“I did it! I f***ing did it!”
After years of planning and excavations the tomb of the nefarious Rameses has finally been unearthed. But this is no tomb full of traps; it is a peerless conundrum full of strange machinations.
If you could manage to extract the three ancient relics rumoured to rest here, you will escape and become part of history, but you are not the only ones on the trail…
Your foreheads are drenched and the air is taut with fear. There is not much time for you to act before the unscruplious treasure hunters cross the desert and bury you alive just to claim the glory for themselves.
Will you lay your hands upon the relics of the past? And will you even be able to escape before the glocks are pointed to your heads? Your hourglass is running low…
Our second game of the day at Cryptology (having just played Dreamscape) was Rameseize, which as the name would suggest is an Egyptian themed game. Historically we haven’t performed at our brightest when in Egyptian games so we were a little apprehensive about how we would do in this one.
When we arrived at Cryptology we were greeted by the owner, Mark, and chatted with him a little before our games master arrived. After finishing Dreamscape we headed back down the comfortable waiting area (like a lovely quaint cinema) and chatted with Mark some more. Having taken this time to recharge, our host Anna appeared to escort us to Rameses’s tomb.
Anna gave us the health and safety briefing outside the room (all in character), and then once we had entered the room she proceeded to give us the room specific briefing. It shows that this game is designed by an escape room enthusiast as there are different levels at which you can succeed; you can either collect one, two, or three items from the room and however many you get, it is considered a ‘win’. Of course, knowing this, we had to get all three!
Covid-19 Procedures: Very good Covid precautions. Teams were juggled so that their paths didn’t cross. There was track and trace in use and all staff wore masks. We were told we could take off masks in the game (we kept them on), but masks were to be worn in common areas. Copious amounts of hand sanitiser around the venue made it easy to keep our hands clean.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
Personally I find it quite hard to get an Egyptian room wrong. All you need is some atmospheric lighting, some Egyptian trinkets, and of course, hieroglyphics. All of those things were present in Rameseize, so that was a good start! This room didn’t feel like it was overly narrative driven, but there was a story and the room felt true to that.
The room was dark but adequate torches were provided (enough for both of us) so seeing was never an issue. Each space we encountered contained atmospheric lighting which didn’t really make it easier to see, but did add to the immersion. Speaking of immersion, I can’t remember if there was a soundtrack or atmospheric noises, but I also don’t remember hearing any outside noises either, so I think we were just so immersed in this game that we didn’t notice.
There was a lovely sense of space and exploration in this game. Going backwards and forwards between spaces was a nice way to keep us moving around (and testing our memory). At least one of your team members will need to be able to crawl at one point, and we couldn’t see a work around for this – although if you’ve got up all the stairs to get to the game, you’re probably ok with a little crawling.
As I mentioned earlier, there are three items to collect in this game before you escape, but you don’t have to get all three. This dynamic makes it perfect for experienced escapes who want a bit ‘more’ from their games, and also for people new to escape rooms. This game felt more traditional than some of the others at Cryptology, but that’s certainly not a bad thing. This is a game that will get you hooked on escape rooms (and likely your family too).
PUZZLES
Rameseize played out in a mostly linear fashion which again makes it good for people who are new to escape rooms. Saying that, there were still one or two times in the game where we were able to split up and work independently of each other. The linear gameplay coupled with excellent signposting made this a very enjoyable, and frustration-free experience.
Most of what we encountered in the game was tech driven, where we did something and it triggered something else, but there were also one or two padlocks (coded or keyed). The puzzles in this room were mostly searching, observation, wordplay, decoding, maths, pattern recognition, logic, and a few physical type challenges.
There was one puzzle in this room which I’m going to mention as it’s a puzzle that I have literally never in my life completed. Cryptology even found a way to make it harder, but after much frustration I can finally now say I have completed it! Small win for me.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
One of the things that I loved about Cryptology is that all their games masters are dressed in character for the room they are hosting. So of course for Rameseize, our GM Anna looked like a character straight out of Indiana Jones (or perhaps Jungle Cruise, if you’ve seen that yet).
Anna did a wonderful job of making us feel welcome and kept a close eye on us while we were in the game. The clues were delivered by an Egyptian Deity (can’t remember his name, but he was the God of Mildly Useful Hints) by use of audio and visual tech in the room – but even the clues had a Cryptology twist to them – you had to solve a puzzle before you could get clues. Anna was quite clear about this at the start yet we completely blanked it, so she had to utilise the secondary clue system. This secondary system involved Anna shouting through the door with additional help, which was perfectly timed.
ANYTHING ELSE
This is a room that would be perfect for those new to escape rooms or seasoned escapers. The puzzles were fun, the room was solid, and the sense of exploration was spot on. With different ‘win’ levels, it works for everyone regardless of experience level.
As an extra bonus we completed this room as the fastest ever team of two with three relics (beating the previous team of two by 8 minutes). Annoyingly we were off the Top 10 of all time by 9 seconds. Dammit. Cryptology love their stats so if you want to know where you place, I’m sure they can tell you.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 2 players – escaped in 35 minutes
Address:107 Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham
Leave a Reply