Adventox: Haunted – The Curse of Dr Stevens (London)

A bit like Disney’s Haunted Mansion

During the Day, when you are out in the forest, you never feel alone.

During the Night, when you are out in the forest, you do feel alone, but remember… you aren‘t!

The next 60 Minutes are your only chance to cure the Curse.

Adventox is one of those venues that had somehow gone under our radar, that is until they advertised 50% off discount codes, which very much got our attention. We quickly assembled a team and booked ourselves in for all three of their rooms in Shepherd’s Bush.

Not to be confused with Westfields, this venue is located in an older shopping mall next to the station, it was still easy to find though one the first floor right by the escalators. We were greeted by a member of staff and then directed to their rather baron, but adequate, waiting area.

First impressions brought back horrible memories of another set of rooms we had done in America, but we were pleased to see a free water dispenser, which was much needed on a hot day! Oddly though, all the GMs were stationed just behind reception so you could see the rooms they were monitoring and hear the clues/instructions they were giving to teams already in the rooms.

After not too long our GM, PJ, took us through to a briefing area where we were given the usual health and safety briefing and then we were taken to the room.

On entering the room we were handed a torch which we were told would work when it was supposed to work, interesting. The backstory for this room was given by PJ while in the room, although it was arguably one of the weirdest room starts we’ve ever had. Not to give anything away, but it was very dark and we didn’t know our time had begun until PJ whispered “Your time has started”.

PUZZLES

This was a relatively linear room and there was a set order of how things needed to be done, a lot of it was automated so you could only solve something when the room wanted you to. There was a little bit of searching involved, but not a hard search at all.

One of the puzzles felt quite tricky and another we solved although we’re still not fully sure how we did, it was logical in our mind but we did it a couple of times before it actually then worked, so maybe something was just a tad glitchy. Generally though the puzzles were good and well thought out, and there was one later in the game that I particularly enjoyed and hadn’t seen before

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

I went into this room with pretty low expectations so was pleasantly surprised by the effort they had gone to with the design of it. There was a good journey throughout the game and it flowed nicely.

One or two things were needing a little maintenance but it would be a very quick fix and didn’t really detract from the game. I think part of our problem was that we were rushing through certain areas and didn’t get a chance to really appreciate them.

Sound and lighting added to the experience and were very much a key part of it, although at times we could still hear people coming out or going into other rooms.

The only criticism, which seems to be a theme of a number of rooms, is that the ending was anticlimactic. When we finished the room there seemed to be a number of things in there that we hadn’t interacted with so I think we were expecting more to do. And when we finished these items suddenly came alive which was odd but PJ informed us that the room ‘resets itself’, although these bits never did anything during the room so it was weird they came alive after.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

PJ was enthusiastic and oddly creepy which I assume was part of the character he was playing? Maybe.

The clue system for the room was spot on and it was developed in a way that you could get clues/nudges without breaking the immersion. Top marks for inventiveness on this!

When they designed this room they’d obviously put immersiveness as the top of their list and they did a great job to deliver it. Because of this there was no timer in the room which always adds to the pressure.

ANYTHING ELSE

You could probably class this as a scary room as it is very dark in places and has one or two minor jump scares, but I wouldn’t call it a horror themed escape room. We played this room as a team of four which felt a bit cosy at times, but there’s no reason this room can’t be completed as a team of two.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players – escaped in 34:36 with no clues

Address: West12 Shopping Centre, Shepherds Bush Green, London W12 8PP

Website: https://www.adventox.com