pawh83

I've waited a while to leave this review as I didn't want it to be jaded by only my second ever fail. 

The room looked good, one of Breakout's better rooms and on the way in our host told us that it had a very low escape rate, no clues for the first 15 minutes and the only clues on demand. Fair enough, that's how we like to work anyway. 

Then we got going, all started off very well but soon found a lot of the puzzles were deliberately designed to be time sinks. We probably could have split up more at the start which would have given us more time later on so that fail was on us. 

Later on the puzzles are very linear and that's where we became stuck as we missed something and wasted far too much time on it which meant we hit our 60 mins with about 3 puzzles still to go. To his credit, our host did give great clues when requested. 

When he came in and told us what would have come next we asked about some earlier puzzles and he did say the room was always be going to difficult for a team of two due to the time they take. Where one puzzle requires a person to just stand there for a good chunk of time I'm not sure that would be giving someone who paid their £25 or so the best value for money. 

Also, some part of the more linear parts of the game are in a space where two of us were tripping over each other, bringing a larger team to reduce the difficulty is going to leave some people unable to take part in what is going on. 

I think I'd have appreciated the website telling us that it was near impossible for a team of two to complete if that really is the case. Would I still have booked it? Yes, I think I would, but at least then I would have felt a little less hard done by if it was down to me ignoring a warning.

I realise I am coming across a bit bitter in this and in fairness some of the puzzles were really clever and really satisfying to solve and with a really good range. But most of the difficulty comes from the time taken to complete tasks once you know what you're doing. I've always preferred difficulty that comes from the volume of puzzles rather than time sinks. 

Take a team of 2 experienced players and see if it was just a skill issue on my part. I'd say take 3 or maybe 4 at most, but even at 4 you're going to struggle to all be involved at parts. 

Well it looks like North of England has a new best escape room!

Based in the old Cluefinders site in Liverpool the inside of the building has undergone a complete transformation and is totally unrecognisable now. 

We were greeted by our hosts the amazing Amy and Angela and taken inside the waiting room. After a nice long chat about all things escape room Amy delivered the (hilarious) brief and we were away!

Any concerns about the old rooms from the former owners just being tarted up were gone instantly. The space has been completely remodelled and decorated to the highest standard. 

The game was packed full of very clever puzzles, I’d say half of which we hadn’t seen before in over 100 rooms completed. 

There was just the right mix of technology and padlocks, nothing felt like it was there just to keep you in there longer. Every puzzle was smart, well thought out, moved the story forward and gave a real sense of satisfaction when it was completed.

No spoilers from me but you will leave the room with a big smile on your face. 

We did it as a two and had three clues, all down to us not paying enough attention. We could have split up and got through the room quicker as it wasn’t totally linear, but we stuck together and solved everything as a pair taking us almost the full hour. 

If you’re an enthusiast do this in a smaller group so you get to do everything and make the most of the time. If you’re going with inexperienced or younger players I’d say go for a bigger group and you should get out no problem. 

Liverpool has long been overdue a new escape room and this knocks the local chains out of the water. I know there are more rooms coming from The Escaporium and I’ll be first in line to play them. 

A proper, classic escape room with loads of puzzles to keep you busy and take up the majority of the hour!

When I first got in the room it was clear that the sign posting of the order to complete the room was very blatantly laid out. I’m not normally a fan of this but with the amount you need to do to complete this room I was soon grateful for it!

Nothing was majorly taxing if you’ve done a few escape rooms but there was enough in there to keep you busy and occasionally have you stop and think about what to do next. We needed a couple of clues due to not looking around as much as we should have. 

The room was totally linear which was fine for a team of two escape room enthusiasts as we got to do everything in there. 

If you like a room where the puzzles come thick and fast then I cannot recommend this one enough. 

Get this room booked while it's available!

After playing the Christmas revamp of Remy's room last year I was looking forward to seeing what the gang at Cluefinders could do with The Tomb and I was not disappointed!

There's a clever twist right from the start that I won't spoil for you but it feels like a whole new room. Every single puzzle is brand new and there isn't a single trace of the old ones which can always be a danger in an overlay of an existing room. 

The puzzles are as clever as you'd expect from Cluefinders, sometimes tricky but never unfair. There is the right balance between signposting and letting you find your own way through and having those great moments of discovering new things. 

Theming remains superb throughout and there's a twist on the clue delivery system that I absolutely loved too. Hosting is always going to be good from Dannie & Kelvin and this visit was no exception. 

Cluefinders are my favourite escape room centre and after two fantastic revamps of existing rooms I cannot wait for their new room to open!

Another amazingly themed room that really felt you were put onto a stricken submarine. The smoke machine was turned up to the max and with a torch that could clap out any second it made you want to get going as soon as possible. 

Following on from our failure in the previous room we took our first of three free clues to get going and I feel we flowed well from there. The puzzles were all clever enough with a good range from searching to a bit of maths and some riddle solving too. 

As the game progressed we got some to see some equally well themed spaces and some more very clever puzzles that resulted in an escape this time and the restoration of my pride!

Well it had to happen, after 90 odd escape rooms I had my first failure!

The game took place in a beautiful space, really well designed and ticked a lot of my sci-fi nerd boxes. There was a clear story line and this led to some clever and challenging puzzles throughout the room. 

The clue system was on a ‘Three for free and anymore adds to your time’ system. I’ve not had a lot of experience with this kind of system and I think that’s where it started to go wrong. 

My friend who I played with was more keen to ask for clues than I was, I think I wanted to ration them out and not go over the time. But in hindsight I realise if we had have asked sooner than we would have got out. 

Talking to Sam our host he did say that the rooms had been designed to make you really work hard for the victory. With red herrings you had to work to find in the first place thrown in and some ways of inputting a solution not put in a logical order, I’ve never felt so much like a room was designed to really stack the odds against you escaping. It was a novel experience and I know next time to put my pride aside, take the time penalties and make sure I escape. 

Nicely themed room with a good flow to it and the added bonus of a sound effect for when something opens somewhere in the room so you’re not left scratching your head.  Good mix of puzzles with excellent sign posting.  

Warm welcome from our host who gave a good brief. We needed one clue which was due to a search fail on our part. We were given the option of unlimited clues or veteran mode of 3 clues which i loved. 

Only bugbear was the lack of microphones in the room. Not an issue during our game but novices could struggle with it. 

Our game started with Beth giving us our intro and having a good chat about rooms we’ve done and loved before she set the scene well and got us into our room. 

A brilliantly themed room that I’ve come to expect from Breakout Chester, they really seem to be the best in the Breakout franchises. 

As others have said, a rare case of a room without padlocks and blimey we found it difficult because of this. All the puzzles made perfect sense and there were some really clever ones in there, but we started slow, made some silly mistakes and basically fell apart from there!

Beth was nice and cryptic with her clues, just giving us a nudge in the right direction. 

We did make it out with an ok amount of time on the clock but this is the first room in ages where I’ve actually thought we might not make it out!

Overall a fun room that kept us on our toes until the door finally opened. 

I ruddy loved this room! Just a really good, classic escape room. 

The game starts with an intro video that actually got a laugh from me and from there  padlocks galore but other kinds of puzzles too which I won’t spoil here but all very clever and all keeping with theme. 

If you’ve done any of the previous rooms that were in this space then what they’ve done with it will be a nice surprise. 

Seb was an excellent host, he set the scene well and kept to our request to only offer clues when we asked. (Needed 3 clues, 2 because we were being dense). 

I really think this is an escape room fans escape room, nothing too tricky that stopped the flow of the room just nice clever puzzles.