Monthly Archives: August 2020

The Pegasus Project | Review

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A deadly corporate plan needs to be exposed, you and your team mates must work against the clock to save the world from losing control of their minds. Step into the midst of an undercover spy operation at the Spider Tech head offices where you discover a deadly virus due to be leaked to gain control of peoples minds around the world.

Rating: Adrenaline Filled!
Completion Time: 45 minutes
Date Played: 31st August 2020
Party Size: 2

Quick heads up! I haven’t labelled this review by company as it’s a game created and licensed by Cluetivity. Cluetivity are a B2B company who create super immersive games (like Operation Mindfall) and license them to different escape rooms around the UK. They don’t sell their games directly to consumers unfortunately! At the time of writing this review, consumers can find and purchase The Pegasus Project at: (in alphabetical order)

TW: The content of the game mentions suicide.

The Pegasus Project is a prequel to Operation Mindfall. If you’ve played it’s outdoor counterpart, running around with your briefcase and an iPad, then you’ll know the drill! Spies, an evil corporation, mind control, and YOU! A brilliant team of secret agents.

I have to say, I did get a little disproportionately excited when the video started playing with a bright “WELCOME TO W.I.S.E.” It’s everyone’s favourite neighbourhood super secret spy organisation, back at it again with a brand new game. But this time, it’s a game you can play entirely from the comfort of your own sofa. That’s appealing both to those still social distancing, isolating, and those who are lazy at heart (I think I fall into the latter category there.)

On the topic of this game being a prequel, I’d probably recommend any prospective players give this a go before taking on Operation Mindfall. Mainly, it’ll help you understand the world a little more and the characters within it. Not to say that Mindfall was hard to follow (far from it), but I just mean this game adds a level of richness I really enjoyed. In any case, whether you play one, or both, in either way round, you’re bound to have a good time like we did.

The story of The Pegasus Project goes: Three scientists working for Spider Tech corporation mysteriously die, so W.I.S.E. sends in their best man. But when he goes missing too and a mysterious video of him surfaces, it’s up to you and your team to go in, rescue the agent and expose the shady truth. I love it!

To play, you have to find access to the top secret spy login. Even this initial puzzle, introduced in the welcome email, is a refreshing surprise that has you wondering what exactly is real and what is part of the game. Once you’re in, you have access to everything you need – documents, videos, guides, security footage feeds, email logins, a hacking tool, and an antivirus serum mixer. The interface is easy to use and fun. Although we played around a table, it would work very well via a Zoom call.

The puzzles too are varied and impressive! It’s less an escape room and more an immersive, real life experience. You’ll find yourself studying security footage and rummaging through security files to find the information you need. Oh, and there are cats! Super enhanced cybernetic cats. Pretty cool, huh? The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, making it appropriate for any group of players you have, but it’s also dark and gritty enough to captive and excite.

In particular, we LOVED the puzzles that involved moving around the office. I won’t spoil anything, but there’s a lot of looking closely for clues and navigating around a Google Maps style series of interiors to try to piece together the sinister situation. It’s a bit different and very “play at home” friendly! It’s an experience you quite literally could only have at home, and I like that a lot.

Overall, good fun all round. I think I’ve played enough super spy organisation games that MI5 should be knocking on my door to recruit me any day now. Thanks again, Cluetivity!

The Pegasus Project can be purchased for approximately £15 from a number of suppliers:

Bluefish Games: The Curious Stairs of Mr. Hincks

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If The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks was a book, The Curious Stairs of Mr. Hincks would be its prequel novella.

Rating: Charming
Completion Time: 1 hour
Date Played: 28th August 2020
Party Size: 2

Bluefish Games … I think we can all agree they’re one of the most loved game making couples in the world! Which is why it it’s just so exciting when they make something new! Anna and Ace are back at it again with a wonderful prequel to The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks: The Curious Stairs of Mr. Hincks (shortened hereafter as The Curious Stairs). It’s a shorter sweet introduction to the world of Hincksyland – bright, colourful and absolutely charming.

The ‘story’ begins with you, the player, ascending a series of stairs. Just like The Curious Elevator, you must enter a password at each locked door in order to advance. As you go you’ll be solving curious films, interrogating pizza menus, playing with cards, and most excitingly – assembling brown boxes. Why we ascend the stairs, I’m not completely sure. To appease the wonderful overlord Mr Hincks? Perhaps. To prove we are the best and make it into the Hincks Hall of Fame? More likely.

In any case, as you’re not on a timer there’s really no pressure. Nor does the game take itself too seriously. It’s just good fun, all found. A little bit silly and there’s an equal mix of puzzles at all difficulty levels!

I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again: A lot of the charm of Bluefish Games’ is the quality of materials. Once again I was blown away by how brilliant everything looked and felt. It’s the kind of game you pack away really, really carefully (why yes maybe I have a special folder I put my very favourite escape games into! Doesn’t everyone?), and just such a joy to assemble all over again.

Completing this game actually took us a few sittings. I think I averaged out to 1hr complete time, but it’s definitely harder than The Curious Elevator. One of the main reasons for this is that the puzzles are not one straightforward puzzle – but a puzzle, within a puzzle, within a puzzle. You solve one part, to give you a clue to solve the second part, then the third. With a drink in hand on the Fridayest of Friday nights, we did take several breaks between each level. I think if you’re like us, that’s the best way to play. Snacks, drinks, and pauses to reset the brain cogs.

In particular, besides the assembling – we particularly enjoyed the video game level! It’s very hard to choose a favourite part of a play at home game that is so refreshing and unique in every way, but the video game one was something so different and surprising it was a joy to play (and also a frustration to get wrong several times before we did finally nail it!). Although, Player 2 says his favourite part of the game was the Movie Posters level – so there’s definitely something in this for everyone!

Overall, such an enjoyable and charming game I’d recommend to absolutely anyone and everyone. Give it a go yourself and I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

The Curious Stairs of Mr. Hincks can be purchased for $17 on Bluefish Game‘s website.

Platform

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Anything’s possible at Platform so expect the unexpected IRL. Platform is a next-level gaming bar and cultural space. Everyone’s welcome. Anything goes: battle zombie hordes, KO your CEO or spend date night dungeon crawling!

Rating: N/A
Completion Time: N/A
Date Played: 26th August 2020
Party Size: 2

NOT AN ESCAPE ROOM? WHAT?! Yes, yes, I know. This is NOT my regular content – I’m sorry! But you know those times where you just have a really, really good time and think “Wow okay, I want to support this place and shout about this from the rooftops?” well this was one of those times.

Platform is a self-branded “Social Gaming Experience”, or as you and I might better know it as, a video game cafe. With zones for multiplayer games, an eSports area, or a whole section of retro gaming filled with arcade classics, it’s probably the best venue of this genre I’ve ever seen. So slick, so bright, so colourful and a cocktail menu to die for.

I came here for an anniversary and never intended to even mention it here on The Escape Roomer, let alone blog about it. Which explains why the tone of voice and the quality of photos isn’t what I’d usually put out… But from start to finish Player 2 and I were made to feel super welcome. You’re seated at a private booth that feels very well cleaned and separated from your neighbours by perspex plastic. But never once breaking the retro, upbeat vibe of the whole place.

Unlike all my other reviews, I can’t talk about gameplay or puzzles or narrative, because this really is a “play at your own pace” venue. Sure, you could sit down and dig into a purely puzzle game and try and solve collaboratively with your team. But us? We played a lot of Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros … The perfect accompaniment to my “Red Head Redemption” cocktail.

As I say, lets keep this review short and sweet! The real thing I wanted to highlight was the customer service. We’d never been treated so well, nor enjoyed such a good laugh as we were at Platform. The perfect addition to an already perfect anniversary. Which again, is why I wanted to write this review to support them. Now I know it exists, you can bet I’ll be there every other week (I’ve gotta keep practising my Mario Kart skills), and if you’re ever passing by – you should too!

Platform is located at 2 Worship Street, London EC2A 2AH. Multiplayer booth hire starts at £8 pp and can be booked on their website.

Ready Escape Games: Escape the Vault

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Hidden inside Presuming Ed’s Coffee House, is one of Brighton’s oldest bank vaults. Break into the vault of world renowned arms dealer, Charles Fawkley.

Rating: Charming!
Completion Time: 30 minutes
Date Played: 22nd August 2020
Party Size: 4

Tucked away in a wonderful little cafe in the centre of Brighton, you’ll find one of the city’s oldest bank vaults. Breaking into it? Well I don’t mind if I do! Enter: Escape the Vault. Escape the Vault is an absolutely charming , built-with-love 40 minute escape room. Well … Is it an escape room? Your actual goal is to break INTO the vault, and escape with the codes to renown bad man Charles Fawkley’s bank account. Who doesn’t love a good baddy?

This experience is utterly brilliant from start to finish. The very moment you turn the corner and see the cafe that now sits on the spot Presuming Ed, you know you’re in for something exciting. It’s a quirky coffee house decked out from head to toe in paintings, refurbished arcade machines as tables, and serves some of the most delicious coffee I’ve drunk this year. There’s a VR Room upstairs, a bar at night, and food all day long. I think I … Love it? Most of my reviews don’t focus on the venue itself, but this one deserves an extra special mention!

On arrival, you’re off to the vault … A very quick briefing and you’re off! There’s no time to waste – after all this a ROBBERY! To help, you have a ‘man on the outside’: Terrence. He’s waiting outside in a getaway car and he’s going to be your eyes and ears for the operation. In a rather realistic fashion, this is your clue system – stuck, and you text Terrence. The best part? It’s completely automated. Terrence is a (rather clever) automated bot that will interact with you and even send you videos throughout the experience to add to the immersivity.

You, the bank robbers, get to wear very cool bandannas throughout your heist … I mean, you wouldn’t want your face caught on camera, would you? Pre-lockdown, teams would be encouraged to wear balaclavas (there’s a few very cool looking photos on the walls of other teams in those!); post-lockdown, in an effort to be as safe as possible, single use bandannas are given instead. Latex gloves are also required but again – I love it! There’s no chance of leaving a fingerprint behind oh and it makes you, the player, feel very comfortable in the room.

In terms of gameplay, this one is a mix of being linear and non-linear. The biggest difference between this escape room and others is the initial part of needing to ‘break in’. I’ll embarrassingly admit we had a VERY late start due to failing at the first hurdle of even breaking into the vault. But once we finally cracked it, the rest of the game just flew by.

The room itself is heavy on locks – whether number locks or ones with a key, they’ve all got very ingenious ways of finding those numbers. It makes a lot of sense for a bank heist and fits in wonderfully with the setting!

Finally, I wanted to round off this room by talking about the company more. Not only was it honestly just such a fun experience, it’s also vastly the cheapest escape room on the market I’ve experienced. Whats more, £1 from your ticket price goes towards a charity of your choice which is very important. For that reason I’m putting this escape room up there in my favourites list. Yep that’s right, it’s a 5 star from me because some experiences deserve to be shouted about from the highest rooftops!

If you’re a fan of Escape the Vault, there’s also some good news around the corner. The brilliant team behind Escape the Vault have a brand new game coming very soon which we were lucky enough to get a sneak preview of! I won’t spoil the theme, or even the name of it just yet (you’ll have to go subscribe to Escape the Vault’s newsletter!), but just know we CANNOT WAIT!

Escape the Vault is located in Brighton, UK and can be played for £12.50 per person by booking on the Escape the Vault website.

Bewilder Box / Eltham Escape Rooms: The B.R.U.C.E. Project Part 1

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Pilot an experimental robot through 60 minutes of mind boggling challenges designed by the award winning team behind Eltham Escape Rooms and Bewilder Box Drag, drop, solve and sleuth your way through each interactive puzzle, with every action synced across your team.

Rating: Unique
Completion Time: 56 minutes 18 seconds
Date Played: 30th July 2020
Party Size: 4
Recommended For: A small team wanting to collaborate together on the same screen

If I had a penny for every time someone told me I HAD to play The B.R.U.C.E. Project by Bewilder Box I’d be… Well… A bit better off than I am now. Point being, this game felt like a long awaited rite of passage I needed to play.

Having finished it I can now say that no, it’s not my favourite play at home game every but I completely understand why everyone enjoys this so much. It’s really UNIQUE and cracks a lot of problems of collaboration that other escape games still struggle with. So, a big round of applause for Bewilder Box and Eltham Escape Room’s ingenuity!

The story goes, you and your team of players take control of a little 8-bit robot as he travels around the mysterious Sector X. A professor has been killed and by solving a series of puzzles you, the intrepid players, get to find out what happened.

Or that’s the idea anyway. I have to admit, inbetween all the loud airhorn sounds we’re allowed to press *pew pew pewww*, robot jokes, and enthusiastic commentary from my team, I lost track of the story a bit. I have absolutely no idea what did happen to the professor in the end… But that’s okay! I don’t think this game’s is really meant to be about the narrative. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter why you’re there and what you’re doing. It’s just for fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. *pew pew*

In terms of gameplay and puzzles, The B.R.U.C.E. Project replicates a lot of real life escape room puzzles you’d expect to play in a room, but does so in a digital format. For example, there’s one where you have to line up different length keys into different depth holes. There’s also quite a few where you have to cross-reference visual data (note – we got around a lot of these by taking quickly photographs and screenshots of bits and bobs we could come back to later).

These all work very well, you can see what all other players are doing up on the screen and of course everyone has their own icon and mouse to control and. Just like in a real escape room, you have to work together and really think about what you’re doing and why. No button mashing here… Or maybe just a little.

For that reason, I think the creators of this game have really thought hard about the genre of escape rooms and what that might look in a digital format. Needless to say, I think they nailed it! I’m very, very excited to see where this technology goes in the future and what digital/play at home escape rooms will look like soon. It’s an exciting time to be in lockdown.

The B.R.U.C.E. Project can be purchased for £15 on Bewilder Box’s website.

Questventure: Cocktails, Spies & Murder | Review

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The Department of Secret Services require your assistance on a top secret operation that will entail high level espionage, an undercover mole and a killer cocktail.

Rating: Epic!
Completion Time: 35 minutes
Date Played: 17th August 2020
Party Size: 2

So in my ‘real life’ (sounds funny to say it huh?) when I’m not playing escape rooms, I’m a murder mystery game writer. Not just that, but an ex-mixologist with a big thing about cocktail design. Oh, and did I mention I’m slightly obsessed with spy novels and places like Bletchley Park? You can see where I’m going with this … Cocktails, Spies and Murder MUST be a conspiracy to design the perfect game for me? And, you know what? They pretty much nailed it.

First and foremost I have to talk about the design of Cocktails, Spies & Murder. It’s in a league of it’s own in terms of slickness and usability. Its also just a really unique experience unlike any other play at home game I’ve played. You start with an online portal and a brief dossier of information. Who you are, why you’re here, and who the compromised secret agents are. You then download a cocktail menu (it’s relevant! In fact, the whole reason you’re here!), and enter your online portal. As the screenshot above indicates, you work your way around the venue picking up clues as you go and looking for evidence.

The creativity doesn’t stop there. There’s a Main Mission, and a Side Mission. Well, technically to complete the game you still have to play both missions. But you can choose which order you play it in and they both enrich the larger story! Like cheese on toast. The story goes, a secret agent mysteriously shows up dead in the ‘Escape & Tonic’ bar. They’ve been poisoned by a specific cocktail … It’s up to you to figure out which one on the menu. Or, take on the side mission – it’s time to track down the rogue, killer agent.

Beyond this, the game play is actually fairly simple. Daunting at first, as you work through it you realise the instructions are quite clear. Find ingredients, then find 7 numbers. Simple enough! There’s a mix of puzzles I’ve seen before, and puzzles I’ve never encountered, which always sparks joy! At this point in lockdown, I can practically read morse code and binary without looking it up. But using 3D goggles you can move around the screen? Now THATS cool. Hidden maths puzzles in a map of the UK? Very creative! I love anything that’s more than a little interactive and more complex than a cipher. Cocktails, Spies and Murder had a little it of everything.

One thing I should mention is that I did manage to accidentally solve the Main Quest too soon. I won’t explain specifically how I did it, because once you see it you could easily accidentally solve it too – and I’m not in the business of spoiling a game for anyone! But, it might have helped us score particularly well on the leaderboards.

All in all, Cocktails, Spies and Murder lives up to the hype. It was a well rounded game with outstanding graphics. A fun way to spend an evening with a drink or two.

Cocktails, Spies & Murder can be purchased for £9.99 on Questventure’s website. At the time of writing they are running a promotion with Letterbox Cocktails.

Russ Builds: Endgame

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Step back in time to 1991, the Cold War is coming to a close and peace spreads across Europe … But will a deadly plot bring about World War Three, or will you be able to stop the missile launch in time?

Rating: Charming
Completion Time: 55 minutes
Date Played: 14th August 2020
Party Size: 2

How to talk about Endgame? It was … So much fun! I should probably admit that this is actually the first escape room in the “remote” category I’ve played. I’m a little awkward on camera and I’ve never managed to get either of my escape room teams together at the same time to play one of these. But, we were pleasantly surprised! The concept is simple, you take control of an avatar who performs the actions for you. I’m sold.

Furthermore, this setup fit perfectly with the theme. Cold War, spies, stopping a missile launch. There’s absolutely no reason this experience WOULDN’T happen this way, sitting in a war room in our little flat in London, trying to disable a detonation before it causes World War Three. I believe it!

It’s also just really creative and obviously built with love! Endgame is the second ‘built at home’ escape room designer Russell Tolley has created. Russ introduced himself to me as an amateur, but honestly having played the game it’s easily better than a lot of ‘professional’ escape rooms out there. Amateur or not, this room (and the designer) is worth investing your time and energy into!

In particular, there’s one piece of tech in Endgame I found very impressive! I don’t wish to spoil the puzzle at all, so lets just say it involves chess and a hidden mechanism.

In terms of gameplay, you join a Zoom call and the scene is set. Before you on the table are three contraptions, there’s a chess board, a locked briefcase, and a large red button (locked, of course!). The game progresses through a series of padlocks. There’s number locks, word locks, those twisty dial locks (which in the moment, I completely forgot how to use!). The only type of lock that isn’t in this game are ones involving keys, which makes sense! To help you out, you have access to a dossier of information. Think maps, old newspaper clippings, coded messages, and more … Very Cold War!

If this sounds up your street, playing Endgame is completely free! Donations are absolutely encouraged though (http://paypal.me/rtolley86), with all the money going towards supporting escape room #3 which is in the works. At the time of writing, to book you need to get in contact with Russ directly (email and link below).

Endgame can be booked by email (russellwtolley@gmail.com) or by contacting Russ on Instagram @russbuilds

AIM Escape: Operation Mindfall

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We are W.I.S.E.: an independent, international intelligence organization, operating at the highest level of secrecy to protect the world from danger. Our sources report that the secret research company, Spider Technologies, has developed a virus for mind control and has already infected 20% of the world population.

Rating: Exhilarating
Completion Time: 2hrs 10 minutes
Date Played: 11th August 2020
Party Size: 4

Operation Mindfall is without a doubt in my mind one of the most creative and high-tech outdoor games on the market. I’m just so impressed by the tech! AIM Escape’s version in particular takes you through some of the most beautiful parts of London but through the eyes of the super secret spy organisation W.I.S.E. It’s perfect for tourists and locals alike!

If you’ve read my earlier review of Curse of the Covent Garden, you’ve probably heard this before … But I believe outdoor, walking treasure trails are the best antidote to this post-lockdown era in the UK. Escape rooms are beginning to open up, yes, but if you’re not quite yet comfortable heading into a locked room, I can’t recommend one of these enough. Enjoy fiendishly brilliant puzzles, search for clues, and learn more about your city, at your own pace in a comparatively safe environment.

Operation Mindfall is completely open air. You never once need to enter a building (unless of course you’re like me and want to grab a cheeky coffee along the route – hey! Super spies need caffeine too!) and you can go at your own pace however your personal comfort level allows. In fact, even your briefing takes place in an open environment at a safe distance which is a nice touch. We had our briefing in the shadow of the Monument to the Great Fire of London by a super secret (and friendly!) agent wearing red sunglasses. The briefcase too was clean and sanitised, so all in all a very low contact way of getting your escape room fix!

In terms of gameplay, Operation Mindfall places you (a team of super secret spies from the W.I.S.E. agency) against an evil corporation called Spider Tech intent on a programme of nefarious mind control. You must journey to locations undetected, find hidden data stores, unlock safes and interact with your surroundings.

At most stages, you must input a password. The password can often be found in your surroundings, or by using something in your W.I.S.E. backpack. Towards the end, as you collect enough intel, you must create (and mix) an antidote and put it into the groundwater. An act I should mention that looks more than a little dodgy in Central London, but we styled it out with our spy ways! Definitely got a couple of funny looks as we ran around clutching test tubes – but it was all good fun!

One of my favourite puzzles involved logging into Facebook and interacting with a mysterious local company that from the outset seems like nothing, but actually is an elaborate infiltration into a Spider Tech. This gave us players so much joy – unexpected and exciting! It added so much depth and gravitas to this world AIM Escape has created, and I love it!

The basic game (and tech) behind Operation Mindfall is developed by another company called Cluetivity and is available in … Well, most cities in the UK I believe! AIM Escape really outdid themselves with their version in a very creative and in-touch-with-the-city way. The puzzles were BRILLIANT!

If you choose to play Operation Mindfall in another part of the UK, you’ll find the plot the same but many of the puzzles not – meaning it is (to an extent) also replayable! I absolutely have to congratulate AIM Escape for their version of the game and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone. In fact – I’m already looking at dates to come back and play their other two outdoor games The Magic Portal and Einstein.

Operation Mindfall can be booked for £20 pp on AIM Escape’s website.

Enigma Quests: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry | Review

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Enigma Quests: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Review | Ever wanted to have magical abilities? You now have a chance to graduate from the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and prove everyone that you are a true witch or wizard!

Rating: Magical
Completion Time: 50 minutes
Date Played: 5th August 2020
Party Size: 4

Our first real life, physical escape room since lockdown happened and it was … Magical! It played like a dream for the discerning Harry Potter fan out there. In School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, your goal is not to escape. Far from it – you, a student at the Wizarding School, must work within the time limit to pass 5 exams. History of Magic, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Runes. After all, why would I want to escape from Hogwa- I mean, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

What starts fairly non-linear quickly becomes more and more linear as you complete various tasks relating each subject. There are 3 distinct rooms in this game, hidden in clever ways. There’s more than enough in there for different groups to be puzzling out different things at the same time. Whilst one pair is translating, the other might be solving a complex riddle, the others working on a puzzle involving rare and mythical creatures. I value this a lot in an escape room and am a fan of the non-linear, so this game proved to be the perfect balance.

What really stood out about the game were the special affects. Not a single lock – instead you navigate the puzzles by waving a wand, filling up a cauldron and coming face to face with an enormous and fearsome creature. There’s a bubbling smoke effect at one point, immersive sound effects and very cool hidden bricks and pressure plates in the walls. Locks would certainly have broken immersion, but more than anything they don’t fit into the narrative. You’re not trying to escape, you’re trying to complete the magical tasks.

In particular, as a bit of a potions boffin I LOVED the potions puzzle the most, if you couldn’t already tell from my mentioning it a lot in this review. Anything with a wand too, sign me up. I’m still waiting for my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, pretty sure it’s just lost in the owl post … So this escape room was about as close as I can get to being an actual witch.

Overall, as an escape room it’s really strong! I recall when it first opened the waiting times to get a booking were around 3+ months. In this case, my team got very lucky securing a booking in the first few days after they reopened from lockdown.

Yes, the post-lockdown world of escape rooms is really, really different. It was a bit of a culture shock, but not an unexpected one. It’s impossible to deny that escape rooms are really intimate spaces. Whether you’re playing with just your household, your social bubble, or friends you haven’t seen in a while – you do have to get up close and personal. You’ll all be touching the same things and sharing the same air space.

But from what I’ve seen Enigma Quests (and other escape rooms we’re looking forward to playing later in the month), the companies are making it as safe as possible to return to. With compulsory masks (some places are making gloves compulsory too!), regular cleaning, a 1 in 1 out policy with teams so the waiting areas aren’t crowded, and of course hand sanitiser a plenty.

School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is £30 per person and can be booked directly on the Enigma Quests website.

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Unlock!: The Nautilus’ Traps

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The Nautilus Traps brings you to the bottom of the sea. When a sea monster attacks your submarine at the outset of the adventure, its up to you to make your way through the depths and back to the surface if you’re going to escape before your oxygen runs out.

Rating: Tricky!
Completion Time: 80 minutes
Date Played: 27th July 2020
Party Size: 2

Oof … This one is TRICKY! After our previous success with The Island of Doctor Goorse we felt unstoppable. Well, we were wrong. The Nautilus’ Traps absolutely stopped us! But was it fun? Yes! I love and admire the creativity of the whole Unlock! series. What’s not to love in a portable, fast paced and high quality series of games?

The Nautilus’ Trap is a classic “escape before the air runs out” game that places you, the player, in a mysterious Nautilus wreck at the bottom of the ocean. As you go along, there’s opportunities for you to pick up more air as you progress through the game. Personally, I love this theme! Along with sci-fi and 80s escape games, anything involving giant octopuses or secret steampunk submarines is very exciting in my book.

In terms of puzzles, this game in particular uses a lot of 4 digit codes compared to other games in the series. As one of the mechanics to progress, players have the option to combine objects, activate machines, or input codes. I counted around 6 codes, compared to 1 set of objects to combine. To find these codes you have to line things up, search for hidden numbers, and play spooky underwater pianos. It’s straightforward and you know what you’re looking for, even if the puzzles are on the harder side.

Speaking of difficulty, we used a whopping 16 hints! Oops! Of those hints, 2 of the puzzles we still couldn’t figure out, so had to pause to watch the Playing Board Games Youtube walkthrough. I’ve decided to helpfully link that tutorial here as well, just in case you also find yourself stuck. In short, I can safely say that if I ever found myself trapped at the bottom of the ocean running out of air … Well, I’d be stuck down there forever. *shudders*

Super fun theme, super tricky puzzles – a great experience for seasoned experts! Good luck 😉

The Nautilus’ Trap can be purchased for approximately £15 on Amazon, or local retailers.