The Panic Room Gravesend: CSI – The Mafia Murders

Good game just murder mystery not our strong set! 

Tired looking game which devolved into a case of whodunnit, lots of reading as you eliminate suspects, one or two clever ideas but not an essential play.

This game wasn’t for us, Too much reading and we found a couple of puzzles where the answer was either given to you or required using something twice. No real ending to the game. 

This one's ok, but there isn't a great deal to do or see and it involves a lot of reading. One puzzle wasn't reset properly so our host had to run in and interrupt us.

A decent enough room with a mystery to solve and clues helping you to find the killer. An improvement on defective detective but not carrying any real excitement factor. 

This is a murder mystery room set in prohibition-era New York. We were given the intro by Jess who was absolutely brilliant as a host, one of the best we've had. Super friendly, and really into her role as GM - saying that if we needed clues we'd need to ask for them via walkie-talkie in full New York accent. Unsurpisingly her accent was considerably better than mine!

The room looked great upon entry, and most importantly, it was a cool temperature! This was the first room we've been in where we've not been sweltering hot throughout. They nailed the immersive decoration and had some appropriate, non-intrusive music playing throughout the hour. 

The story was good although as you've got to whittle down from a choice of 11 suspects, it can get a little convoluted at times. Our biggest issue was that there was a lot of papers to keep track of, some with various bits of information that aren't used straight away so it was a little difficult for us to keep going through the papers each and every time looking for what we needed. 

The clues were about the right amount of difficulty for groups that are experienced with escape rooms. The puzzles are generally non-linear and are quite abstract in some places so provided a bit of a challenge in that respect, but I enjoyed that aspect of it nonetheless. However, I think because of this, for first timers this room may be a little difficult.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable room. It was one of the more difficult we've done and we certainly didn't think we were going to finish when we had 5 mins left, so were happy to have won before the deadline! Again, I'd like to reiterate how good Jess was as GM, she really gave the room that little bit extra. We will be back soon to try the other rooms!

Played online

A really fun cluedo type escape room!

Story - there's been a shooting in a mafia club by 2 shooters (1 escaped and 1 dead) everyone in the club was dead. There was 11 possible suspect you have 60 mins to find out who is the 2 killers.

Theming - I quite like the theming as you're in a mafia club but it was a little bit empty to make it look like a proper club. It was every clean and I love the music.

Puzzle - to find out information about each victim/suspect are lock in evidence box with a padlock which will help you to find out what happen to that individual. They were some creative puzzles that I really enjoy.

Clue system - via walkie talkie 

Positive - I really enjoy the puzzle (they weren't that easy) some of most creative detective puzzle I've seen. The music/theming was great and the GM was in character which make our experiences alot better.

Negative - the information about each suspect was lacking, quite empty room and the audio was a little bit too quiet.

Overall experience - I really enjoyed this room, for some reason  we struggle during the first 20 mins once we knew what we was doing then we was finish puzzle faster. I highly recommend to give this room a go bring at least 4 players.