Bolted Escape Rooms: No Honour Among Thieves (St Austell)

A Fun Warm-up Game

Deep within the desolate Bodmin Moor lies the hideout of Cornwall’s most infamous thief – a man who has spent his life stealing the Duchy’s greatest treasures. His latest prize?… The Cornubian Star – a priceless crystal.

But his reign is over. You and your crew have come to take his place, proving yourselves as the new kings & queens of the Cornish criminal underworld. But to do that, you’ll need to unravel the secrets of his hideout, crack the puzzles he’s left behind, and claim the precious stone for yourselves.

Be warned – a storm is brewing and loyalty is thin among thieves. Will your team escape together, or will greed tear you apart?

Whenever we head down to Cornwall we always look up the usual suspects for new games; Dreadlock and Housetrap. But for this trip we noticed a couple of other companies that we didn’t really know much about; Enigma Escapes in Truro, and Bolted Escape Rooms in St Austell – so of course we had to get booked in to see what they were like.

Bolted Escape Rooms are relatively new on the scene, but there’s no missing them when you turn up to their venue – their signage is certainly loud and proud! They’re located at a place called Par Market, which gives plenty of food options and was interesting to have a bit of a stroll around before our games – kinda like a flea market type of place.

When we visited, Bolted only had two games so we figured we’d make the most of the journey. First up was No Honour Among Thieves, swiftly followed by It’s Not Fair. We arrived at our allotted time and rang the doorbell, and a moment later we were greeted by our host, and one of the owners, Tom.

I love it when a venue puts some love into their waiting and reception area as first impressions really do count. First impressions of Bolted? Very good! After utilising their facilities and locking away some personal items in the lockers provided, it was time to get down to business. Tom delivered our briefings in the reception area, and then opened the door to the cottage on Bodmin Moor.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

This game won’t blow you away with an expansive and ‘wow-inducing’ set, but really, it’s set up to be a cottage on Bodmin Moor so what would you really expect from it? That’s not to put it down at all, far from it. I believe this was the first game that Bolted created and as a first game, it’s decent. It’s also nice that they didn’t go for the more common option of perhaps a heist (although this was in a way) or an office themed game.

The game utilises lighting and audio effects well which help to set the scene of being in a cabin on Bodmin during a stormy night. The game was also rather spacious which was nice. We played as a team of two and had plenty of room to separate, but even slightly larger teams should have no issues with regards to space.

Despite most of this game perhaps being on show from the start, there was still a good sense of adventure and they managed to fit in a few surprises here and there. The ending to the game also added a bit of tension which made us finish on a high.

PUZZLES

No Honour of Thieves is one of those games that I would consider to be a great entry level game, a game that people new to the escape room world play and then immediately say “I want to play another escape room” – and really, that’s where we want many games to be. Not all games are going to win awards, but they can still be good and help the industry. Don’t let that fool you though, there were still a couple of puzzles in this game that were perhaps a little more challenging and unique. Having played nearly 700 games we’ve seen a lot of puzzles, so it’s always refreshing to see something new.

The puzzles generally revolved around the usual escape room tropes: searching, observation, teamwork, coordination, directions, logic, spatial reasoning etc.. The first part of the room felt a little more traditional and we flew through this part of the game, but later on we did slow down a little – mostly through our own stupidity or trying to solve something that we didn’t have the full information for.

Solving the puzzles mostly gave codes for padlocks, but thanks to decent signposting we didn’t have to try a combination on 50 different padlocks before finding the right one. There was also some tech thrown in though, and I felt this game had a good balance.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Unlike our time in ‘It’s Not Fair’ I think we did actually need a little help in this game, mostly again because we were trying to solve something that we didn’t have all the information for. Any clues that were needed came via the screen that was in the room, which was also used for showing the time remaining. Any time a clue comes in, there would be a very distinct sound played so we knew to look at the TV.

Tom was clearly paying attention to our experience as we were able to have a detailed chat afterwards about how we got on – something that wouldn’t have been possible if he wasn’t watching closely. From speaking with him, it was clear to hear his passion for escape rooms and how they want to create experiences for the whole family to enjoy (yes, including enthusiasts).

ANYTHING ELSE

No Honour Among Thieves is not going to blow you away, but you should still have a good time and may even see a puzzle or two that you’ve not seen before. We were in this game for around 30 minutes, and we’re glad we stopped off to give it a go. Bolted are definitely a venue to keep an eye on.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 Players – 30:12 taken

Address: Stadium Retail Park, Par Moor Rd, Saint Austell PL25 3RP

Website: https://www.boltedescaperooms.com