EscapedBear

Definitely a departure from the classic "find code, put in padlock" type escape rooms.  Finding the starting point in this room was the biggest challenge for our team, but once we got going it was great fun.  Some very innovative puzzles and superb build quality demonstrate the care & attention that has gone into designing & producing this room. 

It offers a good level of challenge; our team must have had >1000 rooms between the 4 of us, and this room was no push-over.

 Another cracker from the friendly folks at ClueQuest!

I really wanted to like this room, as the set design and decoration is beautiful and it's clear that a lot of effort has gone in to the build. Nice sound design and theatrics set this aspect well above many other rooms.

However, neither myself or my team gelled with many of the puzzles and in particular the final one with had an element that was open to interpretation and, even though we'd worked out the puzzle methodology correctly, this held us up to the point of frustration and annoyance.  I can't really say that there was a single puzzle that I particularly enjoyed, so the room ended up being ing a bit of a downer. 

Nice concept with some interesting use of augmented reality, but (for our run) let down by the fact that we managed to bypass 2 or 3 of the puzzles (one was a reset error, the other was a mistake by the GM manually triggering something when we hadn't solved it). Still fun, though! 

Fantastic set design makes a strong first impression when first entering the room; it's certainly a cut above most that I've played. Good variety of puzzles, lots of clever tech, brilliant. Strongly recommended! 

Fabulously imaginative to get so many puzzles into a deck of cards. Really enjoyed all the bite size puzzles and dopamine hits. The supporting website was great, too... Very usable and 'just worked'. Wholeheartedly recommended! 

I'll preface this by saying that earlier in the weekend we'd played 2 really good rooms (at RADA and Escape Plan) so maybe the bar was set quite high by the time we played at Escape London. 

The build quality of the room was pretty high; it's quite clear that a good amount of time and energy has been lavished on the construction and dressing of the room. It looked great. 

The puzzles, though, I found (similar to the other room at this venue) to be glorified taks lists with instructions either written on the wall or given audibly. Personally I find that the a really good puzzle is one that requires a minimum of explicit instruction; it has enough signposting to get you on the right track and then an intuitive design that helps guide you through the steps to the solve. That's when I feel like I've achieved something and the fun kicks in. 

I didn't get that with this room and when the GM asked the predictable "so, what was your favourite puzzle?" question at the end, it was a real struggle to come up with an answer! 

First the good part... It's clear that a goodly amount of care and attention has gone into the build and props; they're a cut above many other rooms.

However... It's a shame that the quality of the puzzles doesn't match. There's way too much emphasis on either written or audio instructions, basically meaning that it feels more like you're undertaking a list of tasks rather than solving a puzzle that intuitively leads you through a sequence of steps to a conclusion. I didn't get any of the dopamine "ah hah" moments when you feel pleased with yourself for achieving a satisfying solve.

In addition we had a door not open when it was triggered meaning that we wasted time hunting for something we'd missed when in fact we hadn't and one of the puzzles we seemed to need to repeat the solve sequence 4 or 5 times before it was accepted... We thought we did the same thing each time (the only logical answer we could come up with) , so no idea why it wasn't accepted the first number of times, but all in all it was quite frustrating. 

Really fun room, very atmospheric with great quality build, visual and audio effects. Split start with some really nicely thought out and satisfying puzzles and great use of the space, particularly towards the end. Fab hosting from the team with a back-stage show & tell after we finished.  More, please! 

Outstandingly themed room, incredible attention and skill have gone into the room build and props. Nice story and the in-room "assistant" helps build the immersion. Nothing too taxing in the puzzles, but some lovely nods to cyberpunk/SciFi popular culture. Great hosting from Kay 🙏. Really recommend and looking forward to seeing the second room from this team!