London news and rumours – May 2018

news

Welcome to the May 2018 edition of the London-focused escape rumours post.  Note that this is about London (and surrounding areas). If you want to know about games further afield, then follow exitgames.co.uk, where I publish a weekly update on the UK scene.

Side note: I’ve almost caught up with my review backlog – just four reviews left to publish! Still, if you have any questions about games that I’ve not reviewed here feel free to drop me an email and I’ll try to help.

Plans

Again, April was a quiet month with a day out up in Peterborough playing a few of the games there, a quick stop in Sheffield for Enigma Room, a weekend in Cologne where we played a couple of the Indizio games and finally managing to squeeze in a London experience with a play of Aftermath the Game’s first mission, On the Brink.

May is looking much more crowded with a trip round the Netherlands squeezing in around thirty games plus, of course, Up the Game where I’ll be talking with Sarah Dodd from S² on player experiences. Add to that a little immersive theatre and I’ll soon be back to posting regularly!

News and Rumours

First off, a moment’s silence for Time Run which closed its portal last Wednesday. After almost exactly three years of bringing adventure to London, Time Run’s time has finally run out. No more will players be able to travel the temporal void on behalf of Luna Fox and experience the epic sets and storytelling that made the company world famous. Rather than look back, though, it’s a time to look ahead; their new experience is planned to open up later this year and, fingers crossed, will be announced soon.

It seems like newspapers rarely do a great job of “best escape room” lists and, to be honest, this Evening Standard list isn’t what I’d have chosen. I do at least have to congratulate them on creating a list that (from my point of view) doesn’t include any terrible rooms and does provide an interesting cross section of what the city has to offer. They picked a perfect time to publish the article too, given that a fortnight later one of their five closed down…

Mission: Breakout opened The Lost Passenger last month, a game that purports to tell the true story of a passenger that accidentally alighted at a disused tube station and was never seen again… The comments I’ve read so far (from non-enthusiasts) have been positive so I’ll be looking to head along in the not too distant future.

It’s appeared entirely under my radar but Clue Adventures has opened a new game in a new venue. Gangsters Treasure is located in the The Three Lords Pub near to Aldgate in the city. That’s quite the departure from their previous location under railway arches and the GMing looks like it might be intriguing as they suggest you need to “bribe the barman”. The story revolves around a gangster, Dutch, who’s been shot, with the players working out who did it, where his will is and, more importantly, where his treasure is.

I’ve not paid much attention to Escape Games London recently but at some point over the last few months, they closed Escape the Theatre down and replaced it with Sinister Cinema. One hopes they’ve improved the quality of their room from their last offering…

Escape Rooms Angel are offering a twenty percent discount during the month of May. They’ve got two enjoyable games up in Angel which might particularly appeal to you if you like high tech experiences and a sense of exploration.

Midnight Madness is a puzzle hunt that has taken place for a few years in New York. This year, they’re running a version in London. Rumour has it that it involves people from A Door in a Wall and has the backing of the original crew from NYC so, fingers crossed, it should be good. Note that it’s a high-end charity event so you’ll likely only be able to sign up if you’re bankrolled by a rich company.

It’s not an escape room but I think it might appeal to many of the same people – The Murder Express takes an Agatha Christie style story and throws you into the midst of the action. They’ve created a train for the game and you can purchase food and drink during the show so it’s a slightly different slant on the usual experience mentioned on these pages.

The Hollow Hotel is another immersive theatre production that seems to have been influenced by escape rooms. Initial reviews haven’t been positive but it’ll be running for a while longer if you want to head along and see for yourself.

Hunted, the urban game based on the TV show and produced by Fire Hazard, is all set to hit the capital’s streets this month. Expect high-octane adventure on the streets of the city.

Land of Nod and For King and Country both take place this month, both from Parabolic Theatre. Both look to be interesting experiences with the former having some interesting easter eggs already available if you go searching their social media and the latter the return of the acclaimed Keep Calm and Carry On.

That’s all, folks

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect, then let me know via email or in the comments below; or, equally, if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, tell me and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

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