Breakout Manchester: Crimson Lake Motel

Hazardous Hotel

Crimson Lake Motel is billed as a sequel to Vacancy. I really enjoyed that one (back in 2017!) and so looked forward to attempting the next chapter.

Story

The luxury hotel you’ve won a weekend getaway at isn’t all that it seems.

Puzzles

This is one of Breakout’s most difficult rooms, and the puzzles reflected that. While we cracked a lot of them, there were occasions where we tried to figure something out without yet having all the necessary items. This lost us a lot of time at the start. I think a simple “You have to solve something else first” hint would not have gone amiss.

Mise en scene

Run-down hotel with the odd surprise- check. I much preferred Vacancy’s theming, though. Towards the end, a space with some sort of air freshener was taking us out of it- and catching our breaths!

Final Comments

Our team of 5 didn’t manage to get out in time! We were only a couple of puzzles away and so got to complete the room, at least. Make sure there are experienced players and lateral thinkers in your group!

Our host didn't even know the room so gave us vague and incorrect clues for the 8 minutes we spent on the last puzzle. 😵‍💫

But the room itself was very good, well themed and logical with interesting puzzles. Despite the issues with the hosting, we really enjoyed it!