TheCLAMS

This is the best game I have ever played (although I'm torn between this and the chapel gate mysteries)

The sheer size of this game is incredible and the amount you have to do is crazy but as it's a collector style game, you can't fail really! We absolutely love this and had the most fun ever. As we've played more games, we've got faster and faster so sometimes we are out in 30 mins but this game really takes the full hour and you feel a real sense of achievement when you complete it!

This was the first game we played at compendium and it really set the tone for the rest of our visit. What a room! This is probably one of the most immersive rooms I've ever been in. It really felt like you were in someone's house and it was super creepy! We absolutely loved this game - the puzzles were amazing!

I feel sad rating this so low but we just didn't vibe with this room like we did all the others at compendium. Again, the theming is excellent (you're in an actual padded cell!) but there were a lot of padlocks but no clue as to which one you should put the code in so there was a lot of trial and error which was frustrating at times. 

This room is simply amazing - a wonderfully unique theme paired with some super cool effects and the ending is just incredible (I never saw it coming!)

This game is just stupid stupid fun in the best way possible. Get ready for 80s music and being verbally abused by a cranky zombie. This is a collector-style game and there is lots of fun to be had!

The lab theme has been done to death but compendium just do it so well! Unique, fun puzzles with a great mix of physical and mental types. One of my fave puzzles I've ever done was in this room. Brilliant non-linear game so everyone always has something to do!

As with all of compendium's games, this game is beautiful, immersive and lots of fun! Lots of different unique puzzles and theming which will get you in the Christmas mood!

This game has amazing theming and some really cool mechanics and puzzles (as with all games at Extremescape). 

This was our least favourite out of the four rooms but there is no way you would know it's 10 years old. There's no sign of wear and tear and the puzzles are very current. However, there was a maths puzzle that was very difficult and took us over 10 mins to try and solve (we needed a clue in the end) - we really weren't fans of this!

This is a wonderfully fun and immersive Christmas game with some amazing tech!

This room is beautifully themed and the start is super fun and intriguing. Theres a fun interactive puzzles I just love in here. We did find there weren't lots of puzzles though and we completed it fairly quickly. 

This game is just lots of fun! We absolutely loved it and the fun challenges you had to complete during. Such an original room!

It was okay. It's a fairly linear room and there's a physical puzzle at the start that takes quite a long time to complete and can only be done by 2 people maximum (1 really with a second person supporting) so it's quite boring waiting around. However after this it does pick up pace. It's pretty creepy but not really scary. 

It's also a very sandy room (should not have worn sandals!)

The owners at Rhondda escapes are super friendly, really enthusiastic and it was a joy to chat with them after the games. If you like strangers things, you will be obsessed with this room! The attention to detail is second to none and felt so immersive. We just wanted to stand and take in the room rather than solving the puzzles 😂 a good mix of physical and mental puzzles, something for everyone!

This room is fun and the theme was great but there weren't really enough puzzles

We really enjoyed this room! The décor was beautiful but boy were there a lot of puzzles for the two of us to complete! We were told this is their hardest room and we definitely felt the pressure! One of the puzzles was a little difficult to manoeuvre and another didn't seem to make much sense to us but on the whole we thought it was great!

Wow! This game was just incredible. It's on the pricey side but it is a 2 hour escape game/experience and there is a live actor with you in the room so it was most definitely worth the price. You and your team mates are disguised as Moldavian rat catchers (complete with stick on moustaches if you so wish) and have to infiltrate the Russian General's office and complete a set of tasks (you'll be told what these are by your secret agent who communicates with you through walkie talkie but I don't want to spoil anything!) The live actor element is just outstanding - there's a Russian Guard in the room with you and you really have to think outside of the box to work around them and proceed through the room which added an element I know I am going to missing from all the future escape games I play!

Although this isn't a scary game, it does get rather tense as you proceed! 

We really enjoyed this room. Based on a true story of Nazis stealing a Michelangelo statue from Bruges. The room was beautifully themed and had fun & interesting puzzles to complete. This is meant to be for a minimum of 3 players and I will say there was a LOT to do in this room. I would recommend 3-4 to escape in time!

This room had an interesting theme but there were a lot of physical puzzles which aren't our strong suit. I didn't really like the decoration much. Their other room is far superior - I'd recommend playing that

I've played a couple of digital games and didn't really enjoy them so I wasn't expecting much but we just loved this game! It's clear a lot of time and effort was put into creating this and the use of social media was super fun! Felt like we were only playing for an hour and before we knew it, 4 hours had flown past! Would definitely reccommend.

Their best game. The set is really beautiful and we found it so immersive! It was a shame about the poor performance of the tech in the last room as it was such an innovative puzzle but it really didn't spoil the magic of this room. I would say this is more suited for smaller teams as there are some linear areas where only one puzzle can be worked on but the space was quite small to work in and so half the team were stood about waiting. 

We enjoyed this room and some of it was definitely novel and fun but missed the satisfaction of the traditional padlock style puzzles

This was our third room of the day at Escape Reading and we completed the room on the highest difficulty. There was definitely a fair few puzzles to complete and some fun ones we'd not seen before but the experience was really ruined by an overactive GM who was cluing us every few minutes without us asking. 

At one point we were working on quite a complex puzzle and suddenly a clue came up on the screen for a different puzzle so we left the one we were working on to focus on that. We completed it and got a part of a screwdriver. We couldn't figure out what we needed it for and spent ages searching before going back to the original puzzle we had been working on before we were disturbed. Turns out we didn't need this screwdriver part until right at the end! This wasn't the only time we received an out of order clue for this room either. 

We are definitely a team who only like to be clued if we desperately need it and normally only when we ask for a clue. This room didn't feel very satisfying as most of it felt handed to us on a plate.

This was the best of the 3 rooms at Swindon Houdini's and in my opinion is the only one worth doing. I really loved the decor - it does feel like you're in a hotel and it's a multi room experience which is always a winner. There was (as with all games we have played here) some broken tech so the GM game in as we tried to open the directional padlock just in case it didn't work. 

As I've described in my other reviews at Houdini's, the clue system for the games games (at least in the Swindon branch) is the GM just appearing in the room to give you hints. It's very disconcerting and completely ruins the immersion. We only had 1 hint for this room  so only saw the GM twice during the room but if I'm honest, one time is too many!

I still wouldn't really recommend doing this room - although I enjoyed it, Houndini's seems to have a lot of broken tech which takes them a long time to fix so it may not be very good on another day of the week.

We booked 3 Houdini's rooms for one day and gosh was it disappointing! 

The worst escape room we have every played! This room had only been open for a month and a half and already half the puzzles were completely broken. 

It was very frustrating - we would complete the puzzle, it wouldn't work, so we would go off and try something else thinking we didn't have everything for the puzzle yet and the 5 minutes later the GM would appear to tell us it was broken. One particular puzzle at the end had exposed wiring which we weren't warned about. When expressing concern we were told they already knew about it and to just use the other wires there and it should work. I just can't believe they would leave exposed wires out for us to touch!

Again as with all 3 rooms at Houdini's, the end to the room was so anti-climatic we didn't even realise we had completed the room until the GM appeared at the end and told us. 

And be warned - the clue system for Houdini games (at least in the Swindon branch) is the GM just appearing in the room to give you hints. It's very disconcerting and completely ruins the immersion. The GM was constantly coming into the room to check on us and give clues (even if we didn't want one!). There was a phone which we were eventually told was meant to be used for the GM to communicate with us but he would only use it some times and then the other half of the time he would just appear in the room!

One positive I will say - the rooms are decorated well and some puzzles could be fun/clever if they actually worked or the GM gave you a chance to figure it out.

We'll never do a Houdini's room again!

We booked 3 Houdini's rooms for one day and gosh was it disappointing! 

The second worst escape room (out of 88 so far) we have ever done (second only to the Titanic room at Houdini's).

This room has been open for a month and a half and already half the puzzles were completely broken. It was very frustrating - we would complete the puzzle, it wouldn't work, so we would go off and try something else thinking we didn't have everything for the puzzle yet and the 5 minutes later the GM would appear to tell us it was broken. There was also a hole in the wall which we rummaged around in (pulling out insulation and a loose screw) only to be told once we had finished the room that it wasnt part of the room and that someone had damaged the wall the week previous and they hadn't been able to fix it yet. Why on earth wouldn't they tell us before we went into the room?

The end to the room was so anti-climatic we didn't even realise we had completed the room until the GM appeared (for the 9th time in the game) and told us it was over. 

And be warned - the clue system for Houdini games (at least in the Swindon branch) is the GM just appearing in the room to give you hints. It's very disconcerting and completely ruins the immersion. 

We'll never do a Houdini's room again!

We went into this thinking 'oh no not another pirate room' but boy were we wrong! The building is just gorgeous and the room is set up as if you're locked up in a real brig. The attention to detail is really something else - you can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into this. The brig involves lots of teamwork as you're locked in seperate cells but as long as you all communicate you'll be fine! Our favourite part of this game was the amazing hosting and executioner who we had to convince we weren't trying to escape by running back to our chains every time he came past. It really added an extra layer of fun!

We loved this room and had lots of fun! As always happens with us at the start, we were completely stumped by something simple but once we figured it out we were away. There are quite a lot of puzzles to complete and one of them takes quite a long time. I'd definitely have at least 3 people for this room

This room was really well done - there was a techy element to this room which we've never seen in any of the other 80 rooms we've completed and we really enjoyed this. We did struggle to follow the exact storyline but we still had fun!

I want to start this by saying I think this just wasn't the room for us. We didn't have a great start because the room hadn't been completely reset so a few things were open that shouldn't be.

This room is quite techy with lots of electromagnets and barely any physical padlocks. We tend to find this kind of room a bit unsatisfying and prefer a balance of different lock types.

All of this being said, the theming and decor was gorgeous and very immersive - it really did feel like we were in an old hotel lift from the 1920s. 

Amazing host and lots of fun (even an interactive part we really enjoyed!) There are a few things in this game that really stood out to us but I can't mention without spoiling the room. Definitely give a go if in the area. We can't wait for the next room 😊

Free game, good for beginners

Um. I'm not sure how to explain this room. I'll start by saying that, as of writing this, we are the only team to ever escape in less than 60 minutes. It breaks two of the cardinal rules of escape rooms which would have been very frustrating if we hadn't accidentally circumnavigated that aspect. The room itself was quite difficult and the first part you're meant to complete (which we accidentally managed to skip but completed it at the end instead) was so difficult (the host told us it took some groups 30 mins to complete just this one puzzle before even getting inside the room!) that I would have probably tried to leave at the point.

From speaking to the host afterwards, he definitely wanted to make an escape game that makes you think outside the box but by breaking normal rules, it would definitely make enthusiasts with a few games under their belt probably be stumped. 

All of this being said, if you want a unique challenge, I would recommend if you're in the area 

We enjoyed this room - it had some fun elements we hadn't completed in a room before but it was very easy (although the host designed it this way). This would be a perfect beginners room

The first part of this room is just pure fun. After that, we were so stressed 😂 This room is quite hard. There is a physical puzzle which is quite difficult and took us ~10 mins to complete which really threw us off. I'd still recommend this room, just be prepared for a challenge.

The fact that Molly Minerva managed to successfully escape in a team of 2 is actually unbelievable and her team must be a force to be reckoned with!

I really enjoyed this room and the concept of it was unique. Some cool tech at the end!

Enjoyed this room although I think there could have been a bit more to it. Probably our least favourite room here but some cool puzzles. These guys definitely think outside the box with each of their rooms

This was a fun room with some really cool tech at the end. We love Lake Escapes!

We really enjoyed this room, there were some fun puzzles we hadn't encountered before

Oh wow! What an experience! The first 30 mins are a crystal maze type experience where the GM guides you through different challenges. Then you go into the mine and the escape room begins! This is such an amazing experience and a really fun escape room. We did 11 escape rooms whilst in the Lakes and this was definitely our favourite.

I enjoyed the puzzles I completed in this room. However, as the room is non-linear, I will say two of my team mates were rather frustrated over a maths puzzle which was difficult to work out and took a long time to complete so they didn't enjoy this room as much as I did. 

There was also a padlock which hadn't been reset so the GM came into the room to correct this, scaring the living daylights out of us 😂 

We enjoyed this room, there were quite a few puzzles we hadn't encountered before which were lots of fun and the concept was unique. 

There was a riddle we got quite stuck on and we could have done with a note pad to help us work things out (we aren't great at mental maths). There was also quite a difficult physical puzzle which was frustrating but if you are patient (which I am not, but luckily my team mates are!) then you can work through it.

Be warned, there isn't really a waiting room here at time of writing (host informed us everything was removed during pandemic but might bring back soon) so don't arrive too early!