Not the business for us
Please help! My father has been kidnapped and in his absence, all I have is a note for his ransom. The only problem is they don’t want money. They said I would know what they want, but I don’t! I didn’t want anything to do with the ‘family business’, I hate crime. He’s gone too far this time. He and his thugs have stolen something very important!
They have threatened me that if I don’t return this ‘thing’ within an hour he will be terminated and they are coming for me and anyone I tell next, so I guess you too. Sorry!
We’d got the train down to Penzance to play a couple of escape rooms there and decided that as Newlyn wasn’t very far, we’d book in to do a couple of games at Cornwall’s Great Escape Rooms. Our first mistake of the day was thinking we could easily kill four hours in Newlyn – we couldn’t. Unless you’re a fan of fish or art galleries there seems to be quite a lack of things to do there.
After managing to successfully kill four hours, and having had a lovely meal at the Newlyn Filmhouse, it was finally time to make our way over to Cornwall’s Great Escape Rooms. It’s worth pointing out that this venue has no toilets, so make sure you go before you arrive.
Our first game of the afternoon was The Secrets Aboard The Jolly Roger, which we successfully managed to escape from. So after a debrief and chat with our GM, Connor, next up was The Family Business. Connor read us the mission briefing in the comfortable reception area and then we followed him up the stairs to the entrance to the room.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
First impressions were fine, the room looked kinda like a mob bosses office (I think), well there was a desk anyway and there was plenty of room to move around. There is one thing in the room that certainly takes your attention and it’s clear early on that this is where we will need to get into, but there was more to this room than we initially thought.
At some points in the game there were some items that in hindsight we now know were set dressing, but at the time we probably spent more time than we should have looking at them. We’re still not sure if one particular thing was left over from a previous iteration of a puzzle as we couldn’t see it serving any purpose in the game.
PUZZLES
Sometimes you play a game and it instantly clicks, this was not that game for us. After doing a pretty decent job aboard the Jolly Roger previously, we expected more of the same in The Family Business, but it wasn’t to be. Part of this was down to our own failings to search something properly (we were being too careful again), but we just felt a bit lost in here and like some signposting was missing.
The puzzles were the usual escape room types; searching, observation, wordplay, and following instructions. None of the puzzles really stood out to us as particularly memorable and one of them we found a bit frustrating, as with a minor tweak it could have been better (or at least less frustrating).
Somehow we managed to bypass a puzzle, which was fine until it came full circle and we needed the answer from that puzzle to solve another puzzle – whoops! Fortunately the final puzzle was a simple one so when we got to that stage it was all over very quickly and we could leave our frustrations behind.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Connor was on hand when we needed him, and I believe we did need his assistance on a few occasions. We requested clues using walkie-talkies, and he would also radio in to let us know how much time had passed as there was no timer in the room.
The clues we received were generally cryptic enough to get us back on track, although I think there was one thing we just weren’t getting, even with a hint, so he had to try a different approach there to get us to understand.
ANYTHING ELSE
This room is probably ok for the market it is intended for, and most people will probably love it. For some reason it just didn’t click with us and I’m not sure why – perhaps we were tired after killing four hours in Newlyn? The venue was pleasant enough though and the staff we met were nice, just make sure you use a toilet before you visit as there are none on site.
Success / Failure
Final Rating:
| Operation | |
| Puzzles | |
| Room Design | |
| GM/Clues | |
| Excitement |
Team: 2 players – escaped in 34:42
Address: Wesley Pl, Newlyn, Penzance, England
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