Kates

This is the first Unlock! game we played. We played the English language version: The Flight of the Angel. It's advertised as a 30 minute game and has a 40 minute timer, but we whipped through it all too quickly without any challenge or any particularly memorable puzzles.

The instructions could be clearer in places, but that might be because we're new to Unlock's mechanics. 

Admittedly it's not *too* difficult to make an immersive school classroom, but so many little touches in this room filled us with nostalgia and made us smile. The room is fairly linear but flowed well, with the majority of puzzles designed to tackle combination locks (but this was by no means a bad thing for us). All puzzles were logical, there was a good number of them, and the room and its components were in great condition. Our host was lovely and we liked the approach towards hint-giving. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area, and we'll be back to try other rooms!

We always knew getting all three relics would be a challenge with only two of us, but we were happy coming away with two and getting a good chunk of the way towards the third!

I love the way Cryptology structure their rooms so that "escaping" is a sufficient challenge for all experience levels, keeping you sufficiently busy and getting value for money. Plus lots of in-theme, tactile puzzles.

The host was marvellous throughout, as was the hint system and theming.

Only (very minor) gripes were with an unintentionally temperamental light source.

This was our second one of these games and it felt like such a disappointment after Ghost In The Attic. All the components still feel well made and high quality but some of the puzzles felt like they weren't designed as well as they could have been - several times we had the correct solution but somehow weren't doing the exact thing that was expected by the game. Really frustrating.

Really well constructed - we were utterly charmed by this game. Everything about it feels high quality, and it's great that it's resettable and we can pass on to friends to experience it for themselves.

I might be unusual, but preferred this to the golden book

It's a room "of its time" and we had fun with it, but our experience was marred by some broken tech that's allegedly an issue known to the venue, a missing item, and something being out of my (safe) reach in a room with a lot of "finding" involved. It could also do with having a quick vacuum, being overrun with dust!

Host was very attentive and knowledgeable about the game.

Alongside some of the highly crafted rooms in Nottingham, this feels more plain and cheaply put together, as well as a bit tired and requiring maintenance in places. However, don't let that make you write off the room. There were some great puzzles in there that are well put together and we had more fun on the puzzling side of things than some of the more immersive rooms, being able to simultaneously solve things rather than tackling in a strictly linear order.

Our only gripes were one puzzle took a bit of a leap to get to the solution, and we lost five minutes because of a lack of clarity about what we needed to do to "win".

This was the first game I ever played, way back in 2015, maybe? It's definitely not as immersive as many others in Nottingham, but requires a nice bit of teamwork, and I can still remember many of the puzzles, which says something!

My partner loves the podcast, so we played this and had a really fun date night in! Nothing too outstanding re: puzzles themselves but all the bits around them are what made the experience.

I think we'd have given this one a higher rating if we hadn't had a problem with a broken element. After many attempts and backtracking to check we weren't missing anything, we found out we *were* doing everything right and ended up verbally explaining to the host exactly what we were doing and that we understood what was supposed to happen, but that it was no longer possible. He let us proceed.

There are several really cool elements in this room and it's beautifully designed, although it does feel a little light on content. We also found, after the frustrations in the middle, the ending felt weirdly anticlimactic. I really hope we were just unlucky in our experience.

I think this is a great room for beginners, but still good fun for those more experienced. We got through with relative ease, but had a really good experience along the way. There isn't anything too unusual or unique about it, other than the cave setting, but it's nicely story driven and not about combination locks!

Our host was wonderful (I really hope we can get her again when we visit!) And really made this one shine for us..

We *just* escaped. There so much to love about this room, including the wonderful twist and great immersion. It feels like you're on a genuinely exciting adventure and I'd still recommend all enthusiasts try it.

However, it was a tad linear, and we got stuck at points in a way that was frustrating. There was also an issue where the host did something they weren't meant to at that point, and couldn't communicate to us directly their mistake. This meant we lost several minutes wondering what we *should* be doing, confused about the thing that shouldn't have happened. Similarly, events that were manually triggered by the host were slightly delayed following us meeting the requirements, making things a little disjointed at times.

We probably shouldn't have tried this as a 2, or been less stubborn and asked for hints when we needed them, mainly because there's a LOT of content to get through here. I love a game where you feel like you've got your money's worth!

It's the only room we've failed thus far but despite this, we had an excellent time. Lots in there to make you smile and the caves setting makes it incredibly immersive, as does the attention to detail and authenticity of the props used within the game.

Our only struggle was clues/host input are delivered via audio only, and both of us have auditory processing difficulties and sometimes struggled to hear over the atmospheric music, or if there was any distortion in the audio.

There is so much to do in this room, so much that I'd love to go back and do the puzzles I missed or didn't personally complete, and maybe have some time to appreciate some of the details you don't see when trying to grab as much loot as possible! (As you don't have to "100%" the room in order to "escape").

Theming, layout, scoring mechanism, unique elements, puzzle variety, humour - all great, plus our host was a delight. We had at least one first timer on the team and the experience left her hooked.

(Only thing I will say about the venue is there are a lot of awkward stairs to get to the room, particularly if you first need to visit the bathroom before you start!)

We played this on a hot day and were very glad of the air conditioning. The bus setting was so brilliantly done, as were the many unique elements found in this room that we've never seen anywhere else.

The host made us laugh and we had a great chat before and afterwards about this and other games.

You do require an element of physical skill (though not strength) for some parts of this game - it's not purely cerebral!

We all liked the fact it was clear what end goal you were ultimately working to, and there were a variety of challenges allowing everyone in the team to shine.

I can't say strongly enough how much I appreciate the sheer craft and attention to detail in this room, with some very memorable puzzles, great "ah ha" moments, unique elements and use of technology. You can see the passion Alex has for escape games in every element. The room is immersive and beautifully decorated/furnished.

Being newer to escape games at the time (with two newbies on the team) we played on the regular difficulty which was just right for us.

We did this as a group of 6 and would suggest others don't go in more than a 3, or four at a push/with kids. Most of the group felt like spare parts as the room was fairly linear in nature and at some points it felt ridiculously cramped. The theming is fairly good, and everything worked as intended, but it felt like there wasn't enough content - I think we got out in about half an hour!

I think our main gripe with this one is it never felt particularly immersive and we zipped through it really quickly despite being only a pair having done 4/5 rooms each.  Whilst all elements worked just fine, the hosting wasn't memorable and puzzles weren't particularly varied. I imagine it might be a good "first room" for some folks, but having been treated to some excellent escape rooms in the local area it pales in comparison!

We really enjoyed this game, and split off into two pairs at points where there was plenty to keep us occupied. Loads of content, and it was brilliantly accessible for one of our group who has mobility issues. I think we ended up completing everything and as with all the games at this venue they're so thoughtfully, cleverly and beautifully put together despite the deceptive nature of their location!