The Logic Escapes Me

A quick round-up of the UK escape room conference that takes place next week.

A fun game but, of the three experiences at Crackit, this felt the weakest. In part that’s the theme but mainly it’s because the puzzles are a bit too long/difficult for the format. Definitely try the other two first and play this one once you’re more experienced!

A fun adventure, but I couldn’t help but feel that they’ve under-delivered. The thematically confined space doesn’t make up for the lack of exploration and, while the puzzles are good fun, a lack of signposting for a few of them meant that all too often we were left wondering where to go next.

A beautiful room that’s a joy to spend time in. The puzzles are well-presented, there are moments of theatre at several points and there’s a clear finale that makes the game end on a high.

A beautiful game with a magnificent sense of discovery and some cool centrepieces. If you’re the sort of player that wants clear instructions on how to proceed, then I think you’ll be frustrated but, if you like to explore and hypotheses, then I think this game will be right up your street.

A beautiful game with moments of theatre, a real sense of journey and a bunch of fun puzzles thrown in. If you’re ever in Paris, it should be high up your to-do list.

A review of the three games at Lock Academy, Paris. Revolt was my favourite, with an unusual theme, fun puzzles and an experience that improved with each step forward. LA Confidential had a relatively mundane start but improved significantly and had one of the most stressful, frantic (and enjoyable!) finishes I’ve experienced in a room. Tres Cher Lock is a game that’s worth playing, but it’s merely good in comparison to the other two – a strong start in what on the face of it looked to be a pretty ordinary room wasn’t quite matched by the end sequence.

A gritty, humorous, enjoyable space game that I’d thoroughly recommend to visitors to Paris. It may not have the most polished decoration, but it delivers consistently good puzzles, story and set – a rare combination.

Two scary games – The Departed is a good, creepy experience which you should only avoid if you hate scariness. Cannibal is an amazing scare experience that you should only do if you actively enjoyed scary games.

A beautiful game, with moments of theatre and puzzles that are really embedded in the theme. Yes, there were a couple of rough edges, and the searching felt a little too tough, but that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying my experience.