Steph Norchi

Let me start by saying that this wasn't even the room we were supposed to be doing. We had booked Hexmore, and on arrival we were told that Hexmore was so broken that he didn't want us doing it and he asked if we were happy to do Titanic instead. So I was already annoyed that they didn't contact me in advance and ask us to change (what would they have done if we had already done Titanic before?) we were taking some friends for their first ever escape room and wanted something easy for them. It's a good job we were experienced enough to help them through it; because this room was a mess! 

The GM was completely unenthusiastic and unhelpful. He led us to the room where we were given no briefing whatsoever. No health and safety, no 'these are the sort of locks you might find', nothing. Just told us that because of the mixup he would give us 90 minutes and sent us in. There is a lot of GM intervention in this room so if you get an uninterested GM like we did then this room is not going to be as enjoyable. 

HERE IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING! The rest of this review does contain some spoilers.

The first area was in my opinion the best room, theming was great and there seemed to be lots of puzzles for everyone to solve. However... on inspection, the puzzles were badly damaged. Clues were stuck to elements using stickers, half of which were missing and you could just about see where they had tried to carve the missing clues back onto the objects, but it was very hard to see and very clearly not intentional - just broken. Here's the one that got me the most agitated -  the numbers for one of the clues had been stuck on/scrawled in the wrong order! So the solution was spelled wrong, very confusing. But it wasn't just the clues that were broken, one of the key puzzle elements that we collected instantly fell apart in our hands so we had to keep putting it back together until we found out where it needed to go.

There are also a lot of red herrings throughout this room which may well have just been old broken puzzles that they didn't bother to fix.

Moving on to the next area involved some crawling (there was no prior warning on booking that there would be any physical activity). However, we quite liked it and it fit with the theme. 

The next area had such potential, this was the room where they could have absolutely gone to town on the theming but it was quite the opposite. Very minimal and very cheap. They had large black panels on the wall in place of windows. They could have at least put some artwork there that made it look like you were looking out of a window, not just solid black panels. What few elements there were in here were just more red herrings and we were so convinced they should be puzzles that the GM just used the microphone to tell us exactly where to find a hidden clue (which we hadn't asked for and was so direct it was very aggravating).

In the next area were were then tasked with the typical morse code puzzle, but the GM didn't even let me finish putting in all of the information before he activated the next step, so it was rather pointless. 

To end it all off, the finale was rather weak. The premise was cool but the budget fir theming must have run out as they seemed to give up on it. This section of the game was aimed at 4 players so may have been tricky with less, especially as the elements didn't stay put without you holding them. The game then just sort of finished and we were left wondering if we were meant to just press the switch to exit or wait for the GM to eventually turn up and let us out. 

Overall, I was left very disappointed by a game that I had heard good things about. The room seems dated, it's broken, it's rather illogical in its puzzles and red herrings at times and the GM was a let down. The whole location (not just Titanic) seemed very unprofessional and in need of some serious work. The newcomers enjoyed it, but as enthusiasts were would definitely not recommend it.  

Let's start with the positives... the theming in here was great! They really made an effort to make it feel like a jungle, and there are no padlocks in here, regardless of what you may see (I'll explain later). It is also very a physical room (which there was no prior warning about), thankfully our team quite enjoyed all of the crawling and climbing. 

However... other than those slight positives, this room was a disaster. The GM seemed completely uninterested and unenthusiastic. Before entering the room there was no brief whatsoever. No health and safety (which there really should have been considering the room), no story set up, just a quick 'here's your room, here's your walkie for the hints, it's dark so you can use a phone torch'. Which with 2 complete beginners in our group was not a great start. The GM also starts the game in the first room with you! This was not only unnecessary as he did nothing, but was very offputting having him just standing in the corner. The game started by him telling us exactly where the find the first clue: we didn't ask for a clue and tbh didn't even know if the timer had started or if that was just some story set up. When we solved the first puzzle, the solution didn't match the clue in the journal, so we carried on trying, and eventually, we spotted the open door, the GM told us it had been open for ages and then left.

There are also a lot of GM-activated elements in here, so having a GM who didn't really care, ruined it at times and make some things more confusing then it needed to be. Now for the kicker - there are a lot of broken puzzles! We even had the GM come into the room mid-game at one point because we had opened a panel and moved something that had an unlocked padlock attached to it thinking another team member had done it (turns out that lock wasn't for us).  

Unfortunately, I left the room feeling very disappointed. The newbies of the group still enjoyed themselves but to an enthusiast, I'd say give it a miss.

(Also, not sure why etr has this as a 90 minute room as it is only 60 minutes.)

We absolutely loved this room! Communication is one of our team's strengths so we found the puzzles in this room fairly easy, having found 5 lanterns in about 15 minutes and all 8 by the end. However, it's probably one of the most fun rooms we have done. It is really unique and makes you think in a very different way to your standard room. It's worth mentioning that this is not a scary room; there is nothing at all in this room that is meant to be even remotely creepy other than for anyone who would have a fear of the dark.

Our side mission score - 55,000.

This room was good fun and there were plenty of puzzles to keep us busy for the whole 60 minutes. We unlocked the door pretty early on but then chose to stay in the room and complete more puzzles to boost our side objective score. There's a fantastic range of puzzles of varying difficulties that make the room accessible to all teams from beginner to expert. I do however have 2 criticisms... The room is very small! With a team of 4 it was very tight and we were constantly in each other's way. I believe this was moved here from Peterborough where it was in a bigger room, but here it just feels cramped and more like an office than a bank vault. My other issue was that there are a lot of red herrings. The GM afterwards told us that it's set up in a way to let them add in more puzzles at a later date but this just added extra confusion to the game as it is, such as finding codes for locks that don't exist.

Fantastic experience. Totally unique from anything I have done before and hillarious from start to finish. The actors were all amazing and I was completely immersed. Well worth a visit if you fancy something different!

We were initially concerned about this one due to the website saying there would be loud sounds and frequent jump scares, which are both things that I am particularly sensitive around. But it was absolutely fine, there was only 1 jump scare that I noticed and I don't recall any loud sounds. I guess it could be dependant on the game master but ours seemed very tame - more like just a dark room with some ambient sounds. The puzzles were pretty varied and interesting, though it was quite hard at times to work out which information is for which puzzle. Both rooms I have played here are very padlock-heavy (which we don't mind, but I know some teams prefer rooms without them), so be prepared for that. I think overall the room was good fun for the price, but I would have liked it to have played a little more to the cabin in the woods theme, rather than just a dark old room. 

Great room with some puzzles we hadn't encountered before which was refreshing.  Not sure that all of the puzzles really fit with the theme, but equally they weren't so out of place that it was jarring at all. The room worked really well with how our team thinks so we we found it pretty easy, but depending on the team some may find it quite a tricky room. Not really scary at all, just a bit dark at times.  My only slight issue was that some of the more hidden clues were quite hard to read/see. We managed fine, but some people may struggle to read them.

All I can say is WOW. Absolutely incredible, from start to finish it was perfection, so many twists, every room had us in awe of what could be achieved in an escape room. The room is very story-driven, and captivating throughout, and the puzzles are beautifully woven into the theme. Nothing felt out of place or jarring, it was engineered perfectly. I cannot recommend this room enough!

I thought it was a clever use of a small space that really tested your communication skills. Personally, I prefer the bigger escape rooms, so this one felt quite restrictive to me but there was plenty to do with a great twist at the end to keep you on your toes.

One downside was that tech wasn't used properly where it should have been. We spent about 5 minutes putting the same code into a keypad before it worked, only to later find out that it's actually not automatic and is controlled by the GM who clearly just wasn't paying attention.

After hearing so much hype about this room I had high expectations. 

There is no doubt that this is a fantastic room, but above the incredibly immersive theming I didn't feel that there was anything new or different here. If you know Brighton then maybe it's more interesting but to someone who doesn't, it was just another escape room with lovely set design. Out of the 3 we did here it was certainly their best.

I spent a lot of time wandering around looking for something to do as my teammates already had all of the puzzles covered. For an experienced team it felt like a fairly easy room with all of the standard puzzles.

The GM was great and only gave us 1 hint to ensure we kept a nice flow.

There was also a broken element right at the end, so thankfully it didn't cause any flow issues with the game, but it was quite anti-climactic. 

Good fun, brush up on your dancing skills for this one! Some clever puzzles but we were ultimately let down by broken technology. We were prewarned before doing in that there was a broken element but it was really quite disappointing. A puzzle that relied on 2 players communicating, where only half of the puzzle was working, we completed the good half about 3 times before the GM marked it as completed. We wasted so much time fighting with dodgy tech. I feel like all the dancing and music was ultimately to distract you from how broken that room is.

Wow! What a room that was. The theming was incredible, the scale was amazing, and everything was really well thought out. Only 1 frustrating skill-based puzzle in here that I think either needs simplifying or replacing, but thanks to some clever GMing it didn't take away from the experience at all. 

This is a hard room. Do not underestimate it and do not attempt this as novices. As the last room of doing all 5 of Tulley's rooms in 1 day, we decided to stick to the 60 minutes instead of the optional 90min version. Wow, there is so much to do! It was 'go, go, go' constantly for the whole hour. Do not be afraid to ask for hints because it is well worth seeing this entire room. 

Ed was the best GM we have ever had. He was absolutely perfect and made the room even more fun with very subtle hints when needed, that were completely in keeping with the theme.

Potentially one of my top 5 rooms so far! Fully immersive from start to finish with amazing room designs and a large variety of puzzles that worked really well with the theming. Great for groups that like to 'divide and conquer'.  So much to do! We didn't have a single moment to stop and slow down, there was always something for all 4 of us to be doing. Good communication is key and don't overlook the obvious!

What a fabulous room. It incorporated so many different elements, puzzle types, and fun twists. Definitely a step up in difficulty from mutiny and outfitters but still manageable. One piece of technology was a little dodgy but with a little help from the excellent GM we got it sorted without losing any immersion. I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil it, but you won't regret this adventure!

Lovely rooms with a typical escape room feel. Fairly linear flow which didn't work well for our particular team as we like to solve multiple things at once. Nothing particularly outstanding here but still a fun room with lovely theming and great puzzles.

Big rooms, gorgeous theming, fairly easy for an experienced group, we took a leaderboard spot whilst trying to take our time and enjoy the scenery. Lovely flow through the whole room. Very hands-on with lots for everyone to do. Great fun, family-friendly and well worth a visit!

I completed this room with a group of colleagues who were a mix of first-timers, novices, and myself. There was a huge variety of puzzle types meaning there was something for everyone, and the sheer volume of puzzles meant that we were all constantly busy the whole time. However, the non-linear nature of the room meant that many people didn't get to even see some of the puzzles, which is a shame, and the chaotic nature of the room with everything being accessible at once made it lack a feeling of progression for me. The theming was spot on, however, the room was very dark. Some of the key symbols and information were near impossible to see due to how faded it was in such a dark room. Some tech also let the room down where it needed to be far too precise and done in a very particular way to make the technology work, resulting in a lot of immersion-breaking hints being sent to help us get it to work. 

Overall it was a fun room with a big variety of puzzles and nice theming, but in my opinion, it needs some TLC to make it run smoother.