The Panic Room: Old Father Time | Review

Old Father Time Review | It’s New Year’s Eve and Old Father Time – The master of the most powerful force of nature – has gone missing! Without him, the clocks won’t reset at midnight and the sands of time will run out – permanently!

The effects have already started – the forest creatures have started turning to stone, and in 60 minutes, the waves of time will cease to ripple and the rest of the world will follow suit! Start a new chapter and work together to explore a beautiful tree cabin straight from the pages of a fantasy novel to discover the secrets inside. A mystical fairy tale escape room awaits where time is more important than ever!

Date/Month Played: March 2022
Number of Players: 2
Time Completed: 56 Minutes 40 Seconds
Difficultly: Easy/Medium

First Impressions?! Wow!

Ok, as ever, lets kick off with that initial gasp of excitement as you walk through that first door – it really was one of them moments! The scenery in here is nothing short of phenomenal. Having read a few reviews about this room before, I knew we were in for something pretty special; and we really were!

Hearing comment of “Disney-like”, I felt that it maybe wouldn’t have stood up to that moniker, but the two of us just took a big intake of breath and soaked it all in. You really could be in a log cabin in the middle of the woods. The attention to detail is expertly done, with every little and cranny tastefully done.

Given a few complexities in the way the game play works, our fantastic GM Myles accompanied us into the room and gave us a few pointers as to things that we needed to be aware of. With in-room briefings the temptation is to start looking all around, however Myles was brilliantly attentive and kept us engaged – even with my very excitable and easily distracted 11 year old trying his best to get a head start in the game!

Following Myles’ briefing, the chimes of the grandfather clock ringing in our ears, we set to work on this beautiful room.

So, What’s the Story?!

Old Father Time has gone missing, and with it nature is slowly but surely disappearing. Our task was to try and locate, well, err –  time! This really was something straight out of an animated movie – I could definitely see this story on the big screen! The story really fits well with the remit of having a proper family-feel room. Simple to understand, beautifully narrated (more on than in a mo), and visually stunning. Big box ticked for us here!

Notice the references to “chapter”, “novel” and “fairy tale” in the introduction from the guys at The Panic Room? There’s a massive hint as to how this room unfolds! The whole experience revolves around a beautifully crafted book, which pulls the room together really well. It gives a great central focus to the narrative, especially important given the sheer amount of distractions in this room!

Perfectly Pitched Puzzles

Tangible puzzles is the name of the game here. Think lots of things to pick up and move. Lots of cute physical games, observational bits and a quirky audio puzzle which, despite being very musical myself, sent my head on a swivel and made me a little coo-coo!

It really is a room where there is a lot of movement and that plays into the surroundings really well. There aren’t long, drawn-out wordplay or mathematical games here. Short, sharp and snappy ones, which keep the gameplay flowing really well.

The target audience would certainly appreciate this approach – there’s nothing worse then just head scratching for an hour and not feeling the excitement of that clock ticking down, and those fantastic ah-ha moment!

Yep, there are quite a number of puzzles in this game, and when all was said and done, I don’t think I’d like to be the GM resetting this game! As well as a great number of tangible games, there are a few padlocks in here too. But, don’t just think basic key locks here – you have to appreciate quite how stunning this hardware is! No basic, Poundland locks here! Ill say no more, but they need to be seen to be believed. I was also introduced to a new type of lock here! Its a rarity to come across a different type of lock given the amount of rooms we’ve played, but it certainly grabbed my attention during the briefing!

Stumped?! Never fear, Stumpy is here!

I’ll be honest, I really thought that this would be the first room to defeat my 100% success rate – not because of the difficulty, but given that it was just me and my son. You may have seen in previous reviews that he is a bit of a superstar when it comes to logical puzzles, but this is the first room that we’ve played together as a 2!

I’m never one to be too clue-happy and will try everything before giving in, but here I dropped the guard a little bit and let my son be the one asking for clues! To be fair, he is as stubborn as me, but did wander over to our clue system, (named Stumpy!) on a few occasions. Clues appear on a screen and were beautifully subtle. They gave just enough hint without giving us the answer. Myles had also acknowledged on one occasion where we had gotten a little confused and got us back on track with a little nudge in the right direction.

Those A-HA Moment!

Something which needs a special mention, and as a general rule for all rooms we have played at The Panic Room, is those A-ha moment! By that I mean, something that the designers do really well, is actually have a very obvious effect when you have completed a puzzle. For example, you punch in a specific code and a door opens – but here the door REALLY opens, or you get an audio queue showing that you have been successful. I really hate moments in rooms when you know you have been successful in completing something but then you cant find what effect that this has had elsewhere. This room was fantastic in being able to have a strong cause and effect approach.

The Verdict

You mean, the glowing review above still has you asking if we liked this room?! Of course we did. Its a cracking combination of outstanding scenery, some great innovate puzzles, brilliant immersion and something which stimulates the senses from beginning to end. Be it grown up, kid, experienced or novice, you really can’t go far wrong with this!

Fancy saving time yourself?! Click the link and book Old Father Time at The Panic Room now!…Old Father Time – The Panic Room Gravesend