The Mystery of Loke Lake is a solid game, with a nice linear flow and solid puzzles, making it a good choice for escape fans of all experience levels
South West
List of the rooms we have reviewed in the South West. In date order from newest to oldest
Tempo Escape Rooms: Eternal Life (Bath)
We had heard good things about Tempo in Bath, and I’m pleased to say this game lived up to our expectations. Great story-telling, solid puzzles, and a really fun, and at times, whimsical set, makes this a definite reason to visit Bath.
House of Frankenstein: Victor’s Lair (Bath)
I don’t know who designed Victor’s Lair, but I think it needs a little more work. It’s not a bad room, it’s certainly visually good, but the puzzles and flow felt lacking. If they take feedback on board and are willing to make adjustments then I think this could be a game that we would recommend in Bath.
Logic Box: The Portland Heist (Highbridge)
A really strong first game by a new company and we’re sure we’ll be back to check out their other game soon. The Portland Heist had clever puzzles (don’t overcomplicate) and good story and set design. This would be a fun game for both enthusiasts or ‘regular’ people, especially families.
Marvo Mysteries: Marvo Induction (Bournemouth)
Don’t wait for a special occasion to play this game, get booked in now, you most definitely won’t regret it.
Houdini’s: RMS Titanic (Southampton)
We loved the attention to detail in both the game, and the waiting area. The room itself had touches that were historically accurate, and the reception had a poster of the Titanic that was signed by the youngest survivor of the disaster.
Escape Rooms Middlemoor: Peaky Blinders (Highbridge)
Our experience of this room was equal parts frustration and enjoyment, I’m not sure which won out in the end. A few minor tweaks to the game and I think it would be a lot better. Bring your search A-game!
Escape Rooms Middlemoor: Steampunk (Highbridge)
Steam Punk is a decent game – good for escape room newbies, and worth a visit for enthusiasts if you’re in the area anyway. It started out as a good game, but quickly became a bit frustrating
M4 Escapes: Dino Deadlock (Chippenham)
If you’re a fan of dinosaurs and escape rooms then this is a room you must try. A beautiful set, decent puzzles, and a really fun ending made our detour 100% worth it!
Lock and Code: The Music Box (Weston-Super-Mare)
While The Music Box isn’t my favourite game from Lock & Code (that honour goes to Dead on the Hour), it’s a solid game. I’d be more inclined to recommend it to escape room newcomers, but even from an enthusiast standpoint, it’s worth a go if you’re in the area.
Lock and Code: Homecoming (Taunton)
Homecoming takes place in a massive space and plays out in a mostly linear fashion. You’re unlikely to be blown away by the set, but you may see a puzzle or two that you haven’t seen before.
Clue HQ: Detonation (Somerton)
A room that won’t blow you away (no pun intended) and is very padlock heavy, but if your observational skills are on point then you’ll likely have a good time.
Clue HQ: Cell Block C (Somerton)
We haven’t done many but this was the best ClueHQ room we’ve done so far. Good room design and only one annoying puzzle, not a bad way to spend an hour
Lock and Code: Can Opener (Taunton)
A few too many red herrings and generally puzzles that just didn’t click with us meant that we didn’t particularly enjoy our time in this prison van – but that’s the idea of prison vans, right?
Red House Mysteries: On The Last Train to Paris (Torquay)
Probably the best of the games at Red House (both locations), but a weak ending with annoying puzzles made this a train we were pleased to get off
Red House Mysteries: The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Moon (Torquay)
The theming for this room was fun but weak puzzles that were easily bypassed and a lack of atmosphere took away from the excitement we should have experienced, and one GM for multiple rooms is never a good way to go.
Red House Mysteries: The Shadow Darkens (Exeter)
A very traditional room which suffered from the usual GM issues and some potentially glitchy tech. We completed in 25 minutes even after being slowed down by issues
Red House Mysteries: The Heist (Exeter)
A room with a solid premise but ultimately the execution was lacking. Couple that with a distracted GM and it doesn’t make for the best experience
Live Escape Salisbury: Spectre (Salisbury)
People often visit Salisbury due to the proximity of some ‘large standing rocks’, but ditch the rocks and make Live Escape your destination, you won’t regret it.
Incarcerated: The Tortured Soul (Swindon)
This room was much better than we expected and as a creepy (not really horror) room, it was good fun. The only bit that was lacking was the ending. I’m sure it’s not easy to make exiting into a corridor fun, but it was just a bit anticlimactic
M4 Escapes: The Bunker (Chippenham)
A beautiful room (in places) but the generally weak puzzles let it down. A confusing journey and too many red herrings made us more annoyed than anything else
Co-decode: Sub Terra (Swindon)
Sub Terra was a delight from start to finish. With a strong story that’s reenforced by a fantastic set, and great puzzles, it has firmly secured a place on my list of Top Ten Favourite rooms (to date). If you haven’t made the trip to Co-Decode yet, what are you waiting for?
Trapped: The Bletchley Blueprints (Okehampton)
This is one of those rooms that is difficult to review. It’s a good room, but I didn’t overly enjoy it and I’m not sure why. Give it a try and make up your own mind
Trapped: Templars – The Secret Service (Okehampton)
Templars possibly ranks as the hardest room we’ve ever done. We’ve seen other teams getting decent times so it obviously just didn’t click for us. Give it a try if you want a challenge
Lock & Code: Dead on the Hour (Taunton)
Lock & Code rooms won’t blow you away but they are solid rooms that will give you an hour of fun. Dead on the Hour was fun, and at times challenging, but once again we left Lock & Code with smiles on our faces
The MacGuffin Project: The Magician (Bournemouth)
A short and arguably easy room that should probably be a 45 min experience rather than 60. A pretty average room with above average GMs but a weak ending. We expected more from MacGuffin.
Incarcerated: Cops and Robbers (Swindon)
If you’re looking for a corporate team building exercise then this is probably a good room. If you’re an enthusiast then it isn’t
Co-decode: Professor Dunstan and the Search for the Ancient Statuette (Swindon)
Don’t wait to be passing by Swindon to do this room. Make it your destination, it’s worth it!
Lock and Code: The Alchemy Enigma (Weston-Super-Mare)
The hardest part of this room was quite possibly the searching. Just when I thought we had looked at everything, we would discover a prop that hadn’t been used before and discover yet another piece of a puzzle or a key
Lock and Code: The Night before Christmas (Weston-Super-Mare)
We were on for a record time, then we encountered a puzzle we couldn’t solve, but apparently kids can!
Lock and Code: The League of Superheroes (Weston-Super-Mare)
A fun room that is perhaps past its prime and they need to do some maintenance to get it running as it should.
Lock and Code: Breakout (Weston-Super-Mare)
This was a really enjoyable room, a little bit rough around the edges in places but had a good mixture of finding things and solving things.
Puzzlair: The Cold War Catch (Yeovil)
If you like more traditional rooms, or want an introduction to escape rooms then this is a good room to go for. We didn’t rate their other room in Yeovil but this one was the standout winner of the day.
Puzzlair: The Lost Artworks (Yeovil)
This room is probably a love/hate type of room and I’m sure some people will love in. In fact looking at TripAdvisor you can see that many people do, but for us it is one that we’d advise our friends to avoid.
City Mazes: Subject 11 (Bristol)
As mentioned, the room was visually appealing, but some of the immersion was lost when the technology failed.
City Mazes: The Runner (Bristol)
Despite being billed as one of the company’s more challenging rooms, we breezed through this room as a team of four, obliterating the current record and topping the leaderboard.