Break Escape: Orbital (Nottingham)

Space FUN!

Your mission is to travel to an abandoned space craft called the Brakus Escapus Research Facility to recover a valuable specimen.

With the life support failing you’ll only have a limited supply of oxygen to find the specimen and bring it home safely.

Do you have what it takes to complete your mission?

A few years ago we had played a number of Break Escape games in the Loughborough location, but when we were last in Nottingham, they weren’t there. We managed to arrange a trip taking in both Brighton and Nottingham (don’t ask), and Break Escape were definitely a venue we were going to visit.

We’d actually popped by to Break Escape on the previous day to play Sorcerer’s Sword, Chocolate Factory, and Dead Man’s Chest. But we didn’t have time to squeeze in Orbital, so instead we booked that for first thing on a Sunday, just before our train home.

We got off to a rocky start when we arrived as there was no one at the venue answering the door. A couple of phone calls later and we got through to someone who said something was broken with the game and they were rushing to fix it. In the end, we started our game around 20/30 mins late, which is normally fine but we had a very tight window to catch our train! So we got rushed into the game, and we made sure our brains were working in overdrive.

Our GM for Orbital was the same GM we had the day before. She did a great job in our previous games, so we knew we were in good hands. As we already had the health and safety briefing, and were low on time, she gave a brief summary and then got us to the room so we could get going.

FYI – this game is on the top floor of their building and up many sets of stairs, so if accessibility is a concern, definitely check with the venue before booking.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

I’m not convinced we got the full experience as like I said, we were a little rushed, and I’m also not sure what was broken and if it was fixed. The only thing we thought may have been missing was some audio, as the game was very quiet and felt like it was missing ambient noise.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi, specifically space related sci-fi, then this is the game for you. Orbital takes place on an abandoned space station and the set design is spot on.

Orbital has a set that progressed and developed along with the story, and I was surprised by how much space (no pun intended) there actually was. We were very busy as a team of two, but there was still plenty of space for larger teams.

PUZZLES

Being a space themed game, I very much appreciated that all the games were on theme and I can’t think of anything that really felt out of place. Observation, searching, decoding, wordplay, teamwork, and logic made up most of the puzzle styles and I can’t think of any that we didn’t enjoy.

Ok, one puzzle was a bit long winded, but that’s because I was doing it solo while Liz was working on something else, and if you were a larger team it would have been much quicker with an extra pair of hands.

There was one piece of tech, which I’ve seen before in a number of rooms. What made it stand out here is that it wasn’t broken! Break Escape have used the prop in a very basic way, but by doing this they have taken away the breakage risk that always seems to happen with this prop.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Due to the rush to get started and then get to train, I have very limited notes on this game. I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure that clues, if needed, would come over a speaker system in the room (perhaps the ship’s AI?).

I can’t recall needing any help in Orbital, but that could be because we knew we were limited on time so were channelling our inner geniuses to try and get out quickly. I have no doubt that she was watching closely, as she did in our other games, and if we needed help we would have received it quickly.

ANYTHING ELSE

Orbital is the newest game at Break Escape Nottingham, and I think it may have been my favourite there. It felt like more of a challenge than their other games, and the set design was solid.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Address: 9a Market St, Nottingham NG1 6HY

Website: https://breakescape.co.uk/nottingham