Mindworks: Mission Berlin | Review

Enter the machine known as the ‘Time Lock’, and travel back in time to solve a mystery of spies and murder in Worthing’s first escape room, Mission: Berlin! ‘The year is 1989 in Berlin. A top MI6 operative has been murdered whilst following the trail of a double agent. Your mission: work as a team to find clues, crack the codes and uncover the double agent before they escape!” Time is running out, agents. The fate of Berlin depends on your mission success!

Date Played: January 2026
Time Taken: 23:40 (We beat the record!)
Number of Players: 4
Difficulty: Easy

After completing Smuggler’s Ruin, we moved onto Mission Berlin, which is Mindworks’ first ever escape room. I was intrigued to see how their oldest room held up, especially as we’d just had such a fantastic gamemaster and time in our previous game.

Back to the Eighties

The premise of Mission Berlin is that you travel back in time to 1989 Berlin to solve the murder of an MI6 operative and uncover a double agent. I have to admit, the brief was a little confusing. I just about put together that we were going back to the 1980s, but nothing in the room tied into this particularly well. The theming felt quite loose, and there wasn’t a huge amount of narrative driving us forward. It was one of those rooms where you’re solving puzzles in a vaguely themed space rather than feeling like you’re truly part of the story. I would have hoped for a few more nods to the 80s, or at least the representation of a wall.

That said, the puzzles themselves were well themed and mainly logic based, which I enjoyed. There was some variety to the puzzle types, which kept things interesting, and despite the room being quite small there were distinct spaces that made it feel like we were progressing through our mission. This is always a nice touch, as it gives you a sense of achievement as you move from area to area.

Undercover Operations

Overall, this escape room was very linear, which for a team of four meant we were on top of each other quite a bit. There wasn’t much opportunity to split up and work on different things simultaneously, so we ended up taking turns or watching each other solve puzzles rather than all being actively engaged at once. For a pair of two players, this would probably work much better, but with four of us it felt a little cramped, particularly as the puzzles required attention and therefore didn’t lend themselves well to being shared amongst a few players.

We actually beat the record for this room, which was quite surprising given it’s the oldest room at Mindworks and presumably has had countless teams through it over the years. We didn’t feel like we were rushing in particular, so I suspect the room might be a bit on the easier side for more experienced players.

Mission Incomplete

Unfortunately, the experience was let down somewhat by our gamemaster, who was pretty low energy and unexcited throughout. Even when revealing we’d got the record, there wasn’t much enthusiasm, which was a real shame. After the brilliant energy Fogg had brought to Smuggler’s Ruin, this felt like quite a comedown. A good gamemaster can really elevate an escape room experience, and equally, a lackluster one can make it feel a bit flat.

The room also didn’t have a big ending, which left things feeling a little anticlimactic. After all that work uncovering the double agent, something more exciting and satisfying to mark our success might have gone a long way.

Accessibility

This room is very cramped and would not be suitable for wheelchair users. There are requirements to kneel and reach low down for puzzles. There is also a puzzle requiring audio skills, so at least one teammate will need to be able to hear clearly.

Mission Berlin | The Verdict

Mission Berlin was OK, but nothing special. The puzzles were solid and well themed, and I appreciated the variety and the sense of progression through distinct spaces. However, the confusing theme, lack of narrative, linear nature, and low energy hosting made it feel a bit underwhelming. It was my least favourite of the day, even though we set the record, which I think says it all really.

I wouldn’t recommend this room unless you’re really trying to complete all of Mindworks’ offerings. There are better rooms to spend your time and money on, both at this venue and elsewhere. If you do end up booking it, I’d suggest going as a pair rather than a larger team to avoid the cramped feeling we experienced.

Mission Berlin can be booked in Worthing by heading to Mindworks’ website here.

Top image in this review is by Mindworks Worthing.