StaceyF

Final room of our ten-room marathon in Nottingham. 

We'd just come out of one of my least-favoured themes - nuclear meltdown - into another of my least favourites - chemical meltdown. This room probably suffered because it was the last room we did on a packed weekend, and our brains were not working that well. 

I wasn't a massive fan of most puzzles, but I liked the ending, which was suitably unique for a room of this nature. 

Accessibility: At least one person needs to be able to duck/crawl. 

A game of two halves - the first is standard escape room fare, and the second is a little more immersive. I enjoyed the first room overall although one puzzle really frustrated us everything else flowed quite well. 

I really enjoyed the second part, but as previous reviewers have said, it is quite cramped, so go with a smaller group if you can. The way that they've managed to use an original feature of a building as an escape room reminded me a lot of the former London underground rooms in Kentish Town and Cave Escape, which are, of course, also in Nottingham.

Bit disappointed with the last part which looked really cool but in reality you were only there for moments before heading on. Could have done with another puzzle or two there - although admittedly it is a bit of a squeeze.

Fab hosting. 

Accessibility: I usually tag an accessibility note at the end of my reviews as I'm not the most dexterous due to a chronic illness. You need a decent degree of dexterity in this room due to a couple of physical challenges. They aren't skippable either; everybody has to do them. I'd been forewarned by friends who had previously played and taken some painkillers beforehand, and with some help from my ever-patient partner, I was able to negotiate them (bar one of my fingernails, which, alas, perished) and was super-chuffed I had.

My least favourite of our ten rooms in Nottingham.

Hard to say anything without spoiling it anything that uses the lack of light as the main "puzzle" for half of the experience is not for me. Years ago we did an escape room that was designed to show fully-sighted people what it was like to be blind - that was a good room. It's a nice gimmick in some rooms but here it was too long and in the end frustrated and bored me.

Way too much reading and I'm the one in the group that likes to read. I had no idea what was going on towards the end, I'd checked out. Escaped by the skin of our teeth. Story and hosting were fine.

Carrying on our mega-weekend at Nottingham, first room of the day but seventh overall and third at Break Escape. 

It was a fun room with a nice set with a few magical moments. Found some of the puzzles a bit difficult to get started with which was frustrating.

Played a lot better magic rooms but have definitely played worse as well.

Accessibility: steps up to the rooms. Need dexterity - crouching/climbing for a couple of elements.

Sixth room of the day in Nottingham. 

I'm not a massive fan of this room, to be honest. I never like rooms that are dark for a long period and I was even less impressed to find out that we'd done the whole of the room, not realising that the lanterns could be turned up brighter. 

We were possibly tired at this point, but some of the puzzles were a bit illogical and/or hard for more than a couple of people to be involved with at once at once. 

Not a massive fan of a lot of the puzzles, esp the ones at the end. 

Accessibility: up a set of steps. There are points where at least one person will need to crawl. 

Fifth room of the day ended up being my joint favourite of the weekend (with Orbital).

We've done many of these "try to nick as much as you can" games and this is one of the better ones, if not the best. 

Great use of tech - and even better because the tech worked like it was supposed to and I did genuinely at times feel like I was really breaking into a vault. Not a massive fan of the beginning but once we'd got through that then the fun started. So. Many. Puzzles. We like to play as small groups but I wish we'd been a 4 or a 5 for this. 

Part of me wishes we'd played this earlier on in the day as you need a lot of stamina - both physical and mental to get a score that an enthusiast would be happy with. We were a bit dozy through some of this and it probably cost us about £300k+. In fact there's one element we missed out on which would have given us buckets of loot that I've kicked myself daily for missing ever since. 

Fantastic room. 

Accessibility: Steep stairs down to the room (which you then have to come up). One person needs to be dexterous. I think there's one instance of ducking but there were ten rooms in the weekend and I can't rightly remember...

I liked the idea of this room—where you only get a set amount of time in each area before you have to move on—although I've seen it better executed in other rooms (e.g., Time Run). On the one hand, it gets you to see everything in the room, but on the other hand, you're left frustrated that you didn't solve all the puzzles.

Disappointingly, the set was a major letdown - I've said it is "tired", but it isn't clear that it ever was a decent set, and I really had to stretch credibility at times with the settings for some of the areas. Perhaps the "dreamer" in question didn't have a particularly vivid imagination...

We did really well with most areas and solved almost all the puzzles. However, there was one area we didn't get on with, and we only solved half the puzzles. There were also a few instances of the tech not working. 

That said, you don't have to solve all the puzzles to have a chance at "escaping" - solving the puzzles just makes it easier. 

Decent room but it could have been so much better! 

Hosting was great. 

Accessibility: You have to go up one flight of steps to get to the room. There are no major issues inside the room, although there's one area where having a sense of balance is helpful. 

This would be an excellent room to introduce families to escape rooms—for enthusiasts, it might feel frustrating. A lot of care has been taken to create a story-driven narrative to hold the room together, which inevitably slows the room down. Fast times are not the aim of the game; the narrative experience is. 

The experience does deliver at times - the set is beautiful, and there are some fun surprises, but nothing is particularly taxing. I did like the idea of bartering in an escape room, the magic of which is slightly let down as you can "hear" the "mechanics" behind it. However, without giving too much away, I'm not sure the ending really works. We finished pretty quickly, so I felt that there could have been more of a showdown and reaction to the "twist", but I suppose the proof is how quickly the target audience finishes. 

We had a lovely host (Emily), even if she wanted to depose the new Queen...

Disclaimer - I'm probably giving this at least half a star to a star more than my teammates would do.

Accessibility: The room itself is fine. Getting to it is via two sets of tortuous stairs. Unfortunately the only toilets are at the top of the tortuous double staircase. 

The second of ten rooms we did in Nottingham at the weekend ended up being my joint favourite of the ones we did. 

I always enjoy an escape room in space. This was a beautiful and high-tech room with a mix of easier and harder puzzles that, in the main bulk of the room, could be solved in a non-linear way. I liked how immersive it was, and some of the little touches in gameplay were super. The ending was fun. I have seen similar things in other rooms, but it was still a delight each time. 

Accessibility: Fine in the room, but there's a staircase to make your way up to get to the venue. 

Room one of ten in our Nottingham weekend extravaganza and it was an excellent room to start with. 

Beautiful room with some decent puzzles. Fun is definitely the name of the game here and it would be superb for families as a first foray into escape rooms as it gives you a bit of everything. It even has a task to keep younger folk busy while the elders are solving the puzzle. Frustratingly for this element we were one item off completing in full.

Accessibility info - there’s a stairway up to Break Escape. The room itself does need some dexterity in the later stages. Exit easier than entry.

Great hosting from Adam.

Nice additional game to Hidden City's repertoire. We got frustrated with a couple of clues but managed to find our way without needing hints. I personally prefer Moriaty and Cheshire Cat but some fun additional elements did make us feel moderately spy-like. 

Probably because it was a bank holiday weekend (and the previous day in the weekend had been a washout) but there were scores of teams doing the game and we stumbled across them almost on every step meaning we did have to spend some time waiting for our clues (which pushed the time taken up unfortunately). The stops were nice and there was enough time to have a couple of drinks to set us up for the next stage.

Disappointingly, one of the places the clues to us through was closed so we had to find our own way to where we needed to get to.

I'd advise doing this on a weekday so you've got less chance of bumping into other teams. 

There are a lot of Alice in Wonderland rooms out there but I think this must be one of the most beautiful I've played. 

Very similar to Smuggler's Secret in that the difficulty level can be lowered for families and I can imagine kids getting a major buzz out of this one. We did enjoy it hugely and were pleased to get through it without needing any hints.  It is a linear game but it didn't seem to drag in a way as some linear games do as you did need more than one person to do the majority of the puzzles. 

The hosting (for both this and Smuggler's which I realise I didn't comment upon) is top rate. Always love it when the Pier Pressure characters can do a bit of improv in their introductions to the bonkers things we can think of to say. 

Accessibility - it is on the the ground floor but at least one person will need to be able to some sort of climbing in the room. 

I was just gutted that the tea party wasn't edible...

I love Pier Pressure rooms and this did not disappoint. Game flowed beautifully after we needed one hint at the beginning. Not the most taxing game but we came out saying how much fun we had, especially with the twist on a common theme. Beautiful decor and props - as you'd expect from a Pier Pressure room and a lot packed into a small space. 

Like how they can make this and Tea Party at the same venue suitable for families - think these would be excellent rooms to get kids into escape rooms. Feel like you really wouldn't want to go for more than four and absolutely doable as a two. 

Accessibility - if you can get up a short flight of stairs you'll be fine.

Fantastic fun room with an array of puzzles in a much smaller space than their other room. Flowed beautifully and we didn’t need any clues to only just finish within time. 

Again, like Citadel, there’s a lot here for a two to do and we probably should have split up more than we did, but at least the way we did it meant we could experience each puzzle. 

The hosts were great and we look forward to coming back to try out their new room which opens next week. 

The last venue for our run of holiday escape rooms and it didn’t disappoint. 

I’m not the greatest fan of sci-fi rooms but thought this one was executed brilliantly. 

There was a lot to do as a two (especially when one of you has issues with counting… 🙄) and we did have to make use of the bonus extra time we were kindly given. That said it really was only one puzzle we tripped up on and it was because we were super over-complicating it. 

Loved the variety of puzzles and the signposting really helped it all to flow. Fantastic use of a hint system which was incredibly helpful keeping us on track. 

In one word, superb. 

Starts off standard although it is pretty damn cool you’re doing an escape room on a boat (although it is the second room we have done on a boat as we’d done the Golden Hinde.) 

The final third is monumental. I don’t want to give away spoilers but at one particular point I genuinely forgot I was playing a game. 

Absolutely buzzing when we escaped & enjoyed a well earned cocktail in bar opposite.

Accessibility notes - a couple of ladders and some clambering. One person will need to be a bit more flexible.  

Decent room which we only escaped by the skin of our teeth with mainly due to one extremely frustrating puzzle (and one search fail) which we were told no one had ever had the issue we had with it. We did fly through the other puzzles though which balanced it out. 

Nothing in this game is likely to wow an enthusiast but it is good fun nonetheless. 

I’ve marked as not scary but I imagine it could scare people who don’t like creepier rooms - they do have a record for best scream. 

This is Incognito’s newest room which we hadn’t realised had only been open for three weeks. This room could easily become five stars once it has ironed out a few tiny issues. 

First off, it’s completely unique. In my 260+ rooms I’ve not seen a similar concept. I’ve played Prohibition themed rooms before but not with this storyline of being a “reverse-escape room” as explained by our fab host Heather. 

There’s a mix of cool puzzles and a bit of searching involved. We are blaming our early ferry crossing on being a bit slow finding a few of the hiding spots. That said there were a couple of occasions where we felt the reach for the solution was a bit too much. Disappointed with the last puzzle as we weren’t sure how we’d got the answer right and didn’t get an explanation. 

The production value is great, the room looks beautiful. The only other thing I’d need to convince me I was in a 1920s speakeasy would be a shot or two of the hard stuff. ;-)

The hint system is fun although we did have points where Heather needed to talk to us over the intercom as they’d possibly not anticipated some of their potential reverse-escapers were going to be extremely daft in their efforts to pull the wool over the eyes of the law. If they can get those moments into the hint system that would really help with the immersion. 

If you’re in Dublin then you must do this room. Pleased to see they are working on a couple of other rooms at this new location. 

A first gen escape room that would be great to introduce people to the concept of escape rooms or if you are in north wales for a holiday and are jonesing for an escape room fix. 

It is quite a plain room but having worked in a post office I can honestly say that it is actually very like the real thing… thankfully it didn’t have Horizon…

I liked the puzzles - a mix of linear and non-linear at different difficulty levels. Everything flowed and we didn’t need clues. 

We took my parents along, it was my dad’s third and mum’s debut. They loved it. Really helped having them along because - as is usual - we overthought a few puzzles. 

If you finish with a lot of time left you can attempt another round of puzzles. We were going a bit slow to give parents chance to see/solve themselves so didn’t get to that part. The completer finisher in me was a little frustrated we didn’t get to do everything, although our lovely host Ella told us nobody has been able to finish 100%.

Only criticism is I’m still not 100% about what Spug is and am kicking myself for not asking! They do turn you around quite quickly if they have a team in afterwards. 

We will come back another time to try the prisoner room and the new room they’re building. 

Set in the council offices and up a couple of flights of stairs - poss issue for those with accessibility issues but you can take it slow. 

This is the best executed time travel escape room I’ve done; I loved it. 

The puzzles were unique and extremely enjoyable. We struggled with one puzzle in the first part but then everything clicked into place relatively quickly afterwards. 

There was a great story with clear objectives.

The craftsmanship was wonderful and even better once we’d heard the story behind the construction of the room. 

The star of the show is the Time Machine. I don’t want to give anything away but you might want to take your dancing shoes along…

A solid four and a half stars but I gave the five stars because of Charis’s superb hosting.

This is a beautiful room, no doubt about it, with a couple of unique—and amazing—features that we loved. The puzzles weren't as strong as the decor, however, which was a shame. This is definitely something that doesn't need a lot of work to make it a 5/5 game. I'd say the puzzles were 3/5, but the two cool elements (one of which we didn't get to see in the game as we did the puzzle right the first time, grr) are worth an extra star. 

 Frustratingly, we ended up stuck because we didn't see one of the clues in plain sight, which was definitely an "us" issue rather than the room's - we don't tend to do well with search-heavy rooms. 

Half of the group actually missed out on the final room and were elsewhere when the other half "escaped," meaning we missed a lot and didn't get a real experience of escaping. This is probably an "us" issue, too, although there was an accessibility thing here—but apparently, that can be worked around if needed. 

Overall, a must-do room for the experience but don't expect to be taxed by the puzzles.

This is the second plane escape room I've played, and it suffers in comparison to the other, which was on a real-life plane. That said, one particular piece of tech made this one slightly more immersive, and it is the only reason I've bumped this up to 3.5 stars, as the puzzles themselves were, unfortunately, disappointing. 

There are definitely some fun moments, but I must admit I was looking for a bit more - the ending, for example, is a bit odd; I thought we would have something else to do to properly "escape", but we just ended up in the corridor having clearly finished. The story itself didn't make a lot of sense, although I don't think it would take much to make it make As my partner said to me, it did feel like all the Dark Masters rooms were two-thirds of an escape room and al the ones we did seemed to all miss proper endings.

This is an excellent room with a fantastic array of puzzles and a unique theme. It isn't a "how fast can I get out" room; it is more about how many items you can collect. We got 13/15 and were a little frustrated as we weren't far off getting them all, probably needed an extra five minutes. I can imagine kids loving this one and it's a good first room as you can't really lose. 

Our final room on our first trip to Tulleys, and this one also didn't let the side down. Absolutely loved it. There's a lot to it, and having a bigger group definitely helped in some cases, but we did get in each other's way. The start was pretty standard, but there were some fun diversions as it went on. Yet again, we were foiled by a simple search for one item, but we'd have been disappointed had we got it straightaway. ;-)

If we wanted to make one criticism, we could query why this takes place in the future - you wouldn't be out of line to think that it could have taken place in the 21st Century.

A must do, I'd say as a group of four.

Nethercott was why we decided to do our Tulleys rooms in a six, as we knew it was pretty tough when friends tried to do it as a smaller group. And it didn't let us down. It was probably the biggest challenge we've all had in an escape room (if you don't count wall-mounted ladders - they're my biggest nemesis). And it is a massive challenge - it's a huge set and it's styled perfectly.

I loved almost all the puzzles I saw - inevitably, there will be ones you'll miss, but we did go through after as a groupto explain as much as we could to each other on what we missed. That said, I've never been a fan of skill-based puzzles, of which this room has a couple. I was tempted to take off half a star in the review but I can't justify it overall.  There are solutions if you're having issues, but they feel a little bit meh - apart from one genius Machiavellian one, which had me laughing and gutted I'd not thought of. 

When we escaped we all ran out having to catch our breath with a bit of a sweat on. I loved every minute of it - they say you need to be solving a puzzle every two and a half minutes in this, and they're not wrong. It is a must-do. I'm seriously in awe of the two-person teams who can do this within the hour.

We've been waiting to do Tulleys for years and it definitely lived up to all the hype. Absolutely brilliant room with fabulous decor and great puzzles. We don't usually play as a six anymore and while it gave us more puzzle solving power at times it was a little bit cramped. That said, other than the start there wasn't many puzzles that one or another of us missed out on. Definitely the best executed "wow" moment of its type that I've experienced in other rooms. 

As the pro review says, this experience is more an immersive experience with puzzles than an escape room and reminded me very much of when Pier Pressure took over Preston Manor. That said, it was good fun - who wouldn't want to pretend to be a pirate on a replica of a famous medieval boat? The puzzles aren't complicated, but interacting with the cast - and more brilliantly - the boat itself is pretty cool. Probably more for the family than enthusiasts - not something you'd be looking to get a decent time for as you're very much dictated by the pace of other groups in front and behind you - just enjoy the experience.