The Grid Review | Enter the offices of evil startup Neosight and defeat their AI technology to help humanity from extinction. You will go through multiple rooms while you are there, posing as a volunteer to help them programme their machines. In fact you are fighting for a bigger cause! While you are in the Neosight’s office, please make sure no one knows that you are undercover. You may also meet people who are not members of The Grid. #ActNormal

Date Played: 1st June 2022
Time Taken: 1hr 45
Number of Players: 2 (+4)
Difficulty: Quite Easy

It’s safe to say we had absolutely no idea what to expect in The Grid. Part escape room, part immersive experience..? Actors, cocktails, wacky set design? But when my best friend came down for my birthday weekend, it was first on her list to book, and I jumped at the exciting opportunity. The Grid represents everything I love distilled into one 2 hour experience in London Southbank. We arrived at the mysterious Neosight building in London Southbank, donned a pair of wacky metallic jackets, and off we were into ‘the grid’ to save the world, and save ourselves along with it.

The first important thing to mention is that I would definitely class The Grid as an escape room. Perhaps a controversial opinion, since it’s also sort of not an escape room. But at any given time we were locked in rooms and were given escape room puzzles to escape. We were searching for things, using cool devices, moving around, squatting, running, jumping our way to success. It is an escape room in every traditional sense of the world, and so we’ll grade it accordingly.

Unlike an escape room, you’re allowed to take photos of absolutely anything you like. Also unlike normal escape rooms, The Grid is that they are non-exclusive bookings which is fairly uncommon in the UK. In the US it’s standard – and don’t get me wrong, I totally get the need to sell more tickets per session – it just took us by surprise. So keep that in mind when you book! Add in the theme of drinking, and you could potentially be put in with a rowdy bunch who have all just come from the pub. *long pause* Which is pretty much exactly the kind of group we were put in with, a team of 4 rounding off an evening birthday bar crawl. But hey, it takes all kind of people to solve the puzzles and save the world.

Meet AIDA, your AI Companion

The story of The Grid follows you, a team of test subjects attempting to take down the evil start-up Neosight who are hell bent on taking over the world. You’re undercover and at the mercy of an unhinged A.I. robot called AIDA. We weren’t supposed to draw her attention to the fact we were undercover agents, so we had to act normal. Very normal. Normal for us was slow dancing around, singing happy birthday and trying to solve one of the trickiest and fastest IQ tests.

That was until we accidentally ingested some highly deadly nanotechnology in the form of a glass of prosecco… Whoops! Suddenly it became a race against time to find, and in some cases create, each part of the antidote to save ourselves before the nanobots ate us alive from the inside. No pressure, hey.

After solving the first room’s worth of puzzles, we were off to a flying start, descending into the bowels of the building to join and undercover robot resistance, meet a cast of curious characters, and ultimately escape from the complex unhurt.

Team The Escape Roomer preparing to enter The Grid

The Grid: Escape Room Vs Immersive Experience

The Grid has two ‘escape room’ locations in it, two ‘sitting down’ portions, and one absolutely fantastic slide right in the middle which I might have definitely screamed rushing down it. It was potentially one of the most fun escape rooms you can possibly play. I mean, I love a cocktail and I love a slide.

But to be sure, it definitely falls on the ‘easy’ side. With teams expected to be drinking along the way, they trend towards getting easier and easier over the course of the experience. At the start, all of us were working together to search and find key things. Later, the game provided an opportunity to split up and tackle different puzzles at the same time, before coming back together for the big finale.

More important than the puzzles were the audience and actor (well, sometimes actors, sometimes AI) participation. We found ourselves singing, dancing, making silly drawings, and convincing the AI to help us out rather than outright solving puzzles. But those were a lot of fun. What The Grid lacks in difficulty, it makes up for with it’s quirky moments. We could tell that there was a group ahead of us, and a group behind us, only by the occasional scream. Whilst I’m sure the Games Masters were carefully staggering our time in each room to ensure that the experience flowed smoothly, you couldn’t tell. In short, each area was well-weighted for teams to complete at the same time. Too fast? And you’ll have to banter with the AI. Too slow? The AI will help you and hurry you up.

The Grid: A Sci-Fi Wonderland

My absolute favourite thing about The Grid was the set-design. Seriously, how cool can this be? Each room we encountered was a feast for the eyes (as well as the taste buds when we discovered a cocktail waiting for us). From a bleached white laboratory room complete with skeletons and sci-fi iPads, to a thrilling slide emerging into a secret underground lair, to a room that I can only describe as looking like we were inside a computer’s mainframe. The whole thing glowed in shades of green and blue, making for excellent photographs throughout.

The Verdict

We absolutely loved The Grid! It was truly something special, so conveniently located, brilliant fun and impressive sets to boot. It’s only slightly more expensive per person than your average London escape room, but this one has… Cocktails!

For sure, it’s not particularly difficult to solve. Escape room enthusiasts will not find themselves terribly challenged, but I think that’s not too much of a problem. I don’t think anybody is reasonably booking The Grid to have their brain wrung out. You’re going for fun, and in our booking slot, they absolutely nailed ‘fun’. I really appreciated how well the drinking tied into the storyline. In finding out that a new shot or drink was our antidote, I didn’t even blink twice before downing every liquid I discovered.

We would recommend this for escape room enthusiasts and immersive experience enthusiasts. It sits comfortably between the two genres and is something special in it’s own right. Since most escape rooms absolutely do not let you drink, The Grid is a different class of “escape room perfect for also playing as a stag or hen or birthday party”. I’m super glad to see the day that I can play an escape room as part of my pre-drink routine before going out for the night.

In terms of accessibility, there are some physical moments that definitely wouldn’t be suitable for anyone who had mobility issues. There were also several sequences of low lighting, and some mild ‘terror’ and ‘dread’ throughout. In terms of age rating, whilst you can opt for non-alcoholic versions, the event is strictly 18+. I’d also highly recommend trying to book out the whole slot with you and some friends rather than risk being put in with strangers – it’s always more fun drinking with friends, after all.

The Grid can be booked by heading to their website here.