In Short: Not so scary after all
The look of Room 13 is strong. Clinical hospital bed and eerie gadgets, with revealed spaces adding to the institutional feel. But it never lived up to its “not for the faint hearted” promise. A video link designed to ramp up tension simply faded into background noise.
The puzzles were fun, quite a few “hide chains” but also others to actually think and solve – however they had no logical consistency with the story of the room, no reason why they were present and in those particular forms – which for me is a big weakness to a fully rounded experience. It was also the first room I’d played where the hint system was part of the real world not the story world of the room (up to 3 hints allowed by radio request) and I didn’t like that much either. We did escape – not smoothly, held up by a lot of wondering and wandering rather than getting stuck on any particular puzzle.
None of this makes it a room to avoid, but I’m looking for something a bit more immersive and I think as the competition grows rooms will need to think more and more about how to offer that.
Vital Stats:
Room: Room 13
Company: Escape Live
City: Birmingham (can also be played in Essex)
Date: May 2016
Team: 5 person team (4 had played 2 rooms together before, plus 1 newbie)
Other Reviews:
The Logic Escapes Me (Essex Room)
Bookings: www.escapelive.co.uk
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