January 2020

- Overall rating:
Athens Escape Review: Adventure Arena - The Prison

A game that wasn’t all that I’d hoped for, but was still very good. The fantastic sense of exploration, a cool prison set and some challenging puzzles are more than enough to deliver a great experience to players.

- Overall rating:
Athens Escape Review: Darkwood Village - Mrs Rose's Cottage

A beautiful game with some good puzzles. I think most teams will find it to be one of their favourite experiences in the city. I adored the start to this game, and I think the rest would have lived up to that had we not quickly reached the limit of what they could do from a scare point of view.

- Overall rating:
Eeek Escape Rooms (Linlithgow): The Blunt Axe

A fun game with a variety of good challenges that should keep all players engaged. The GM being in the same room as you is certainly a little unusual but, if you can overlook that, I think you’ll have a good time learning a bit about Mary Queen of Scots while solving puzzles.

- Overall rating:
Locked in Edinburgh: The Cutting Room

A great experience that shows off the puzzle, story and set design skills of the team at Locked In. It’s packed full of puzzles to entertain players but still manages to squeeze in some theatre to make solving them extra special.

- Overall rating:
Riddle Rooms (Glasgow): Dark Room

A game with a clever concept at its core, but which was sorely let down by a lack of user feedback and some GM decisions that felt questionable. By the time the game was over, I felt entirely disillusioned about the room.

- Overall rating:
Timelock'd (Gravesend): The Xscape Factor

A game that’s well worth playing whether you like music or not. There are a couple of rough edges around some of the puzzles but the overall concept is very strong and it really evoked the feeling of recording a single in a music studio.

- Overall rating:
Athens Escape Review: The Brainfall Hotel (Down the Rabbit Hole and Dark Seas)

A pair of fun experiences with gorgeous sets but with the actors that didn’t really add to the experience. In one, the actor got a bit repetitive, while in the other, the actors weren’t very relevant. Go in expecting an immersive theatre/escape room hybrid and you should have a good time.

- Overall rating:
Athens Escape Review: Mystery Lab - Requiem

The problem with Athens is that there are so many great experiences that it’s easy to start getting blasé about them. If this game were in the UK, I’d be raving about it. There’s a cool start, a clever ending and a huge amount of exploration during the game. There are plenty of solid puzzles and some really fun ones. There are frights but not ones that overpower the experience. This is a very good game even by Athens’ standards, but in most locations it would likely be the best in the area and an absolute must-play.

- Overall rating:
Athens Escape Review: Escaped (Peristeri) - The Otherside

A game that takes a popular theme and translates it into a thoroughly enjoyable escape room. There’s an incredible sense of exploration, a cool set with some amazing transitions, good decoration and enjoyable puzzles. This is one of those games which is strong in virtually every department, delivering an experience that’s hard to fault.

- Overall rating:
Athens Escape Review: Reality Ripples - Deadlock

A game that lives on its start, finish and scares. It begins with a bang and finishes off in equally impressive style. In between, your heart will spend most of its time pounding in your chest. The puzzles, in contrast, were a bit of a let down so make sure to go in with your eyes open if you book.