Author Archives: escapethereview

Enigma Escape: The Killer

London, May 2017

Enigma Escape opened a couple of years ago with the help of a Kickstarter campaign. Their game concept stood out for the then-novel idea that their games would aim for realism and immersion, following the logic of the story not just an arbitrary seri… (more)

ClueTrace: Mission Critical

London, Jun 2017

ClueTrace’s original game had you sneaking into the mid of a white collar criminal, and Mission Critical continues this idea, but this time with the mind of a Soviet official at the end of the Cold War, trying to find the identity of a double agent…. (more)

Escape Land: Da Vinci’s Exploration

London, May 2017

Da Vinci is a common escape room theme, which is probably the fault of the Dan Brown bestseller. Escape Land’s version has you hunting for the Holy Grail with the help of clues from Leonardo himself (no, not the mutant turtle) before unnamed ‘evil fo… (more)

Escape Land: Professor Oxford’s Experiments

London, May 2017

Escape Land is hidden away in a basement found behind an unobtrusive door on Oxford Street that I must have walked past a dozen times without noticing before. They were among the earlier set of escape rooms to open in London, and I’ve intending to vi… (more)

Escape Rooms: Pharaoh’s Chamber

London, May 2017

Having played quite a lot of games recently that aspire to be immersive and story-driven, Pharaoh’s Chamber was a contrast and a throw-back to an earlier style of escape room, where the puzzles are front and centre and the theme is really just window… (more)

Modern Fables: The Escapist

London, May 2017

On seeing the pre-launch website for this company I mentally marked it down as one to get excited about. The ‘urban fairy tales’ concept presses my buttons, and the description suggested a very promising focus on immersion and drama. A room full of p… (more)

Marvo Mysteries: M.A.R.V.O. Induction

Bournemouth, May 2017

The minute I walked into Marvo I got a sense of the quality of room I was to expect. An intricate foyer area contained artefacts and detailed decoration. Even before the game itself started properly, we were led down a secret passage to a highly orna… (more)

Guide to escape rooms in Europe

This guide was written in 2017, and hasn’t had a major update since 2018-19. A lot has changed since then! I’ve left it up for reference and historical interest but it’s no longer very useful as a guide. Being A Partial, Fragmentary and Unreliable Collection of Escape Room Recommendations That I’ve Mostly Swiped From Other… Read More »

The Panic Room: The Gilman Hotel

Gravesend, May 2017

The year is around 1920 and you’re staying at the Gilman Hotel in Innsmouth, on the trail of some missing artefacts from the Miskatonic university. Yes, it’s a Lovecraft themed escape room!

This room thrives through great decoration / theming. A mix… (more)

The Panic Room: The Don

Gravesend, May 2017

The Don was the fifth game we played during our escape marathon in Gravesend and is probably the room that grabbed me the least. That sounds more negative than intended so let me explain: While it didn’t present me with any particular standout or ‘wo… (more)