Roory

Excellent quality, immersion, clever and fun puzzles mixed with a good amount of technology. A lot of effort has gone into the set to have some very appealing visual moments from solving some puzzles, which were a delight once we saw them spring into action.

Looking back, the one minor drawback is that I wasn't really following the story as it went along for parts. This is however a very small detail when taking into account everything else.

The host was absolutely fantastic, and was a significant enhancement to the overall experience too. Would recommend :)

EDIT: I see that the room is shown as 3-6 players on EtR - I think it would be better with at least 3 people, but the website allowed for a 2 players when this was booked.

The gold star for online escape games. I'd say playing as a pair would be ideal, but works fine with 1-4 too.

Firstly it needs to be stated - ridiculously good value for money, £12 for 3 excellent hours of content.

Following this up, the amount of love and care put into this experience comes across so well - some really interesting puzzles and ideas that all work really well. The level of immersion in places that is achieved for an online escape game is remarkable.

This was a fantastic experience which I have been recommending to everyone since.

Having played a numerous Escape Reading games, it is fantastic to see their growth as a company with each new room. Tom was a great host as always.

This time around there's an increased use of technology with the puzzles/props, and a big focus on immersion, both of which work very well. The clue system was fantastic - some small details made that fit into the flow of the room rather than being a tagged on afterthought.

I am always going to have a soft spot for Ram Raid (which will forever be one of my favourite experiences), however Age of Magic also holds up really well - the immersion led to just us having a really good time. It was really exciting to go through Ram Raid, it was a joy to go through Age of Magic.

Single small room game, I wouldn't want more than 3 people in the space maximum. A couple of fun puzzles, but also a couple very finicky puzzles that needed to be repeated a number of times even though we had a correct solution.

Maybe a nice stepping stone for anyone that hasn't done an escape room before, but this does not compare to the 'core' Tulleys rooms of Mutiny, Outfitters, Dodge City etc.

(Hosting good as always, Becky was great!)

Every now and then, an escape room excites or astonishes me - however, it has been a while since a room has made me genuinely happy while playing through it.

Cannot recommend enough, excellent puzzles/story/design throughout - of personal note was the fantastic music throughout the experience which I would happily listen to again.

Extremely enjoyable - pushing around squadrons on a massive map is a fantastic feeling. Go play, one of the best London has to offer!

(Escape Plan has more than one London location - this is the one in Kennington)

Was not really an escape room. Big H&S hazard on unlit slide!

Some nice puzzle moments as well, but nothing overly exciting. This is made up for with excellent theme/storyline, and interesting twist. Some really humorous moments via audio, which was very enjoyable.

Was very excited to play this room after  playing the excellent 'PARADOX'

Unfortunately this experience did not reach the same levels of enjoyment. While PARADOX was excellent at 'guiding' you as where, what and how things needed to be solved (everything was very intuitive), this sadly does not exist in this case, and on a number of occasions, we had the correct answer, but were providing the answer in an unacceptable way. Nothing takes the enjoyment out of a puzzle solution than being told you were almost right 10 minutes previous.

Because of this, there was little excitement build up/flow, which worked against the positives (excellent set design again, etc)

Fantastic room - high quality production, some clever ideas puzzle-wise and excellent flow throughout the mission.

Very immersive and well executed. Only slight knock is one puzzle towards the end of the game that seemed very out of place com[pared to the rest of the room, which we were stuck on, and significantly broke the adrenaline rush that had been building.

Still overall an excellent experience, and also one of the few US companies to work on private bookings!

Fantastic immersion - Aztec Zone is covered with sand and chirping birds, Medieval Zone a slightly chilly and haunted feel.

Excellent set design and games master truly captures the feel of the show.

Fantastic puzzles, some old from the show, some new - a must do for any Crystal Maze fans.

Fantastic set design, excellent games masters & hosts, all of the nostalgia.

Puzzles were a little hit or miss, but mainly on the good side.  The one knock against is the cost, but worthwhile if you love the show! 

To rebook in 2020

Absolutely fantastic room - excellent attention to detail/chunky props that certainly add to the experience.

Very good use of varying win condition (collect as much money from bank as you c an!)

So much puzzle content! High proportion on which were very good. A couple of hints needed for some of the more obscure puzzles/hints, due t the sheer number. First time in a while I've felt under time pressure - would happily take 5 people along with hindsight.

Fantastic theming, which really adds to the game as well. That alone would have been enough to have a fun time, but combining with the puzzle content makes for a fantastic experience.

One thing is that some parts of the room do get quite warm. I wouldn't go into the room too overly dressed!

This is an odd one to try and rate given the nature of Cheltenham Escape Rooms. The current setup is to create a smaller ER experiences that only run for 1/2 months.

Because of this (and the fact that the room is a flat fee of £60), the rating will vary depending on whether cost of the experience is taken into account.

The obvious downside to having such a high turnover of escape room stories/designs is that the set quality will suffer - there is less time to design and build puzzles/content, and also less reason to spend large sums of money of props puzzles that will only last 2 months. The flipside of this again is the cost being low, and locals being able to get a new experience on a relatively regular basis.

I had a reasonable time with the puzzles; had issues with a prop issue or two and a couple of red herrings. But relative to the cost, still vaguely enjoyable.

Cheltenham Escape Rooms are slowly moving away from the current model to have longer running games, which in turn *should* mean an uptick in quality - will be interested to see the new designs.

Solid room, solid puzzles - interesting storyline that doesn't get lost in the background., including good use of immersive storytelling techniques (live videos etc, updating you on mission progress, pinches of humour thrown in for good measure)

Furthermore an excellent & friendly host & owner who seems to be pushing some interesting themes, i look forward to trying out Deadlocked's further rooms!

Max out a team at 4, I feel any more would be overcrowded. Long time enthusiasts should ask for the extended edition.

Playtest of almost finished (90% of the way there??). The previous 'Roll Out the Barrel' has been reworked into a more conventional escape room with extra stuff on top.

Lovely warmth to the room, with very high quality set design/props. Excellent woodwork on display with quite a few 'homemade' puzzles/designs.

Was a little difficult to know where to start, but things flowed reasonably well after the first puzzle (and actually searching the room better!). The couple of issues there were will assumedly be fixed before official opening.

Heavy on content, also heavy on locks. Good visual theming and use of audio. On a number of occasions, very good prop/puzzle theming.

Was very dark to begin with, not certain if it became lighter because of story progression, or our GM realised we were overlooking a couple of obvious things in the room (we were told to ask for more light if we were struggling before the room started).

The entry door notes that the door stays locked until 5 minutes before the room booking time. It is possible that I may have missed it in the correspondence, but I wasn't aware of this, and it left us awkwardly standing around in the train arches until the unlock time.

Certainly worth a visit if nearby, would recommend more than 2 people as there is a lot to do. Just don't turn up too early!!

Very enjoyable.

Good puzzle content in terms of both volume and variability.

Better theming/build quality than previous Escape Reading closed rooms as well, certainly best room to date.

There are 2 levels of difficulty - go for the harder one to avoid missing out on a couple of fun puzzles.

Good theming/atmosphere (although not necessarily theming of the puzzles themselves) & lots of puzzle content to keep a team busy.

Had a loss of direction on a couple of occasions, especially at the beginning with working out how to proceed. Has made me appreciate other rooms where it's clear where a code goes when acquired, and also that sequence puzzles in an ideal order (frustrating to think you have unlocked a puzzle, but it eventually turns out you didn't have everything you needed to solve at the time). Still don't enjoy mathematics in any form in rooms (even with a provided calculator!).

Overall an enjoyable experience, surprisingly so given its location which seemed to cater to a younger audience (adjacent to soft-play area, climbing wall etc.). Very happy they offer a price for only 2 people, which seemed very reasonable. Go and visit if in Keswick, make sure to select the 'experienced' setting when booking.

Fantastic immersion, chunky puzzles/part-of-game props. Excellent overall experience!

Theme came through better than other EE games. Puzzles better too, in general more logical, less frustrating (apart from 'X' logo that doesn't look like what it represents!!). Enjoyable experience.

So bad, no game should have a thematic twist without prior knowledge. For example, I don't want to go into a room and it turn out to be horror themed only halfway though!!

Severely lacking puzzles. Also have yet to see rooms that split a group up be a good experience. Spent half the time standing doing nothing waiting for something to be solved elsewhere that we couldn't get to.

This has to be one of the best ERs I have ever played when it comes to flow of the room.

A load of thought has gone into how each puzzle progresses to the next - points where it was uncertain of what to do next were minimal.

This along with fantastic immersion (feel of the room is spot on for the location), makes for an excellent experience.

The decrypts were also a pleasant addition.

Not the hugest of space - would not go with a team of more than 4. If you have 6, then book out both rooms and go head to head.

Gave benefit of the doubt at the time, but it seems the same problems exist 6 months later.

Bad and non-nonsensical puzzles, confusing story, broken puzzles/tech. Staff that didn't care about these issues afterwards (frosty would be putting it politely), and haven't fixed anything I raised since. High price is final kick in the teeth for a game that didn't deserve half the cost. Has put a number of people I know off of escape rooms where this was one of their first games.