Adrenaline Escape (Wigan): Labyrinth

This review relates to a visit back in August 2019.

Having escaped from Adrenaline Escape‘s Lab 3436, it was straight back in to navigate our way through the Labyrinth. I was excited because it’s the first time I’ve seen an escape room with this theme, and I was curious to see what they’d created from it.

Given the theme, I was expecting relatively simple decoration with plain walls, but I was impressed to see that they hadn’t just gone for the easy option. In fact, the visual theming is one of the highlights of this game. There was an unexpected variety in what they offered that kept us engaged throughout and, on a couple of occasions, really surprised us. It’s not always the perfect finish, but it manages to deliver at the macro scale not only when you’re wandering around the room but also with impressive centrepieces.

Those centrepieces were active parts of the room, with most of them – if not all – being involved in the puzzles. It’s great working with big, chunky props and images rather than a piece of paper or simple markings on the wall or props. By and large, I enjoyed the puzzles in Labyrinth, which seemed to appeal to me more than those in Lab 3436. They got off to a ropey start with an enthusiast-specific variant of a puzzle that seemed more than a little confusing, but things picked up as the game progressed. There’s a decent variety on offer and quite a few that have satisfying physical interactions. One thing that jarred a little with me was that the location of the puzzles during the game felt a little unbalanced, with the result that it was hard to judge progress – I couldn’t quite shake the feeling during the game that we might have skipped a puzzle or two.

The real highlight for me was the finale, which was truly a puzzler’s paradise. There’s plenty on offer so, if you’ve got a larger team, you can split up and investigate. They’re visually pleasing (both individually and in the way they’re laid out), they’re logical (although at the time we played one had two possible solutions, which caused some confusion for our team), and they give a real sense of progress as you approach the finale. I was particularly pleased that there was a meaningful ending to the game that left us confident that we’d completed the challenge and escaped the room.

Verdict –

While the ratings may be the same, Labyrinth was by far my favourite of the two games we played at Adrenaline. It started off a little slowly, but it gathered momentum. By the end, we were having a great time and left with big smiles on our faces. Add to that the impressive and contrasting visual elements of the game, and you’ve got a really enjoyable experience that I think will particularly appeal to enthusiasts.

Full disclosure: We weren’t charged for these tickets. That doesn’t influence the review – you can read more on the About page.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *