HOUNDS – Escape Games, Immersive Experiences, Mini-bar: The Explorer’s Diary

Really enjoyed this game, such an amazing location and hosting. The game itself is really high energy - we’ll for a team of two anyway. High quality decoration and games and a good mix of padlocks and other puzzles.  Will definitely be back for the other rooms 

After visiting a number of escape rooms in the area, we had an entire day at Hounds to play all three of their current games, after hearing so many great things about them.

We discussed at length what it is that sets Hounds apart from so many escape centres and it seems like Hounds have come up with a winning formula; firstly, it is not just an escape room. The whole experience is immersive due to the superb GMs, who remain in character throughout. We had Theadora for this game and she was just superb as a performer and as a GM who read our game perfectly. Secondly, it is the intuitive way their games are set up; the puzzles are delightful and often refer back to things seen earlier, making it more of an immersive experience. Finally, the creative use of space and the beautiful attention to detail really help to make the experience as immersive as possible.

Explorer's Diary is a gorgeous game. It's fairly straightforward in terms of difficulty, with some classic escape room tropes... but it is done in a way that makes it feel like a genuine adventure with secrets uncovered along the way. It didn't quite pip Southern Discomfort to the post as my favourite game here but it was one of those games when we stopped every now and again to just enjoy the moment and savour the quality of the game.

Loved the storyline. Great acting from the host. A few entertaining surprises. Puzzles were good fun and it flowed well. The perfect amount of assistance too. Great venue. 

Amazing set, great flow of puzzles and immersive hosting. 

While this is my least favourite game at Hound's, that absolutely is not to say it's not an epic game! The set design is stunning, flawlessly immersive, with some definite surprise wow moments throughout. It really captures the sense of adventure, though I preferred the themes and puzzles of Questionable Ethics and Southern Discomfort.

Every room at Hounds is an absolute winner. Incredible venue, the very best GMs, beautiful rooms full of fun and surprises. You must visit. This game is just excellent.

Brilliant game which ranks as my favourite at Hounds (just narrowly beating Southern Discomfort) and one of the best I've played. Everything just works so well: the set is stunning and immersive, puzzles are great and varied, and game flow is perfect. It all culminates in an exciting conclusion and the whole game is very theatrical and engaging. Our GM Robert the Snobert was a great character and gave hints at the perfect times. Highly recommended!!

Really awesome sets with a lot of care taken to make them look realistic. Great hosting from Reginald Xavier Steven Steven IV (I hope I’ve remembered the mouthful correctly this time 😅). Great variety of puzzles and again lots of fun

A another brilliant one from Hounds. So detailed and immersive with amazing decoration, logical puzzles and activities, some fantastic surprises and spaces. Hilarious GM and sidekick too 🙂

Superb game. Loads to do. Host was absolutely on the money.

This was the 3rd of the Hounds rooms we have tried and wow, its amazing!  Its straight into my top 5 rooms.  Loved the design/theme/set and great choice of puzzzles.  Loads to do and definitely quite a bit harder than the other 2 rooms they have.  Genuinely brilliant game.  Thanks and look forward to the next one you open!

This room is brilliantly themed, with creative use of space. Includes some unique puzzles, with the opportunity to dress up as explorers which was good fun even if I did bump my explorers’ hat into the walls a few times 🙂 . The average team may struggle to finish in time without help but that shouldn’t stop anyone from experiencing this great room!

I'm often a little leary when a company offers an "experience", but I think Hounds are accurate.  From the bar area to the In Character GM.  I played their two earlier games a year ago and was impressed then (controversially I think Questionable Ethics had the slightly better game play but the theming of Southern Dis-Comfort was incredibly good).  Explorers Diary is better then both of them.

The theming is very much on point, as are the puzzles which are a real combination of old favourites.  Light and Sound effects are used to great effect in some memorable moments.

My only real criticism is that we got the same safety briefing 3 times by 2 people and a video.  Hounds was already a company to watch, but this really is one of the best games I've played this year.  I would go with two people, three at a push just to make sure you get to see and play every part as its worth it.

Cannot recommend Hounds enough - hilarious hosting, beautiful set and a wonderful playthrough. All 3 games are fantastic - this was probably my least favourite theme but had some of the best moments. If you can find a way to go, you should. 

Absolutely outstanding Hosting too!!

My favourite of the three rooms. Well crafted, nice attention to detail and the puzzles flowed very well. Not at all disappointed based on the reviews I had read. I was hoping for an epic finale but felt it really didn’t achieve that. Spoilt by similar rooms in Europe. 

The main plus was the GM Aimee. They were amazing. Very funny, personalised the experience and loved their interactions. Couldn’t have been better. Thank you for a wonderful time. 

Amazing game, amazing venue. Hounds are industry leaders in UK.

Wonderful build and some inventive and well-themed puzzles, the host is brilliant, but went through alot of what the introduction said, so we had to listen to it twice. Shame we could hear the very loud team in Southern Discomfort more that our own soundtrack

Hounds truly create the most wonderful escape rooms! Brilliant hosting, immersive from start to finish. We arrived dressed up as explorers and our host engaged so well with us and we had an absolute blast with him.

The room is absolutely fantastic, great design and set, puzzles that flow well and a great variety of puzzles that make sure everyone with different strengths can shine and keep busy. We just loved it! 

Once again Art was a superb host. This is my favourite UK based ER out of roughly 130 UK based ER’s. So immersive and wonderful set design. 

Great room... superb set design and all puzzles on theme with a good variety.  Plenty to do with a logical flow throughout.  Would suit teams of 2 or 3 .. maybe cramped  with more.

The ending is a little odd and deviated from the game objective which left us a little confused.  

The host was great, he did remain in  character throughout, but wasn't over the top and didn't spoil the experience.

The hosts are always brilliant, the sets are great, the puzzles are really decent and there's always wow moments with Hounds, really enjoyed this room.

Just like Hounds’ other rooms, this is a really well themed room with a clear goal for your team to achieve.

It’s a linear game with logical puzzles that are mostly pretty self explanatory (for an experienced team) but satisfying to solve.  There are enough puzzles to keep a team of two occupied with some fun surprises, but nothing too scary!

(Room #107 for the team)