AI Escape don’t make my life easy. This is another game that’s incredibly hard to review dealing with a difficult subject matter that made this an experience with more depth than most. Ignoring that, though, they’ve put together good puzzles in a beautiful set to make a game that’s well worth playing.
The Secret Lab is, to put it simply, a brilliant game. I was left pretty much speechless for quarter of an hour after playing. It delivered a coherent set of puzzles that meshed beautifully with the story, forced you to criss-cross the space throughout the hour, made good use of technology and pitched itself at a perfect difficulty level. The satisfaction at having made your way across the expanse of puzzles was awesome. At the time of writing, this is my favourite game. Ever.
An impressive experience considering it was created for just a three week stint. Lots of high tech interactions, a game where you kept on expanding your space and a mixture of physical and mental puzzles led to an enjoyable game with the only real negative being a slightly over zealous games master.
The long awaited sequel to Lance of Longinus. Celestial Chain does exactly what I’d expect and push the boundaries of escape rooms. As far as I’m concerned the two Time run games are the best in London and whether you rate this experience of Lance of Longinus more highly will probably depend on how much you accept the new format.
A quick round up of various London activities that you might find interesting. Temporary escape rooms, immersive theatre, urban gaming and puzzle experiences. If you hear of anything else then obviously let me know!
A slightly surreal escape room just round the corner from Real Escape Wien. Well worth tacking it on to a visit there given the proximity. If you have enough for two teams then the battle mode looked particularly intriguing.
A venue with one game that was OK and another that was one of the very worst I’ve ever played – bad enough that it became comical. I wouldn’t recommend visiting – there are far better destinations in Vienna.
Our favourite venue in Vienna. Three games that told an engaging story, puzzles that were both logical and accessible and GMs who knew how to do their job well meant that this was a great place to spend an evening. If you’re only going to visit one venue in the city then this is the one.
An escape venue that focuses on the experience more than the puzzles, Exithink produced a pair of beautiful rooms that felt in need of more puzzles. Dr Jones’ Office still felt like an escape room but Orpheum Theatre was more of a scare attraction with a few puzzles thrown in.
Three rooms that, while quite bare and functional, were ruined by poor hosting that was exacerbated by language difficulties. I wouldn’t recommend experienced players head along here, especially if they don’t speak German.