Smoking Mirrors

It's difficult for me to write a meaningful review because this was the first time I've ever done a proper horror room, the first time with this level of actor interaction and the first time I ever did an escape room on my own. And what a room to pick! This was by far the most intense, exhilarating, and disorientating escape room experience I've ever had. I did complete it, but only with quite a lot of assistance. It was eye-wateringly expensive for just one person. I struggled to see and hear properly at certain points, but that's maybe more to do with me.  At times the scare factor was a bit cartoonish, but I suppose it's because ITs a clown? But I can totally understand why actors and horror is appealing to people as it does add another element and an urgency and alt reality that could be difficult to create otherwise. A lot of the puzzles were fairly standard and fit the theme, although I haven't read the books or seen any Stephen King films , so I'm not really sure how that side of the story developed, but obviously there were multiple distinct areas. 

Even though they were fairly brief I personally really enjoyed the actor interactions. 

Regardless of anything else, and in spite of the extraordinary cost, for me this was still a five star experience. Overall I'm just happy the company let me do it, helped me through, and very happy to have had the, intense, experience. 

 Can't recommend this place enough, for a first room they've done an amazing job.  Only been open a few weeks. The person I was with, it was their first ever escape room, so it was a relief that it went so well. And surprisingly good value ATM. 

You don't need to be a fan of the films or into Dinosaurs. Loads of great puzzles and good use of very limited space. Some great use of tech, combined with some older style stuff and family heirlooms. What I liked most about this room is that I felt the signposting worked very well, and there was never too long a moment where we didn't know what we were doing.  Important to note that they don't have a toilet, but it's a short walk from the town centre. It's easy to get a train here from Liverpool Lime Street, and West Kirby is a nice place to visit, with the beach and you can walk out to Hilbre Island. Although we spent most of our time there sat In Weatherspoons. 

Always interesting to go to a place that has just opened. For a first attempt this is a really impressive and fun room. It's 75 minutes and absolutely packed with games and  puzzles. Also some puzzles we'd never seen before which was good. The main thing for us was that this is a great room for kids. It reminded us a bit of Marv the Monkey (Escapable,  Wakefield) in some aspects, and although that might have been our favourite over this, there was a part at the end of this game that the kids, and us!,  absolutely loved. I can't reveal exactly what it was, but it's something that I can't believe anyone else (to my knowledge) has done yet, at least in the U.K. I did read that a place in Greece did this thing. But yeah it was so much fun and raised the whole experience for us. In fact the kids were so distracted by this thing that we forgot the time and ran over. 

This room doesn't have a massive footprint but somehow it feels like it's bigger than it is. 

Also this room had a collection element with a bag that you put things in, which we always really like.  Also great hosting. 

My only criticism of this place is that I struggled to hear / understand what the GM was saying, they definitely need a better sound system. And I struggled to see things properly in certain parts. This could be me, but it shouldn't be a hearing or sight test. 

Worth noting that this place is only a 15 minute drive from Compendium Escape rooms in Bury, so could easily be combined. 

 We went to a cafe just across the road simply called "That Cafe" it's not exactly Micellen starred, but fine and surprisingly good value. 

There is a carpark just around the corner (Taylor street) where you can park for 3 hours and it's free, which is amazing in today's world, although it is fairly small. 

This has got to be one of the best rooms for kids in this area. Took two kids and they both really loved it, especially collecting the turds. For us a collection element always works well. We also loved the toilet theme and the fact that they'd tried to do something different within the game with inputting clues and getting keys, which led to a slightly different style collection section at the end. Although It did take us a couple of go's to get used to this system. Alex was a great host and he kept things going, so we never had a lull.  Plus because we finished the game we went home with a special prize each, which I thought was a really nice touch. This place certainly deserves its high rising ranking on this website. It's not a massive space and tight in places, so I wouldn't recommend more than four people. My only criticism is that in places I struggled to see, but that could be a me thing. There is a really nice cafe on the same street, called number 10, which I would definitely recommend. We parked in the Leisure Centre car park, the other side of the railway. 

We had a lot of expectations going into this room, which isn't a good thing, but it not only met those expectations, it exceeded them. 

Absolutely amazing, immersive, and detailed set. Great puzzles, and hosting.  Plus Air conditioning on a warm day was welcome. 

The only thing I'd say is that they advertise it for up to 9 people, and personally I don't think it would be comfortable for any more than five or six. We were four people.  

We were in Brighton on a bank holiday weekend, it was absolutely thronged. We parked in Churchill Square multi-story carpark (which Pier Pressure recommend) there were queues to get into the carpark, it was very tight if you've got a bigger car, and expensive. Maybe consider public transport. All that to say that it's worth giving yourself plenty of time to get there. The plus side being there's obviously plenty of places to eat and drink in Central Brighton. 

I'm running out of things to say about this place. We've now done all the rooms (you can do them in any order).  And all I can say is that if you haven't done these rooms yet, then it's worth making every effort to get to Macclesfield. These have to be the best escape rooms in the whole of the land? 

The venue is easily accessible and Macclesfield is easy to navigate. The venue is right next to the bus station, 5 minutes from the train station and there is a reasonably priced pay-and-display carpark a minutes walk. 

Plenty of places to eat and drink on the same street. 

And finally a funny story about Escape Quest is that I actually used to live in Macclesfield, one street away from the old venue. I walked past it all the time. Because I'd done one escape room at that time and not really enjoyed it , and because the old building, to me, looked semi-derelict, I reasoned (in my ignorance and stupidity) that it would be rubbish. 

This wouldn't be the first time in life that I ended up with egg on my face, and it probably won't be the last. 

It took me leaving Macclesfield and moving down south to finally discover the joys of the Chapelgate Mysteries. Now having to make regular pilgrimages back up north. 

Something I would hardly have thought possible.  

I really didn't like the host here, he totally rubbed us up the wrong way, and I wouldn't ever do another room with him in charge. 

That aside, I honestly thought this room was a bit overpriced and overrated.  

It's a surprisingly small space, they advertise it for up to 8 people, but that would be extremely cramped, especially the first section.  

Some of the similar rated rooms within an hour drive of here (E.g. Macclesfield and Wakefield) I thought were so much better (and much cheaper!) than this. 

Maybe it suffered from high expectations, but I just don't see this being in such an elevated position in the U.K. rankings. 

This room was looking a bit tired, and feeling a bit damp. But overall a good if fairly average escape room. I thought the spaceship room here was better. 

Probably not my favourite Chapelgate Mystery. But still an amazing experience by any other metric. Highly recommend if you are able to make a booking, as they fill up so fast. 

In a way it's a bit sad that this already tops the list for Escape Rooms in Bristol, when it isn't even an escape room. 

When I heard about this place I dismissed it out of hand.  I probably wouldn't have bothered, had I not found myself at a loose end in the area. 

But I'm really glad I went.  The powers of imagination used to concoct this experience is mind boggling. 

There is an incredible amount of work that's gone into putting it all together.  And it will be interesting to anyone into escape rooms in terms of set design.  In fact any part of this could make a great setting for an escape room. 

Anyone that's into Mushrooms will also appreciate certain aspects of this experience. 

The Eco section is quite pertinent especially given that the walk from the train station to the venue is part grim industrial estate, part dystopian building site.

 I went on a cold day in December and worth noting that there seemed to be quite big temperature differences between different parts of the experience. 

Obviously highly advisable to try and go at a quiet time, not only is it cheaper, but other people could adversely affect the immersion. 

I was sorry to see Cluefinders closing down, but it's great Escaporium has opened in its place. This room appears to have already gone to the top spot for games in Liverpool on this website? That doesn't say much for the escape room scene in this area. 

There were some things we'd seen before, but it was clever and fun, and we had a great time. 

Overall It's a good room, slightly smaller in scale than I was expecting 

, considering how much room they have available. 

But hopefully we'll see much more from this company. 

Didn't quite gel with this room, it seemed like there was a lot of (mainly irrelevant) stuff to read through which I'm never a fan of. 

It seemed like a fairly linear room, but we were often ahead of ourselves, while at the same time not really knowing what we were supposed to be doing. 

But I did like the theme and there were some good bits. 

So this place has £10 for children in the summer holidays, making it very good value. 

Great room for Kids, (and the young at heart) with circus games and fun puzzles. Also the added interest of collecting money. 

Overall an excellent company with great hosting from Charlotte. 

Easy to park in the shopping centre multi-storey carpark. 

Overpriced, Lightweight room. 

Overpriced for 2 that is. At the time of writing Inspector is £60 for two for 45mins(and the same for 3 and 4) whereas the Magic and Historic rooms are £54 for two, for 1 hour, rising to £81 for 3)

 I can only assume this is some kind of error, and they rectify it? As if you're a 2, then you'd definitely choose the other rooms? 

We were actually quite disappointed with this room. There weren't any reviews on here, so we went with our faith in the company, having really enjoyed their Magic and Historical rooms. 

But there just wasn't much to this. Not worth travelling for, unless you're actually doing one of their other rooms. On the plus side Adam is really good, and seems to run the place single handedly. 

After a previous not great experience at a different branch; We maybe wouldn't have gone to this (national chain) company under normal circumstances; however, they have an offer in the school holidays, where you can take one child free, if two people pay.  And then you get a discounted (29.99) game if you do 4 games with them 

Plenty of reviews for this company say "Broken Tech" thankfully we were absolutely fine, but I can see why that may be an issue sometimes as this room did seem quite tech heavy. So a lot to potentially go wrong? 

However with two children in tow this tech element was quite good as all the flashing lights, bright colours, buttons to press etc were good at holding their attention, there was never a dull moment, and a really great pace. 

Interesting to do a room with no padlocks. It's still mainly along the lines of getting 4 letter codes etc 

However I did feel the puzzles were really good, inventive, engaging and logical 

It's quite a small space, with no opportunity to spread out and I personally wouldn't recommend 6 people stuffed in here. 

Plus I'm not sure if their ventilation / air con was working properly, but on a warm August day I was drenched in sweat.

 But I probably needed the exercise. Zoé was a good host.   

Overall it was a really good experience. 

Great hosting, Great value, and Great puzzles, what more do you want? None of the rooms here are going to trouble TERPECA 

but I can't think of anywhere better in this area.

This was only a fairly small single room, but well designed and packed with some great puzzles. It was creepy rather than scary, I had a 7 year old and it was fine. Definitely recommend this company. 

When I booked this escape room I looked at their bookings and they were almost fully booked for weeks on end. That tells its own story. 

This is the fourth room we’ve done here, and my only question would be why aren’t more places in the UK up to this standard?

A fairly basic, but enjoyable escape room, some good puzzles and kept us going for the full hour. You get a discount price for children, and I don’t know many places that do that. Ormskirk is easy to navigate and there is (paid) parking nearby.

Brilliant room, good fun and great set design

Hosting taken to the next level 

A good room, but better suited for larger teams 

Great room 

Also recommend the Ram's Head pub in the village 

Wonderful 

Amazing set up, I hope they are able to do more 

Great set design, and some clever touches, it was a bit dark, so you may need a touch 

Great set design, very immersive, I hope they do some more games