failed

- Overall rating:
The Panic Room (Gravesend): Resurgency

The first Panic Room game that I’ve not enjoyed. It’s impressive what they’ve squeezed into a small footprint and I think there’s a solid core game here but we kept on finding aspects of it that disappointed us.

- Overall rating:
Time Race (Bury): Vault 17

A sprawling game with some interesting challenges but an ambiguous opening puzzle got the room off to a bad start and a series of rough-around-the-edges challenges throughout the game left us ultimately frustrated.

- Overall rating:
Clockwork Escapes (Wolverhampton): Alleyway

An amazing intro couldn’t make up for a game that felt lacklustre in several areas. The room while maybe authentic wasn’t the most fun place to be, the puzzles weren’t particularly interesting or varied while the overarching mystery felt like it lacked the details to give you a satisfying conclusion.

Escape Game Products: The Enigma Files

A game with a long list of flaws that I somehow seemed to actually enjoy. Once you get over flimsy components, annoying red herrings, a dubious puzzle, insufficient puzzles, a disappointing story, off-theme puzzles and no real finale you’ll find a distinct sense of achievement in having finished the game (most likely after having waited for an email response to clue requests…).

- Overall rating:
The Escape Room Newcastle(-under-Lyme): Spy Mission

A room full of puzzles that I felt were extremely dubious that stopped us getting to a finale that looked impressive. I’ve been bitten by the Escape Room games once too often, so I don’t think I’ll be hurrying back any time soon.

- Overall rating:
Room Escape Southend: Zombie Outbreak

An adrenaline rush of a game. On theme from before you even enter the room and an outstanding performance from the zombie, but let down by the puzzles.

- Overall rating:
Omescape: Joker's Asylum

A tried and tested game from across the Atlantic, Joker’s Asylum is the first room where our team was fair and squarely beaten. Overall, not a game I enjoyed, but it still left me excited about what OMEscape are bringing to the table.

- Overall rating:
Namco Funscape: Escape Room

A terrible game that I didn’t enjoy in the slightest. Minimal theming, a host that didn’t really care about or understand the game, and a puzzle that was borderline impossible to solve doomed players of this game to disappointment.

- Overall rating:
Agent November: Murder Mystery

A game with the potential to be good but which was so badly managed on the day that we had a terrible experience. Get luckier with the hosting and coordination with the pub and accept that you can never meet the full quality of an escape room when it’s transported to a random venue, and I think you’ll have a good time.

- Overall rating:
Breakout Liverpool: Classified

A very solid escape room that I’d recommend to players with some experience, particularly those who aren’t too worried about how immersive their challenges are. Maybe a few too many padlocks but if you look past that you’ll find it a good experience, with some interesting challenges that stretch you in a variety of directions.