush, and also prone to humble all but the fastest players with the infamous quantity of puzzles. This year four of their experiences place in the top hundred, with their fifth just missing out.
Unsolved Mysteries: The Basement, The Cabin (Chatham)
Hysteria’s alter ego, Unsolved Mysteries introduce a focus on live acting to deepen immersion and narrative; it’s a formula that’s proven wildly popular with both their rooms.
West Kirby Escape Room: The Jurassic Factor (Wirral)
Another star debut for 2025, West Kirby Escape Room opened in the summer with their dino room and has been winning praise ever since.
XscapeNow: Battleships, Oz, Runaway Train (Telford)
My personal favourite at XscapeNow was the Wild West themed Runaway Train; that’s joined in the top hundred by their Oz room, and now also by head-to-head submarine game Battleships.
Xscream Escapes: The Watcher (Staines)
The Watcher places in the top hundred for the fourth year running, scaring players with a social media obsessed psychopath.
Honorable mentions
The list above is limited to escape games, but there are some ‚adjacent‘ experiences that also get great reviews. As well as Hounds‘ immersive experience The Acid Bath Murderer, the London-based huge open world experience Phantom Peak comes top of the list, the Crystal Maze experience in Manchester (currently higher rated than its sister branch in London), Wake The Tiger in Bristol, The Acid Bath Murderer Live Experience by Hounds in Crawley, Co-Decode’s spaceship sim CREW and their mobile game Captain’s Treasure, and Bridge Command in London.
For home games from UK companies, the unhosted play-anytime list starts with Deadlocked’s The Cyphstress (along with the rest of their range), but with good options also available from clueQuest, Co-Decode, Paradox Parlours, and others. Very few live-hosted play-from-home experiences remain available, though Agent November still runs them, and every now any again Headlock Escape Rooms opens some slots for their superb puppet games.