Author Archives: escapethereview

Find Exit: The Bank Job

Riga, Jul 2017

The Bank Job starts in darkness, and I was pleased to be supplied with not just the usual hand-held torches but also lens-less glasses with mini torches built into the frame, which both make the darkness less annoying and had a nice elite cat burglar… (more)

Extremescape: Lost Tomb

Peak District, Jul 2017

Extremescape’s first game was a big, brilliant pirate game. Their second is loosely inspired by Indiana Jones, and it somehow manages to be even better. Like Pirate Ship, Lost Tomb is a 90 minute game. Where Pirate Ship injects a moment or two of une… (more)

Extremescape: Pirate Ship

Peak District, Jul 2017

Extremescape is perhaps the most remote escape game I’ve visited, being based on a farm near Disley on the edge of the Peak District, outside Stockport. Arriving by car, you follow a long track between fields to a parking area by the small group of b… (more)

Phobia: Houdini Escape

Paris, Jul 2017

Houdini is a prison escape game with a twist. The briefing describes how Houdini himself is the only prisoner to escape this jail, and you need to beat his escape time of 60 minutes to prove yourself worthy of joining the great man on tour. Also, the… (more)

Phobia: Da Vinci Code

Paris, Jul 2017

Having been thoroughly impressed by Claustrophobia’s franchises in Tallinn and Amsterdam (though the latter is now Questomatica), I made a point of booking into their two rooms in Paris. As well as impressive sets, the Russian company’s rules stipula… (more)

Mystery Escape: The Mayan Prophecy

Paris, Jul 2017

Mystery Escape have games in two locations, so if playing make sure you go to the right branch! We booked in for their Mayan game, in which an asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and a mysteriously well-preserved Mayan pyramid may hold the key to stop… (more)

Inside Out Escape: Finding Sherlock Holmes

London, Jul 2017

Inside Out’s original game is Sherlock themed, and your job is to discover at which of Professor Moriarty’s hideouts the famous detective is being held prisoner.

This room looks distinctly better than their other CSI game. The atmosphere is achieved… (more)

Inside Out Escape: CSI London

London, Jul 2017

Inside Out Escape have been open since September 2016, but were booked solid for months due to a GroupOn offer, so it took a while before I found a chance to visit. They currently have two games and we started with CSI London, their more recent secon… (more)

Lucardo: Espionage

Manchester, Jul 2017

Having rattled through the two Lucardo games that we’d booked and finished them well ahead of schedule, the staff kindly managed to squeeze us into a third room despite it being a busy Saturday daytime. Espionage is set in 1938 and has you stealing c… (more)

Lucardo: The Dream

Manchester, Jul 2017

Our second room at Lucardo was set in the subconscious, in a dream that in sixty minutes will turn into a nightmare. Exactly why we were there or why time was limited I’m not sure, but it’s a great theme for a surreal set and unusual ideas, both of w… (more)