Pier Pressure Bracknell: Alien Encounter (Bracknell)

Jonesy?! Noooooo!

Board the mysterious star freighter USS Ripley, drifting aimlessly near a remote planet. As you search for the crew, a terrifying truth emerges: you are not alone.

A deadly, parasitic alien organism has infested the vessel.

What begins as a routine salvage mission quickly descends into a harrowing fight for survival as you battle the alien horde in the ship’s shadowy corridors and compartments.

In this open-ended adventure, your decisions shape the outcome for yourselves and humanity. Can you survive the Alien Encounter?

Our third, but not final game at Pier Pressure Bracknell was the one that we’d heard the most about, Alien Encounter, their 75 min experience. Even though this is now at Pier Pressure Bracknell, it’s not a game they created as they took over this venue from Puzzalogical.

We visited Puzzalogical a number of years ago, but hadn’t managed to make it back to play their newer games. Fortunately some good friends of ours said about getting together for an escape room day, and Bracknell was perfectly positioned – so we booked all four games: The Siege of Spellbreak Bank, Prison Break, Alien Encounter and Pharoah’s Mystery.

We had just done the first couple of games, and finished ahead of schedule so we had some time to kill. Lucky for us, Pier Pressure are lovely people and let us kill time in their waiting room (in the basement).

When it was time for our game, we headed over to the lift and went up the third floor. Unlike the other games at this venue that are in the basement, this one is not. When we arrived at the third floor we were warmly welcomed by our host.

We received a very enthusiastic briefing in the small waiting area on the third floor, and then it was time to get down to business. Unlike many space themed games we’ve played recently, this one didn’t start with us split up in isolation pods, no, we found ourselves on the deck of the USS Ripley.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

We’ve been hearing good things about this game for a long time, and it’s clear to see why: Alien Encounter is a big step up in terms of both game design and tech. We’ve played some pretty decent space games in our time, and the design of this game certainly can hold its own against some of the best. Really the only thing letting it down was that some things in the room were showing a bit of wear and tear.

We played this game as a team of four and (other than one spot) had plenty of space to move around without getting in each other’s way. The opening space was the biggest, which one would probably expect from it being the ‘bridge’, but there was a good sense of exploration as we found new spaces – some visible from the start, others not so much.

If you’re familiar with the ‘Alien’ franchise then you’ll notice easter eggs all over the place and the theme is certainly heavily inspired by what transpires in the movie. But there are plenty of unique moments and you definitely don’t have to have watched the movie to play this game (and it’s also not a horror experience).

PUZZLES

Puzzles in Alien Encounter were diegetic to the space we found ourselves in and nothing really felt out of place. There may have been one or two opportunities to work on things simultaneously but for the most part, this was a linear game with one puzzle leading on to the next. It’s a shame, as with the space we had, it would have been nice to have been able to split up and work on things when we wanted. This linear game play did mean that at times we had players standing around wondering what to do, but generally that wasn’t for too long.

The puzzles, with their spacey-vibe revolved around: observation, teamwork, pattern recognition, logic, decoding, coordination, and some basic maths. The puzzles all felt fair and solving them mostly resulted in tech being triggered which then moved us on to the next puzzle in the linear puzzle path.

Some of the puzzles felt like quick wins, others felt like they went on for longer, and another added a bit of fun to the experience. We did have one piece of tech that seemed to crap out, but our GM did chime in to explain what the result should have been. Really out of all the puzzles, there was only one I didn’t like and that was because it was something that if a player moves, it makes the puzzle more challenging and could give multiple answers. It would be easy to stop this happening, but it sounds like it was a deliberate choice.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

The puzzles were all fair, and the only time we found ourselves struggling was generally when we missed something obvious. One thing we knew what to do but just couldn’t see where to put it – perhaps the wear and tear didn’t help, but we should have seen it.

Our host was very enthusiastic and was keeping a close eye on our game. In the moments where we were faltering due to our own stupidity, she was quick to send a clue over the speaker system and get us back on track.

Not really related to the gamesmaster or clue system, but I very much appreciated the digital tablet that was provided for taking notes.

ANYTHING ELSE

Alien Encounter is the stand-out game at Pier Pressure Bracknell and I can see why enthusiasts love it. We didn’t gel with it like we were expecting to, but it was a fun game, with twists-and-turns a-plenty! If you’re looking for a challenging game with a cool set, then this is the Alien Encounter that you’re looking for.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players (escaped in 61:44)

Address: Easthampstead House, Town Square, Bracknell, RG12 1BH

Website: https://pierpressure.co.uk/bracknell