June 2024
Escapologic- Nottingham
Butcher
Overview
To celebrate one of our team’s birthday, we decided to book a few days in the Escape room hotspot of the UK, Nottingham. With nearly 50 rooms to try, we thought it would be the best place to test ourselves with our milestone 50th room coming on this break. We chose Escapologic due to its diverse range of rooms and phenomenal reviews and the first to tick off was the newly revamped Butcher.
Upon entering the building there is a steep decline into a basement where we were warmly welcomed by our host Leon. There is a large reception area with benches to sit and wait, with merchandise, games and refreshments to purchase if you wish. Leon then took us to another building where we received our safety brief and he gave us the option of choosing our own safe word in case we needed it during the game!! This sat very uncomfortably for half of the team, who were expecting more gore than jumps in this room. It’s important to note that this room is most certainly a horror room, there is some elements of gore but I would definitely say it’s a more of a test of nerve game, you need nerves of steel for this room! More on that later.
Once the brief had been completed, Leon left us to it and shut us away. You will be placed into complete darkness at the start of the room and for a big chunk of the game, this continues. Again, if this does affect you, seriously consider if this room is for you. As the game itself evolved, it definitely reminded me of the old Saw film, dark, very creepy and unnerving. As you can imagine, there is not a lot of light throughout the game at all so again, if you struggle with your eyesight, this might not be for you. However, the decoration, lighting, background music and of course The Butcher himself lends to a seriously creepy environment that the second the door closed behind you at the start of the start, you are petrified. A huge credit to the team here for what they have accomplished.
There really aren’t that many puzzles in this game and for good reason. The majority of the game you will be doing your best not to scream or pass out with fear that if there were an abundance of games, I don’t think many teams will get out. Upon reflection this was the only downside for us, the puzzles itself but we escaped with 3 minutes to spare so really, any more would have caused us to fail. The lighting made it difficult for one or two of the puzzles but this is to be expected with the theme of the room. The main element is to stay away from the butcher himself when he comes to into the room to sniff out his pray, in complete darkness!!! This will play on your senses and cause you to loose your train of thought when working through a puzzle, but it’s a very cleaver element of the game.
If you need any help with a puzzle, we were told to wave our hands towards one of the cameras or shout for help, again this cleverly keeps you in theme of the game, waving for help and shouting. We only needed a nudge once and the lights flickered around the area we should have been focusing, a nice touch in giving us a hint. There is no clock in the game, for obvious reasons to think you’re trapped forever so we genuinely had no idea how long we were in there for, we absolutely felt as if we have failed time wise in this room when we did get out , it felt like an eternity being in there.
Round Up
This was the first ever horror room we had attempted and what a choice it was. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, half of the team absolutely loved it and the other half were scared stiff but upon reflection, we all agreed that it was a brilliant room. The design element of the room, the atmosphere and the acting of the Butcher himself really did lead this to being a very nervy experience indeed. If puzzles are your main thing then this might not be the room for you, but combining the puzzles that were there with everything else, makes this easily one of the best rooms we have done to date and it is going to take something very special in the horror category to top it.
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 56:56
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Escapologic- Nottingham
Immaterium
Overview
This was the second room out of 4 we had booked with Escapologic over the course of the day after just crapping our pants in Butcher. Upon entering the building there is a steep decline into a basement where we were warmly welcomed by our host Woody. There is a large reception area with benches to sit and wait, with merchandise, games and refreshments to purchase if you wish. Woody then took us around the corner where we received our safety brief. He asked us if we any of us were WarHammer fans, to which none of us are. However, this was not an issue as the game is only loosely based on the franchise.
Once the brief had been completed, we were placed into the first part of the game which as a team of 4 was probably just about the maximum size of team you would want in this game, especially in the beginning and the ending of the game. The design of the room was actually quite impressive. It did look a little tired and clunky in places but this did not ruin any aspect of the game. A lot of effort has gone into the design and puzzles of this room, there are a lot of elements that we have never seen before in previous rooms and we did get fully immersed into the task at end.
From what we can remember, there were no padlocks throughout the game, which is always a nice treat and actually quite rare now. The puzzles didn’t really click with me but the rest of the team really enjoyed this room and the different variance with the puzzles. The puzzles were ok, but the room will be remembered more for the design and immersion than the puzzles we think.
As with all the rooms in Escapologic, there is no clock to keep an eye on the time. There are no walkie talkies to ask for clues, instead in this room, there is a computer system that will guide you along the way as part of the game and will also give you hints and clues if required. All you had to do was shout out to the computed system for help and it would talk to you for assistance, a further clever part of the immersion of this room. We needed a couple of hints along the way, more to do with my frustration for not really understanding what was going on but the rest of the team, as previously mentioned, did enjoy this a lot.
Round Up
A lot of credit has to go to Escapologic for the sheer number of rooms they have created and how well they have done with them. This was probably the least favourite of the 4 rooms we did here but none the less, it was still a really enjoyable experience that completely immerses you as soon as the door is closed behind you. If you are a WarHammer fan, you must try this but it is still a very good room for anyone wanting to test themselves in quite a difficult room.
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 37:00
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Escapologic- Nottingham
Curio
Overview
This was the third room out of 4 we had booked with Escapologic over the course of the day after successfully completing Butcher and Immaterium. Upon entering the building there is a steep decline into a basement where we were warmly welcomed by our host Leon. There is a large reception area with benches to sit and wait, with merchandise, games and refreshments to purchase if you wish. Leon then took us across the road to another building where we received our safety brief. Leon then went on to ask us if any of us suffered from motion sickness. We were slightly puzzled with this statement and had absolutely no idea why this would be an issue in an escape room, however, none of us are and without ruining the reason why you might suffer from motion sickness, it is brilliant!!
Once the brief had been completed in the main room of the game, Leon locked the door behind us and we began. The design and set up of the room is incredible. It is based on an old fashioned type of study but the description doesn’t really do it justice. Ad the game progresses, the effort gone into the use of space is the best we have ever seen. After talking to Leon after the game, he explained what the area used to be and it does make complete sense after going through the game. It really is that special.
The puzzles were very linear in this room, making it probably just about right for the 4 of us. A bigger team might have struggled in here but 4 or less would be ideal. Also, if you are tall, you may have to watch your head throughout the game. The clever use of space along with the theme, really did make Curio one of the best rooms we have done, it sits comfortably in all of our top 5 rooms. Again, as in a few of their rooms in Escapologic, the lighting is a little dim so if you so struggle with your eyesight dim light, you might struggle as one of us did.
As with all the rooms in Escapologic, there is no clock to keep an eye on the time. If you needed a clue, you can ask the host for help and a hint will come over the speakers in the room. However, we completed this room clueless so we didn’t require any assistance.
Round Up
We hoped how special Curio would be and upon reflection, we wish had done another game first, to make this our 50th. However, it needed up being number 49 and what an experience it was. The hype of this room is most certainly warranted and it has left a lasting impression on all of us in being in our top 5 of rooms completed. If are visiting Nottingham to tackle one of the tens and tens of rooms on offer, you MUST include this in your bucket list.
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 44:36
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Escapologic- Nottingham
Violet
Overview
Our big 5-0 and our 4th and final room we had booked with Escapologic over the course of the day after successfully completing Butcher, Immaterium and Curio. Upon entering the building there is a steep decline into a basement where we were warmly welcomed by our host Willow. There is a large reception area with benches to sit and wait, with merchandise, games and refreshments to purchase if you wish. Willow then took us across the road to another building where we received our safety brief. A brief note, the beginning part of this game is in complete darkness whilst the story is being told to you over a speaker before your game starts. We don’t really know why it had to be done in complete darkness because once the story had ben told, it was only very dimly lit anyway, it could have carried on through.
From the first part of the game which set the creepy tone, it then opened up into so thing we have never experienced before. A number of areas opened up and it was the most non-linear room we have ever completed. It really did throw us off and in truth we didn’t feel like we got into a proper groove because of it. All 4 of us split up and only bumped into each other now and again and we just couldn’t get into a rhythm. This doesn’t mean to say it was a bad experience, the design and theme of the whole game was very good.
As mentioned above, the puzzles were not linear in anyway shape or form, everything is there for you to have a go at. As it progressed it did become slightly linear and again, clever use of the space and locking the door behind you in certain parts of the rooms, enabled further puzzles to open up. There was a lot of searching in this game and a few padlocks to tackle but there was quite a bit of solving to the game as well. If you are a bit jumpy, then be prepared for some scares throughout Violet. There isn’t much in the way of horror or gore but it certainly does take your breathe away now and again.
As with all the rooms in Escapologic, there is no clock to keep an eye on the time. If you needed a clue, you can ask the host for help and a hint will come over the speakers in the room. We did need help on one particular puzzle as it did have us completely stumped but we did through it ok and the rest was relatively straightforward for us.
Round Up
As our 50th room, Violet will be remembered for a number of reasons. Obviously because it was our big 5 0, but the room itself, the immersion, the puzzles and the creepiness were all brilliant. This is Escapologic’s newest room at the time of trying and they say it is a mid-range difficulty, however they are starting to say that teams are struggling to get to grips with it and the difficulty might be higher than first predicted. It is completely different from anything we have taken on before in terms of how open the room was was and the puzzles being available to us. It is certainly worthy of being part of the Escapologic range of games!
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 48:16
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Cave Escape- Nottingham
Carfax
Overview
No visit to Nottingham would be complete without visiting the famous Cave Escape. Having visited the equally fantastic Escapologic the previous day, we took on all 3 of Cave’s games in order of difficulty, or so we thought! The reception area is one of the best we have visited! Yes, it might only be a reception area but as soon as you walk in the front room, you are transported to an old library, filled with wonders and leather sofas. Becky was our host for the day and we had a nice long chat before we took on Carfax. Becky told us we were the only team booked in for the afternoon so the place was ours! After our safety brief we were escorted down into the cave system, yes that’s right, the caves!
What is completely unique about Cave Escape is their ability to create 3 incredibly immersive rooms within an underground cave system. You would think some of the technology would struggle to mix with the old stone walls of the caves but it all fits in incredibly well. You are led down quite a steep set of stairs to get to all 3 rooms but it is lit and there are handles for you to assist. Cafax itself is the search for Count Dracula whilst travelling the seas, the set is brilliant and we were quickly immersed in the task in hand. As the game progressed, the design was even more impressive with twists and turns everywhere.
The puzzles were pretty linear throughout. We flew through the beginning part of the game but really came unstuck in the middle part before descending into blind panic towards the end of the game thinking we were going to run out of time. There was a bit of searching to do in the game but a lot of logical thinking was needed for the large part. Luckily for me, there were some maths thrown in so I didn’t feel left out. The puzzles flowed nicely but we were definitely overcomplicating things in the middle part of our game. One of the first puzzles didn’t quite go to plan after we had completed it, however, Becky came across the speakers to let us know we had done it and remotely opened the next phase for us.
As with all the rooms in Cave’s, there is no clock to keep an eye on the time. If you needed a clue, you can ask the host for help and a hint will come over the speakers in the room. We did need help on one particular puzzle as it did have us completely stumped but we did through it ok and the rest was relatively straightforward for us.
Round Up
We had heard great things about Cave Escape and they did not disappoint. The location and setting itself in the underground cave system in Nottingham, is something quite extraordinary. The way they have managed to combine an escape room (or 3) into this type of environment and make them all very special, is a huge credit to the team at Cave. Carfax was a brilliantly clever room and probably the most difficult room in our opinion, although the owners say it is the easier of the 3. Please do visit Cave if in Nottingham, you will not regret it.
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 49:54
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Cave Escape- Nottingham
Project Iceman
Overview
Project Iceman was our second room of the day at Cave Escape. Having taken a quick 5 minute break from just completing Carfax, we ventured back into the underground caves to taken on the ‘mammoth task. The reception area in Cave is one of the best we have visited! Yes, it might only be a reception area but as soon as you walk in the front room, you are transported to an old library, filled with wonders and leather sofas. Becky was our host for the day she told us we were the only team booked in for the afternoon so the place was ours! After our safety brief we were escorted down the steps and into the caves. You are led down quite a steep set of stairs to get to all 3 rooms but it is lit and there are handles for you to assist.
As soon as we walked into the room, you could immediately see how much effort has been put in to make such a technological room work in a cave. It was truly mind-blowing! The owners have done a brilliant job in immersing you into an ice age world the second you walk through the door. You are led into a small entrance room where you can see the main room on the other side of the glass and you will be desperate to get stuck in.
The puzzles were pretty linear throughout. However, there were a few times where we split into pairs and cracked on with some different elements. There is an order of play here though that makes sense when you are working through them. A lot of thinking puzzles in this game, not too many padlocks and as well as working through the game to make your final decision, you are trying to collect as many weapons as you can before the time runs out, 4 in total. What’s really clever about this room is that you aren’t trying to escape, you are trying to get as much information as possible before the time runs out and you have a decision to make at the end. We managed to make the right decision and collect all 4 weapons before the time ran out so we were happy with our result.
As with all the rooms in Cave’s, there is no clock to keep an eye on the time. If you needed a clue, you can ask the host for help and a hint will come over the speakers in the room. A hint came over the speaker system for us at one point without us asking which showed that Becky was paying close attention to how we were getting on.
Round Up
Project Iceman is like nothing we have taken on before. The combination of being in an underground cave system, whilst actually not aiming to escape a room made it brilliantly different. All 4 of us in the team absolutely loved this room and is comfortably in our top 10 rooms. Iceman is very different from the other 2 rooms at Cave Escape and was probably our favourite room out of the 3 and being the middle of one of 3 in terms of difficulty. A stunning journey through the ice age!
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 53:36 and all 4 weapons collected
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Cave Escape- Nottingham
Monuments
Overview
Monuments was our third and final room of the day at Cave Escape having just completed Carfax and Project Iceman. The reception area in Cave is one of the best we have visited! Yes, it might only be a reception area but as soon as you walk in the front room, you are transported to an old library, filled with wonders and leather sofas. Becky was our host for the day she told us we were the only team booked in for the afternoon so the place was ours! After our safety brief we were escorted down the steps and into the caves. You are led down quite a steep set of stairs to get to all 3 rooms but it is lit and there are handles for you to assist.
Monuments is the biggest of all 3 rooms at Cave Escape and wow how amazing it is! You are briefed in the main room to save artwork from the army invasion and when you start searching the room, you quickly realise how great the game is going to be. We were briefed at the beginning of the game that at one point the group would have to be split up and those going forward will be in a dark small space for a while. This wasn’t a massive issue for us but a word of warning, it is dark and very small at the beginning of being separated but it wasn’t too bad after you get going.
As we broke up into pairs, we kind of naturally stayed that way throughout the rest of the game. There is a lot to do in Monuments and the puzzles were absolutely brilliant. The all fit the theme amazing well and there were a few linear moments to keep you on track but there was an awful lot of open parts to the game that kept us all busy. As a team of 4, we felt that 4 was a good number to tackle this room, 3 would have been a struggle we think. As you progress through the puzzles, more videos are played to keep you on track with the vintage projector and it all just ties in nicely with the theme of the game.
As with all the rooms in Cave’s, there is no clock to keep an eye on the time. If you needed a clue, you can ask the host for help by picking up an old vintage phone or if the host feels you are close then they can ring you. The phone rang for me at one point saying that I had completed an element of a puzzle and to focus on another aspect of where I was looking at. This was extremely appreciated, otherwise I would have wasted a considerable amount of time on that particular one.
Round Up
Monuments was quite simply brilliant. 3 out of the 4 of our team absolutely loved this room and very nearly got 5* for that reason. The sheer size of this game is something quite special, let alone the puzzles, the theme and atmosphere of feeling like you are in a bunker underground because of the natural caves. All 3 rooms at Cave Escape are fantastic and Monuments is right there with being one of the best in our back catalogue. Becky was brilliant with us all afternoon, answering any questions we had and even let us know of a sister company soon to open their doors to an incredible sounding experience just down the road. We can’t wait to come back!
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 52:39
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
June 2024
Escapism Plymouth
Accused
Overview
We have been teased a new room by Escapism for a little while and being one of favourites to visit, we made sure we booked in as soon as the 4 of us were free to do so. This was our first late night room, a 20:45 start! Perhaps a massive burger and chips before the room wasn’t the best of ideas to get our brains ticking for a late night room but none the less, we were all excited to return to Escapism to take on Accused. For those trying Escapism for the first time, there is a large reception and waiting area, with the option to buy refreshments and have bar stools and tables to sit and wait. We were given a brief safety talk before being taken to our room before receiving our brief outside of the door and then being led in to start.
The first thing to note about the room is that it is available to book for 2-6 players, however, as a team of 4 we would say that 4 would be the maximum team size to take on this room. It is the smallest of all the rooms at Escapism and whilst there was plenty to do in terms of puzzles, 5 or 6 players might be a bit of a squeeze. The lighting in the room is absolutely fine so no need to torches and those who struggle in darker rooms need not worry.
The puzzles definitely started off in a linear fashion but as the game progressed we were able to split up and complete a few different tasks without having to rely on others to do their bit, which we quite like. There are a few padlocks throughout the game but also some searching and word games to work through. We did struggle at one point, due to our complete lack of looking properly and credit to the host who asked on the tv screen if we wanted a nudge but we were very close and good for time. This made us determined to get through our sticky patch and escape clueless, which we did!
In terms of hosting and hints, there is a TV screen in the room which has a countdown timer on it for you to keep an eye on your progress. As we mentioned, our host was great in spotting we were stuck and didn’t automatically jump into giving us a clue and asked us first if we wanted to keep trying to solve the puzzle we were stuck on, this is actually quite rare and a credit to the host. He communicated with us through the TV and a noise came through the room to let us know that a message was on the screen for us to read.
Round Up
We absolutely love visiting all of the team at Escapism and seeing what Joe and Lauren have up their sleeve each time something new comes along. Accused is another great addition to an already impressive collection of games. We flowed through the puzzles quite nicely apart from one hiccup but with the difficulty rating being a 4 on their website, we would probably agree with that if you are new to escape rooms. We will continue to keep a close eye on Escapism and please do visit them if you are in the South West, you won’t regret it.
Team: 4 Players
Time Escaped: 42:39
Success/Failed: Success
Company Details:
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