magicalbacons

Having visited Island Quest on previous holidays to Lanzarote, we of course had to return for their latest creation! 
Tropical Trouble has a fun tropical vibe to it with a sort of element of cluedo/who-done-it to enjoy. Rather than a traditional game of complete the tasks & complete the mission, we were additionally tasked with collecting pieces of evidence in order to solve a crime at the end! We really enjoyed this little twist and it definitely got our brains working!
The decor is very cute, colourful and tropical with puzzles integrated into the decor seamlessly. 
The puzzles aren't anything to complicated, but there's a good variety of puzzles and tasks, presented in amusing and unexpected ways.
Whilst the owners bill this game as an "intermediate" level, I'd say there's enough for more experienced players to enjoy in this room regardless!

I am so torn writing this review because I can see why people would rate La Taberna so highly. Unfortunately, our experience wasn't so great, but that is in no way because of the construction of game itself (yes, it looks absolutely stunning) nor our 2 amazing gamemasters.

When we played, Spain was having a heatwave, temperatures of 41 degrees outside. The only area inside of the building that we encountered was in the initial tavern itself. As we exited the tavern, the temperature inside absolutely soared. The rest of the game was like playing in a sauna. I actually blacked out part way through the game. The gamemasters provided bottled water and a small hand fan at the half way point but with another hour of game play to go they were drops in the ocean. Considering that this is the #1 rated game in Spain, the only thing we'll be remembering about this game was the intense heat.

So, the good bits. The game is beautifully constructed with a high attention to detail throughout. The puzzles and tasks are varied and not overly difficult, which is important considering the length of the game.
As I mentioned above, our 2 gamemasters were an absolute delight to interact with and did an excellent job telling the story and keeping us well paced - thank you Albert & Dante!
The special effects throughout the game are exciting and really add to the immersive atmosphere.

So, a review of 2 halves and I'm sure anyone who plays outside of summer would have a wonderful experience. But just leaving my little warning to anyone thinking of playing over the summer to be prepared (It's not just me, there's a string of Google reviews from the last few weeks of other who couldn't enjoy the game because they were also busy being hot human soup for 2 hours).

Overall a fun game with some great puzzles that really make you think.

As a team of 4 we found that everyone always had things they could be getting on with.

I enjoyed the unique objective of the game (which I won't spoil), but it was a fun twist on your usual escape room format.

Our game host was occupied running 2 games at the same time and in the latter half of the game we did wait 6 minutes for a hint and had to first inform the GM where we were up to which put a bit of a damper on our game.

Following their social media boasts of having things "never seen before in an escape room" we found the game underwhelming. 

The tasks to be completed throughout the room consist of pushing buttons and turning dials but without any form of real puzzle or challenge to go along with these tasks. We're an experienced team and found that the room didn't require much beain power which was a bit disappointing.

The room is adequately decorated as far as submarines go; a splash of grey paint, plenty of pipes and some low level lighting (torches were provided thankfully). We did encounter a few holes around the room exposing wiring which is a bit of a hazard.

The room contains a "suprise ending", but perhaps should come with a warning (as 1 member of our team left feeling shaken and nauseous) but I'm sure some teams will enjoy this suprise - maybe a way to sit it out would be helpful?

Our experience with the Pearl Experience was a bit of a disaster with incorrectly reset puzzles, broken tech and 2 GM's inside the game space with us who did very little to aid our experience. I'm giving the 1 1/2 stars purely because the set design is good.

The very first puzzle was nonsensical in that the team is to perform a game of cherades with their GM through a porthole in order to be given random letters. The GM has no way of communicating other than writing on a blackboard, and just kept writing "?" And angrily pointing at it as though that would make it make more sense 

Following this we encountered 2 GMs in character within the space who didn't give us a moment to explore the space, instead pushing us from puzzle to puzzle and telling us what to do instead of letting us discover this for ourselves. Aparantly a lot of players like this as we mentioned it to our GM on the way out.

Several reset errors had been made within the game as there are 2 sets of puzzles that are designed for 2 groups to play simultaneously. We wasted a lot of time as our game had been set with a mix of pieces from both game sets.

One of the final puzzles also didn't work and our GMs in the end had to bypass the puzzle 

As a final note, our GMs stood a few meters away whilst we solved what we could talking about us in spanish. We speak spanish, and they weren't exactly being polite about us 

All in all, I wouldn't recommend the experience.

Bites Motel is just an outstanding experience from start to finish. The ambiance is spot on, the puzzles are challenging but not too difficult and our host engaged with our team just the right amount to create tension without making the whole experience too scary (1 of our team refuses to play scary games and she said it was her favourite game she's ever played).

An enjoyable experience on the whole but some areas were very dark and with 1 small torch to share it made searching a bit difficult. Some dark areas also have uneven flooring, so something to be aware of.

As someone has already stated below, hints are delivered by radio through a parrot, but this can sometimes be very difficult to hear.

Stunning room design but with some broken bits of tech (our gm had to pop in at one point as something didn't open that should have and had to give us an answer to another puzzle as the puzzle mechanics weren't working as they should).

We knew it would be a challenge as 2 players, but even with prompts from our gm (we said we didn't care how many hints so long as we made it through) we were only able to make it 75% of the way through. 

Our GM somewhat reassured us (if that's the right phrase) that no team of 2 has ever completed Spellcraft, so do be aware of that even if you're an experienced team of 2!

I'm sure to some this game would be really enjoyable, however, even with the limited lighting provided we struggled to see inside the room. All puzzle instructions were to be given by audio, which would be wonderful, if the speakers within the room weren't cranked up to the max making all audio incredibly difficult to comprehend (this is something that could be easily fixed, but the gm didn't seem fussed about the audio quality issues).

Perhaps the game gets going, but our gm escorted us out after a short time saying if we didn't like the audio quality, then it was best that we left rather than completing the game (full disclosure, a full refund was issued, which was very gracious of the company).

As a group of 2 experienced players we enjoyed the non-linear nature of the game. Nova comes packed with plenty of proper puzzles to solve, which we really enjoyed. The game doesn't necessarily have much narrative, however if you're looking for enjoyable and logical puzzles, this is the game for you!

Also, the entire game is illustrated with high quality graphic 360 environments.

Would deffo recommend!

The game had an enjoyable story to follow and the use of different map areas to explore was great.

The game has some wonderful puzzles, but also a couple of puzzles that still left us scratching our heads even having taken the solutions.

Overall a fun game.

Enjoyable game with some good puzzles but a bit of an abrupt ending.

The games graphics are really wonderful with all environments and puzzles displaying in stunning detail.

We enjoyed the mix of simpler tasks and more challenging puzzles.

One puzzle had us a little stumped for a while and the hints system does add a time penalty for every hint taken, which is the only downside!

Retro video game meets interactive theatre meets escape game!

We absolutely loved this game! The work that's gone into creating this whole experience is just ridiculous (in the best way possible)!

Thank you to Joel for being an outstanding host and for creating this wonderfully unique experience.

What a joyous experience from start to finish! The puzzles aren't too difficult, but there is plenty to go at! The game has a lovely mix of logic puzzles and fun tasks to complete in a wonderful carnival setting with plenty of fun and unique suprises along the way!

Without saying too much, the wonderful team at WayOut have really upped their game! 

We enjoyed every second of The Agency and our hosts Fran & Mayte were an absolute pleasure too!