Escape from the Room: Enigma Express | Review

Enigma Express Review | It’s 1941 and the Enigma Express is travelling from Dover to London. In what would seem to be an otherwise ordinary train journey, you notice that an inconspicuous old lady travelling alone has mysteriously disappeared between stops. To make the situation more curious, she has left her handbag behind in the carriage, beside it a strange encrypted note. Can you get to the truth before the train gets to its destination?

Date Played: February 2025
Time Taken: ~40 minutes
Number of Players: 2
Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Recently I found myself with a few hours to kill in High Wycombe, so naturally I went hunting for Escape Rooms. I was happily surprised to see the “Escape from the room” company had a High Wycombe branch, as two of their rooms have been on my wishlist for a while! 

I booked their “Enigma Express” to do with my mum after completing “Chamber of Champions” , as I was intrigued by the theming (a 1940s era train carriage), and the ability to eat and drink while playing.

We actually completed two versions of this room – “The Lady Vanishes” first, followed by “A curious contraption”, so I will be talking about both in this review!

All aboard the Enigma Express

You notice the Enigma Express as soon as you walk into Escape from the Room as they have decorated two booths in the waiting room to 1940s themed train carriages. I think this is a great use of space, as well as offering something intriguing to those in the waiting room. I also loved the level of detail that went into this – they actually have screens set up on the wall which play a recording of a real view from the window of a train, which added to the immersion.

Once we were seated our conductor offered us a choice of refreshments, which we gladly took, before passing us a mysterious handback (or briefcase) and explaining our mission. For TLV, we had to figure out the mysterious note left by the lady, and figure out why she had left, while for CC we needed to find the contraption in question.

Time to Rummage

I quite enjoy this style of tabletop game, which requires you to rummage through belongings to put together the story. Each of the games had a slightly different mechanic, with TLV focused on deciphering a message, and CC focused almost on the opposite (without giving too much away). There were a range of puzzles to solve for each, with slightly different mechanics. I enjoyed the use of the surroundings for both, and the way the puzzles were once more non-linear. 

We found TLV much easier than CC, as we cracked many of the before we were given the keys almost, but this didn’t make it any less enjoyable. For CC I enjoyed the slightly more involved aspect of solving each – requiring you to solve a puzzle, then use what you found to then transform it into something else, all of which came together in a final metapuzzle. 

Tickets Please

These were quite simple, tabletop based games, so there isn’t a huge amount else to say. There were a couple of things I didn’t like so much – being in the waiting room was a little distracting at times, and you could easily have the games spoiled for you if you happened to be waiting to play a different room beforehand. It was also very obvious that we didn’t have the GMs full attention – to ask for help (or to complete the game) you had to pick up a phone to call the GM. However, for our second game we didn’t receive a response, and realised it was because they were currently briefing, and monitoring, a group of schoolgirls who were in one of the rooms. While we weren’t relying on help, and don’t care about necessary being on record boards, it was just a little bit of frustration for us.

Enigma Express: The Verdict

I think these games were fun, with a reasonable amount to do, but definitely better suited to those who enjoy word games. These suited us as a two, but I imagine any more would start to add miscommunications and perhaps boredom. I also don’t know if it was worth the price tag, given the speed we completed them in, the location and the general lack of support. I wouldn’t journey here just to do these games, but if you happen to be booking other rooms I don’t think there’s any harm in doing these over lunch!

If you’re interested in playing Enigma Express at Escape from the Room you can find out more about this room and book online here.