Deadlocked Escape Rooms Reading: The Time Machine

By | November 30, 2019

by Deadlocked Escape Rooms Reading (website)

122 Castle Hill, Reading RG1 7RG

Reading

2-4 players

Languages: EN

90 mins
The Wexell Corporation have designed a Time Machine, but unfortunately the first group to head into it never returned. Their actions have left rifts in time, altering history and the future in ways that we cannot fathom. The only way to save the world as we know it is to fix the Time Machine, but you’ll only have one minute to do so. If you fail, the machine will need to charge up before you can try again. Your only help is a small friendly robot called Wexie, and the Time Machine herself, who will try to spit you out in different timezones to try to teach you how to fix her.
A 90 minute adventure suitable for those that want to savour an experience, and fans of Doctor Who and sci-fi will love this.
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Overall rating

Rated between 3.5 and 4.5 out of 5

based on ratings from 53 users
combined with 6 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Brandon experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 18 Mar 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 48 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven
Mark Jackson experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalcleverimmersivequite difficult

Long room but a very clever concept

Kelly Archer experienced rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifuloriginalimmersive

I love Deadlockeds style so much. This is one of the most creative games I have ever played in terms of the timing and style - never seen anything else like it. They manage to make immersive, clever spaces with the bare minimum of money but once you are playing all you see is, say, a spaceship. They are so good at creating sets, that spotting a cupholder or a plastic food tray will not at all impact on the immersion (if anything it makes it even more impressive). The hosts are fully in their role from start to finish which adds to the excitement. You will also fall in love with Wexie, the robot and helper <3

The puzzles are ace, the storyline is brill and there is a reveal at one point which genuinely had us excited about what they had done. So clever, bloody love this company.

TeamHawley experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 15 Apr 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 75 Outcome: Successful escape!
value for moneyclevergreat hosting
Sam Carr experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 71:13 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulclevergreat hosting
Escape Enthusiast expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 3 Outcome: Successful escape!
originaloverpricedbland puzzles

Oh boy it hurts to leave a negative review for this game. The concept is absolutely fantastic and is incredibly original. There was absolutely great potential here for a top tier game. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to that premise or the hype this game has built up over the years. 

Our biggest issue with the game was the blandness of the puzzles. Very few stood out, with most being frustrating or infuriatingly dull. I didn't appreciate the fact that in two of the four time-zones a lot of the puzzles revolved around very simple mini-games on the computer screen present. It wasn't very satisfying and didn't give any of that wow factor found in other games. Even the best puzzles present were relatively simple and would be filler in other rooms. 

It's a shame as I absolutely loved the concept of the room. Going to different time zones was a unique concept that could've been executed really well. It was especially interesting to see the spaces we'd visited before transformed into different timezones. Sadly this is where the second major issue rears it's head. Now i'm all for rooms being crafty and creating sets themselves. Sadly, I think the sets in Time Machine really let the game down. A lot of the game was clearly made on a budget, which would've been fine had more attention to detail been made. A few of the areas in this game felt incredibly bland (the time machine itself being one of them) and lacked any visual stimulation. Aside from one area, I found the theming to be very rough around the edges. It really tore me out of the experience when I could very clearly identify what certain theming elements were made out of. 

Overall it breaks my heart to write this review as it's so clearly a passion project for the team. It's a simply phenomenal concept that just isn't executed to the standard I'd expect given the price we paid. I felt it was overpriced for the experience we received and the puzzles just weren't satisfying to solve. It certainly didn't help there were some tech issues, ranging from certain parts of the time machine being janky to use, acknowledgement of puzzles being solved correctly being so delayed we got the confirmation mid way through our next attempt and being left entirely in the dark on one of our 'fixing the time machine' phases. I don't know if this was down to the tech or the host, but it was very dissapointing. I hate to say this but there are far better games in Reading. I'd avoid this one.

Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Ronnie Meade experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 3 Jan 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 64 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalclever

A very clever room especially with "only 60 seconds" to escape... Thankfully in this time machine, 60 seconds equates to 90 minutes. A unique take on the escape room with a faulty time machine to fix and ending up in different time locations. The puzzles were good and enough to keep you all busy. The only let down for me was the set design... Some may appreciate the fun side with cup holders redesigned in to a spaceship interior but with the effort some of the best rooms put in to their sets alongside their great puzzles and themes this is sadly missing to make this an outstanding room. 

Wesley Mead expert rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Played: 22 Nov 2021 Team size: 2 Time taken: 63m (of 90m) Outcome: Successful escape!
originalcleverimmersive
abunai expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
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Reviews by escape room review sites

Time Machine is definitely the first game I’ve seen that claims a 60 second time limit - but of course there’s more to it than that. The time-warping plot actually has a 90 min limit in total; I won’t spoil details of the 60 second thing, but it’s a smart idea that provides the backbone of a game that is structured as a series of shorter vignettes.

For disclosure purposes I should make clear that the owners of Deadlocked are good friends of mine, and knowing that Time Machine is their pa...

Allons-y, time travellers, it’s time to save the world! For a short walk from the Reading train station you will find this little gem of time adventure. After a short debriefing at the HQ you will be tasked to fix a time machine and you will have exactly 60 seconds to do so … errr … yes, you are very likely to fail … your failure will cause a time anomaly and the time machine will spit you out in a different time and space. Luckily, you will keep in contact with your friendly robot companion, Wexie, who will help you to collect instructions to fix the time machine. It’s all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey really!
With only 60 seconds to fix the time machine, this isn’t your ordinary room. Technically a 90 minute experience, sci-fi fans will likely find lots to love about The Time Machine (we did)
Great Scott! This game was fun. Structurally, Deadlocked did something utterly genius with Time Machine. While it was functionally a 90-minute escape room, narratively it was a 60-second escape room. Because time travel. It’s the kind of idea that’s so good that I know tons of creators will read this and wish that they had come up with it.

We have just 60 seconds to fix a broken time machine before rifts in time change the world forever. Can we, and our robot helper, succeed?

We took to Escape the Review to find reviews to see which rooms in Reading got good reviews and The Time Machine at Deadlocked Escape Rooms had great reviews. We checked out the website to see what the room was about and it peaked our interest. Its a 90 minute room where you have 60 seconds to fix the time machine otherwise you would be spat out into a random time period each time. The concept sounded pretty original and so we booked as a group of three. We arrived at the building and the confirmation email told us what to do but I was just replying to some messages before our room begun as I didn't want to use my phone inside the building but our host appeared at the door. I'm going to be honest, he was completly different to any games master or host we've had for any escape room we've played before. It was almost as if he was new and unsure of what to do but he was left on his own and he just had to do it. He was quiet and distant and I couldn't quite work out if it was a character or not. We decended down the stair case and at the bottom we were told to put out belongings in a box. He then told us to go in this room and watch a video about the room we would be experiencing. We were told that we would have 60 seconds to fix the time machine but if we failed to fix it in that 60 seconds we would be kicked out into a different time period. The video finished and we were led into the room.



Lists

This game is part of the following user-created game lists:
  • Best UK escape rooms 2022 by Escape the Review virtuoso
    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2022, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 
  • Best UK escape rooms 2021 by Escape the Review virtuoso
    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms (out of 1600) in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2021, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 

See also