Hidden City – 007 Shadow of Spectre | Review

007 Shadow of Spectre Review: MI6 needs your help.  It is critical you follow 007’s trail.  Gather intelligence, navigate the city and solve clues in a bid to outsmart Spectre…

Number of Players: 3
Time Taken: 2-3 hours (including breaks)
Date Played: February 2024
Difficulty: Moderate

Let’s be honest.  Who hasn’t, at some point, walked the streets of London and imagined what it would be like to be an undercover operative? Tailing a suspect or making a dead drop, collar up, shades on, looking oh-so-discreet and inconspicuous?  If you’re here because you love playing escape rooms then there’s a pretty good chance you’ve played one with a spy theme.  So what could be better than being a spy in a hour long escape room?  Being a spy on a 3 to 4 hour mission set loose on the streets of old London town, that’s what.

I make no secret of the fact that I’m a huge fan of outdoor puzzle hunts (see my review of Will Breaker from Street Hunt) and any new options to solve puzzles while strolling round my lovely home city are welcomed with open arms, especially when they’re from one of the original, and best, companies, Hidden City.  Hidden City’s portfolio of puzzle hunts shrank during the pandemic to focus on their Moriarty’ Game, The Enchanted Mirror and Hunt for the Cheshire Cat games, so it’s brilliant to see them return with a new game, especially when it is, in all honesty, their best yet.

Mission Briefing

Shadow of Spectre works in the same way as most other puzzle hunts – once you’ve booked your slot, you’ll be sent instructions on how to start the game from your mobile phone.  You don’t need to download any apps or access any websites, everything that you’ll need to get started will be sent to you via text message or WhatsApp and throughout the hunt you’ll communicate your answers back through the same channels.  But this game does start a little differently to Hidden City’s other trails, in that once you’ve given someone the correct passphrase at the starting location in central London, you’ll be handed a ‘Top Secret’ file of papers.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it … ahem … apologies, wrong film franchise … is to pick up an investigation into the plans of evil Spectre from where the now critically ill James Bond left off.  From this point on Shadow of Spectre genuinely feels more immersive than a lot of other phone-based hunts on the market, as you are sent on a trail across London that will require you to infiltrate locations, search for clues, crack codes and liaise with operatives (remotely, not IRL) to gather information.

Clueing for Looks (wrong franchise, again)

There are the familiar Hidden City riddles that guide you to your destination, some more fiddly and obscure than others.  Once in the right spot you often have to search for clues in the surrounding area, but there are also some neat twists on that tried and tested formula.  This hunt, at several points, asks you to physically interact with objects around you – either permanent fixtures or secret stashes that Hidden City have squirrelled away for you to find.  Some little moments of discovery are genuinely delightful and there are some physical elements that I’ve not seen used in any other London puzzle hunt I’ve played so far.  This really isn’t just a game that has you staring at your phone screen all the time – there are props to engage with and clever use of some London trademarks that’ll probably make you as feel as close to a real secret agent as any of us are ever going to get.

Be prepared to get some leg work in on this hunt – you’ll be led across several miles of central London, including a few locations that even London natives might not have explored before – but there are a couple of breaks factored in which can be extended if you want to grab food and drink.  As ever with Hidden City the chosen spots to stop are fab – one is a traditional City pub (whose toasties went down a treat with my ravenous team mates), the other a more upmarket venue.  At these spots some puzzles do need to completed in situ using physical props that need to be returned, but once these are done you also have the option of moving on immediately or searching out a different location for drinks and supplies if the handpicked Hidden City locations don’t suit your tastes.

Puzzling Behaviour

Puzzle-wise, I’d say this is moderate rather than challenging, especially for escape room enthusiasts.  The directional riddles are fairly straightforward especially if you know the area the trail covers already (we figured out destinations well ahead of the clues a few times), but that’s fair enough when then this is intended to be fun for tourists, visitors and locals alike.  The inclusion of some physical interaction with locations and props definitely scratches the escape room itch that is so often missing from phone-based puzzle hunts, but ER fans and regulars should also temper expectations on the level of challenge here too.  That’s not to say they aren’t fun.  We had a blast breaking some codes, interacting with the paper and physical props and figuring out the riddles.  If you’re an ER addict or regular puzzler then these will be entertaining but not head-scratchingly hard.

TOP TIP – double and triple check your answers before you send them.  My phone auto-corrected an answer I’d put in without me noticing.  As a result we got the answer wrong and were given a time penalty.  Goddammit. Spying 101 failed.

The narrative is immersive and engaging from start to finish and throughout the game you’ll ‘connect’ with different characters from the Bond franchise who will feed you their own clues and version of events.  Not everyone can be believed and, in a unique twist on most phone puzzle hunts, at some point you will actively have to make a choice that will determine your ultimate fate.  Which is hella fun. Saying any more would spoil the joy of discovery but I can say this particular hunt ends with a challenge that I’ve never seen in any other puzzle trail and I salute Hidden City for making it work.

Field Agents’ Mission Report

This puzzle hunt goes straight to the number one spot on my list of London clue trail games.  I’ve played some recently that have promised much and been a disappointment so I was trying to keep my childish excitement and expectations tempered as we started this game.  I needn’t have worried though as Hidden City have pulled off a wonderful experience from start to finish – great narrative using iconic characters (although you honestly don’t need to be a Bond fan or know much about 007 to enjoy this, just appreciate a spy theme), a trail through some lovely parts of Central London which are fab to explore regardless of whether you’re a local or a visitor, fun interactions with London landmarks and iconic sights and, for me the best part of all, actual hands-on puzzles to find and engage with.

So as we head towards the warmer spring days with longer light evenings to enjoy, then I totally recommend putting on those shades, turning up your collar and hitting up Hidden City’s website to take on 007 Shadow of Spectre.  MI6 needs your help and it’s a whole lot of fun stepping into those spying shoes.

Hidden City’s 007 Shadow of Spectre costs from £20 per player at off peak times.  Teams of up to 6 players recommended. It can be booked by heading to their website here. We did not pay for our experience but it doesn’t affect our review.