Prodigy Escapes: The Wizards of Wyvern (Exeter)

The lines between ‘tech’ and magic have blurred

Exeter’s Ancient Magical lineage is under threat! The Isca Magica Concilium have permitted you entry into the Wyvern Wizarding Quarter. Despite your Nulmag (Non Magic Folk) status they have decided that your team can be trusted with some of their powers in order to recover their mystical Dragon egg which has provided magical power to Exeter for centuries.

It’s probably no secret that we love Prodigy Escapes. We first visited the company in 2022, and were thoroughly impressed with their first games, The Haunting of Mount Clifton Manor and Mission Impawsible (now closed). It took us a little while to make it to the company’s third game, The Lost Temple, but once we did, it was clear that the team at Prodigy are using each game they create to hone their skills further in set and puzzle design. So needless to say, we were excited when they announced The Wizards of Wyvern. Of course, life got in the way and it took us another little while to make our way to Exeter to try it out…

But finally the planets aligned, and we were able to fit in a sneaky little visit to Exeter on the way to Cornwall. We arrived in Exeter a couple of hours ahead of our booking, and took the time to wander around the city. Did you know Exeter really does have an ancient magical lineage? Okay, yes, it’s much darker than the back story of The Wizards of Wyvern, but Exeter is actually known for its magical history, rooted in folklore and witchcraft. (The city was a centre for witch trials in the 16th and 17th Centuries, among other things.) In fact, the magical history is so prevalent in Exeter that the University of Exeter is home to the Centre for Magic and Esotericism, focussed on researching the history of magic, occultism, and folklore. But I digress; we’re not here for a history lesson, we’re here to talk about escape rooms!

Prodigy’s venue is located slightly outside the city centre. There is on-site parking available, but it’s also very walkable from either the centre, or the station – whatever floats your boat. We were spending the night in Exeter, so left the car parked there and walked rather than take advantage of the parking onsite, arriving outside the doors just a few minutes ahead of the requested 15 minutes early for our game. Prodigy have a spacious waiting room, so rather than wait in the cold, we tried the door, and were warmly welcomed inside by the owners of Prodigy, Dan and, later, Lisa.

As always when we visit Prodigy, we found ourselves chatting away to Dan and Lisa for quite some time about our mutual passion for escape rooms. But, eventually, the conversation turned to the main reason for our visit – restoring magic to Exeter! Dan quickly gave us the requisite health and safety information, just in case we’d forgotten anything since our last visit, and then disappeared to perform a few final checks before our game was to begin.

Dan never re-materialised. Instead, moments later, the door opened, and we were ushered inside The Wizards of Wyvern by Herbert Humplefoot, one of the magical residents of Exeter (who bears a strange resemblance to Dan, but I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.)

Once we were inside, Herbert was able to give us a bit more detail about just what exactly we had signed up for, and a bit more information regarding our mission. With our mission firmly in mind, and a clear starting point, Herbert departed, leaving us to recover the Dragon Egg and save magic!

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The Wizards of Wyvern is in the space that once housed Mission Impawsible, but you wouldn’t know it. The room has been overhauled from top to bottom, and I really do mean that. Prodigy Escapes honed their set design skills designing haunted attractions, and the attention to detail shows. With each new game the team creates, the set design takes another step forward.

The Wizards of Wyvern doesn’t have a massive footprint, but the use of space is clever, with plenty of surprises to be had as we made our way through the game in search of the dragon egg. While the game isn’t quite a narrative adventure, there was a story driving us forward, with a variety of challenges to keep the pace, building towards a grand finale and a particularly impressive set piece that definitely had the wow factor.

PUZZLES

The Wizards of Wyvern has been cleverly designed with scalable difficulty, allowing the challenges players will encounter to be adapted for all experience levels. Due to our numerous escapes, we played in ‘Hard Mode,’ which meant we were mostly left to uncover the story for ourselves and interpret the clues we found in our own way (In other words, we had less blatant sign posting, and in a few instances, slightly more challenging puzzles than we might have encountered in the somewhat easier modes). I’ll admit, I was slightly nervous about playing in Hard Mode after choosing the same mode in The Lost Temple and nearly losing my mind at one puzzle, but fortunately, the puzzles in Wizards of Wyvern were a bit more my speed, even with the difficulty dialled up.

Whichever mode players choose, they will find an array of engaging, fun, and sometimes, yes, even magical challenges, that are nevertheless fair in their logic and execution. Even in Hard Mode, the puzzles weren’t fiendishly difficult, but struck the right balance of challenge for a team of two (rather) experienced players. Logical reasoning skills, teamwork, communication, observation, and more all come into play in this game, and Wizards of Wyvern does well to blend traditional padlocks, with clever tech to make a truly magical game. (In fact, one puzzle was so magical that Gord was completely enamoured with it, and still won’t stop talking about it.)

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Dan was our host the very first time we played at Prodigy, and he resumed his role for our adventure in Wyvern. Having hosted us previously, Dan was familiar with how we play, but even so, knowing when to nudge players and when to let them just puzzle it out is an art, and Dan has definitely mastered it. The logic of the puzzles didn’t really give us much pause, and we didn’t really need any outright hints, but in a few instances, a well timed soundbite offered not only a laugh, but a gentle nudge back on track.

Of course, if players do need more assistance, they will find it inside, and the manner of assistance varies depending on just exactly how much help you need. I’m being deliberately cryptic, because Prodigy have gone above and beyond here, to fully integrate the clues and take them one step above a simple screen or voice over. The clue system is as charming as the rest of the game, and players should be left to discover it for themselves, and enjoy it.

ANYTHING ELSE

Admittedly, we already love Prodigy Escapes, but The Wizards of Wyvern is possibly their best game to date. The game is whimsical and charming, filled with pleasing puzzles and even a little magic, and thanks to the scalable difficulty it really is perfect for any experience level.

Rating games is the hardest bit of reviewing. We’ve given this game a 4.5, which feels fair to us. However, if you’re looking for a family friendly game, in the South West, and one that will give people a truly wonderful experience – then this is a 5 star experience in that sense, and we will continue to recommend Prodigy to anyone that asks.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players -success in 33.36 mins

Address: 26b Clifton Hill, Exeter, Devon, EX1 2DJ

Website: https://www.prodigyescapes.co.uk

*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review