EscapedBear


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Played: 29 Jun 2025 Team size: 3 Time taken: 40:21 Outcome: Successful escape!

I'll preface this by saying that earlier in the weekend we'd played 2 really good rooms (at RADA and Escape Plan) so maybe the bar was set quite high by the time we played at Escape London. 

The build quality of the room was pretty high; it's quite clear that a good amount of time and energy has been lavished on the construction and dressing of the room. It looked great. 

The puzzles, though, I found (similar to the other room at this venue) to be glorified taks lists with instructions either written on the wall or given audibly. Personally I find that the a really good puzzle is one that requires a minimum of explicit instruction; it has enough signposting to get you on the right track and then an intuitive design that helps guide you through the steps to the solve. That's when I feel like I've achieved something and the fun kicks in. 

I didn't get that with this room and when the GM asked the predictable "so, what was your favourite puzzle?" question at the end, it was a real struggle to come up with an answer! 

Played: 29 Jun 2025 Team size: 3 Time taken: 50:22 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken tech

First the good part... It's clear that a goodly amount of care and attention has gone into the build and props; they're a cut above many other rooms.

However... It's a shame that the quality of the puzzles doesn't match. There's way too much emphasis on either written or audio instructions, basically meaning that it feels more like you're undertaking a list of tasks rather than solving a puzzle that intuitively leads you through a sequence of steps to a conclusion. I didn't get any of the dopamine "ah hah" moments when you feel pleased with yourself for achieving a satisfying solve.

In addition we had a door not open when it was triggered meaning that we wasted time hunting for something we'd missed when in fact we hadn't and one of the puzzles we seemed to need to repeat the solve sequence 4 or 5 times before it was accepted... We thought we did the same thing each time (the only logical answer we could come up with) , so no idea why it wasn't accepted the first number of times, but all in all it was quite frustrating. 

Teammates:jakea256
Played: 29 Jun 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: 35 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 29 Jun 2025 Team size: 3 Time taken: 55:28 Outcome: Successful escape!
funnyimmersivegreat hosting
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 15 Jun 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: Approx 50m Outcome: Successful escape!
originalfamily friendlyepicquite easy
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 15 Jun 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: Approx 50m Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivestory-driven
Played: 28 Jun 2025 Team size: 4 Time taken: 33.06 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulvalue for moneyhi-tech

Really fun room, very atmospheric with great quality build, visual and audio effects. Split start with some really nicely thought out and satisfying puzzles and great use of the space, particularly towards the end. Fab hosting from the team with a back-stage show & tell after we finished.  More, please! 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 11 May 2025 Team size: 3 Time taken: 40.05 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulhi-techimmersivequite easy

Outstandingly themed room, incredible attention and skill have gone into the room build and props. Nice story and the in-room "assistant" helps build the immersion. Nothing too taxing in the puzzles, but some lovely nods to cyberpunk/SciFi popular culture. Great hosting from Kay 🙏. Really recommend and looking forward to seeing the second room from this team! 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 26 Apr 2025 Team size: 10 Time taken: 1h30 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techimmersivevery easy
Played: 14 Apr 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: 41:33 Outcome: Successful escape!
😨creepy

Nicely designed & realised room, with good use of the space & a good variety of puzzles with a good balance between searching & solving.  Great hosting from the friendly team at Hourglass, thank you!

(... and if you escape, you get a badge!  Who doesn't love a badge?!)

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 14 Apr 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: 68:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hostingquite difficult😨creepy

We played this straight after part 1, which acted as a nice warm-up.  Really enjoyed the split start, which was fun but didn't outstay its welcome.  Room design is really good, with some quite challenging puzzles (more so that part 1), but none that were illogical or frustrating.  For us, as a pair who've done a fair number of rooms but frequently either miss the things that are right in front of our faces, it was just the right level of difficulty to have a sense of achievement without feeling spoon-fed.

I felt this was an improvement over part 1 so if you're forced to choose, part 2 gets my recommendation.  Excellent hosting from the friendly Hourglass team, thanks for a great afternoon!

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 1 Feb 2025 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hosting
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 1 Feb 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: 57.33 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 29 Jan 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: 55.27
funnyclevergreat hosting
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 28 Jan 2025 Team size: 2 Time taken: 52.17 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hostingmagical
Played: 9 Dec 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: N/A Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverintensequite difficult
Played: 9 Dec 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 32.33 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 9 Dec 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 40:47 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 9 Dec 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 30:49 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 25 Oct 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: Unknown! Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 23 Oct 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 46.02 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive😨creepy

Great theming, a nice backstory and some solid and satisfying puzzles made this a really fun experience. Looking forward to their new room! 

Played: 22 Oct 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 61.33 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 30 Sep 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 54:45 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulhi-techimmersive

This game was "Wow" from the moment the door opened. Incredible set(s) and sound made for the most immersive room I've played so far. It was really good fun and the couple of physical elements were quite manageable for us.  Great variety in the puzzles (always happy when I'm not spending all my time working out 3 or 4 digit codes) though if I'm being ultra harsh, probably a little on the easy side. Sad that the site is being closed down and such an amazing game is leaving the UK! 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 30 Sep 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 54:56 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techimmersivestory-driven
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 25 Sep 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 59:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersive😨creepy

Very theatrical start to this room and a pretty amazing level of skill and attention to detail in the build and presentation. Loved a couple of the puzzles, but felt that the signposting could have been better for one of the later puzzles (maybe something slightly lost in translation). Hosting was fine and one of the room designers was around and happy to have a chat about his and other rooms afterwards. For me, it was a 4.5/5 for theatre, design and ambiance and 3.5/5 for the puzzles. 

Time is estimated as they don't use a wall clock! 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Sep 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 56:16 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-tech
Played: 8 Sep 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 42 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 3 Sep 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 56:44 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techcleverquite difficult

Only one padlock? Yes! Great room, some imaginative puzzles and quite tricky in places. Nice use of tech, good theming and superb hosting. Recommended! 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 25 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 29.56 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 42.36 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive

Excellent theming made this room feel quite nostalgic (for those who remember trips to Blockbuster)! Good, fun room, but for me, none of the puzzles particularly stood out meaning that the room was leaning heavily on the theming to make it an enjoyable experience. 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 49.10 Outcome: Successful escape!
cleverintensequite difficult

Enjoyed the variety of puzzles in this room, though the format and scope made it quite intense for us. Quite challenging in places but nothing illogical, so definitely made us feel like we earned our escape! 

Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 20.53 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulquite easy

Very nicely themed room with a variety of puzzles & good flow. 

Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 35.50 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:jakea256
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 38.32 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivestory-driven
Teammates:jakea256
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 41.10 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 28.45 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 35.00 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken tech

Good start to this room, but there was some broken tech which meant that the GM ended up coming into the room twice, which broke any kind of immersion. Happy to have played for the price we paid, but better options are within a relatively short distance. 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 29.30 Outcome: Successful escape!
illogicalbroken tech

One of the puzzles in this room was broken, but the GM didn't warn us, meaning that we had to work it out for ourselves. I found the puzzles in this room felt disconnected, meaning that it didn't really feel like a story or "flow", just solving a number of random, disconnected challenges. 

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 24 Aug 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 23 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 11 Aug 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 50.59 Outcome: Successful escape!

Plenty in this room to keep us all busy and a nice variety of different puzzle types. Got hung up on one of the puzzles due to us interpreting the material we had as pointing to a far more complicated puzzle than it actually was!

Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 18 Jul 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 54.12 Outcome: Successful escape!
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 18 Jul 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 47.31
Played: 9 Aug 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 22.12 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techclever
Played: 9 Aug 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 29.26 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 9 Aug 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 23.49 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 9 Aug 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 31.44 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-tech
Played: 9 Aug 2024 Team size: 4 Time taken: 34.48 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive😨creepy
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 3 Aug 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 65 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendlyquite easy
Teammates:Annagramma
Played: 9 Jun 2024 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulquite easy
Played: 6 Jan 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 31.38 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-tech
Dark room start without enough torches for the whole team meant that this was a rocky beginning to the room for me. Got better in terms of puzzle and experience, but first impressions matter and I probably didn't enjoy the rest of the room as much as I might have. 
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