DarkMaster Escape Rooms: Shamley’s Toy Makers

It was time to return to the Darkmaster, for their third birthday offer was a great opportunity to get back down as we were passing through. Shamley's is a massive game, and certainly is a 90-minute game and not a 60-minute game disguised as a 90-minuter. Puzzles were mostly coherent, with a number of aha moments. We were stumped by one non-puzzle aspect of the room which felt like poor design upon reflection rather than just us being silly. If that aspect would have been different, I would have felt much more satisfied with the room as a whole. I also felt the ending, whilst unique, was also quite weak. One puzzle is in the wrong place in the room and so the pacing felt off from the start. Good puzzle, wrong place in the room . This puzzle's answer was also not quite satisfying since it didn't feel clear and found ourselves working out the answer from the most solid pieces of the answer (yes slightly confusing but if you play you'll understand).

This is now the second visit to DarkMaster, and the second time we have left feeling like the GM could have had a little bit more enthusiasm and just felt like with a little more oomph, it could have really made this room. Briefing was very, well, brief, the greeting was fairly standard, and the end of game entry and debrief really felt forced and a little on the awkward side. It's for this reason I can't give any more than the 3.5 stars here.  It's probably a high 4-4.3 star room, with slightly more from the GM. 

A magnificent behemoth of a room that provides a challenge that teams seem to either love or hate; we loved it and both ranked it as our favourite room at the venue but it could be a frustrating one and, with such a low escape rate, I can see why there are mixed reviews.

Saying that, our take on it was that having such a challenging room with so much to do - and having a whopping 90 mins to do it in - was a task we relished and there was a real sense of achievement in getting out with time left on the clock.

Setting-wise, this is incredible; the immersion feels real, as the build is so good. It's choc-a-block full of locks, which appeals to us but some of the more enjoyable elements of the room didn't involve locks, so there's a super mix of puzzles.

As a overall experience, there were moments of stress but it was incredibly enjoyable and we talked about this room for a long time afterwards.

I was a little disappointed in this room after seeing so many good reviews.  There's a lot of stuff to like about the room but I found several of the puzzles a bit uninspiring.

Struggled to get going in this game and so much to do even with three experienced players we finished slightly over time. Was ok, mix of puzzles and some very time consuming ones. The noise from the game next door was a little off putting but a cool and unique clue system and great hosting 

Gave a good rating overall, as I can understand why other people have enjoyed this game so much. Tricky, as if asked whether I had fun during the actual game, I would say no. This is massively disappointing because it has a lot of really cool (and unusual) stuff going on and I fully appreciate the originality. There is a lot to do and 90m length which is a definite plus in my book. 

We had a combination of factors which was unlucky for us (we loved both the other current games at this venue and really like both owners and their vision for the company - this review is not meant to put you off going there, as would still absolutely recommend).

Experience was partly down to us, as failed to clearly communicate what we wanted in terms of hosting prior to the game but had also made the assumption that the person taking us to the room was the host (had GMd us on previous trip very well) - but in fact it was someone else. 

The positives: props have been so carefully chosen and well placed. I thought there were some excellent puzzle ideas and the theming is strong throughout. It is puzzle heavy and deserving of its 90m length. It has some elements that you are unlikely to have come across elsewhere. 

The negatives: the overall environment. As the game is within a hangar, the ceiling is open to the game next door. We happened to be playing next to an extremely loud, excited but ultimately very confused group of teenage girls needing a lot of GM help over the walkie talkie. There is almost no soundtrack within the game itself, so this became our soundtrack. The game is also pretty dark - probably ok unless you have rubbish short-sighted old eyes like we do. Unfortunately with the noise/eyesight/clue system combo, you can't have a two way dialogue after starting the game, leading to some frustrating interactions and miscommunications. Again, I think resolvable and would have chalked up to bad day or being off form, but GM at the end clearly did not want to chat or go over anything, so left feeling a bit disappointed and deflated. Might consider trying again when they open the fourth room as suspect under different circumstances we would have enjoyed it a lot more. 

This is by far the best room at Darkmaster.  We loved it, great puzzles and amazing theming too.  Really really enjoyable although not one I would recommend for new players as there is a LOT to do in it!  So much better than the airline game and I much preferred it to the Relinquary as everyone in the ground sees everying in the game rather than missing out on some of the special features like they do in the relinquary.  Really well done, look forward to the Ice Station game now!

As with all Darkmaster games the sets and attention to detail are incredible. The puzzle quality in this game is also a huge step up from their previous games - lots of multistep tasks that require a lot of thought. 

Great sense of exploration in this game and lots of unique fun moments. 

Would’ve been an easy 5* if there was a little more music to keep the momentum of the room going!