Chronos One Escape Rooms: Return to Neverland (Eltham)

A game sprinkled with fairy dust!

Tinkerbell has flown into your bedroom during the dead of the night, she seems panicked. Peter Pan has been kidnapped, she exclaims! Now she needs your help, travel with her to Neverland and save Peter from the evil Captain Hook

*Since playing, this venue has rebranded to Chronos One Escape Rooms

Due to moving away from London (and a global pandemic), it had been a while since we had played any of the games at Eltham Escapes Chronos One Escape Rooms, so we decided the time was finally right to rectify that – and swiftly booked in for the three remaining games that we hadn’t played (all newly opened since our last visit).

The waiting room at Eltham Escapes had certainly undergone a bit of work since we were last in town, and if I had to guess, I’d say they tried to capture the feel of this room, Return to Neverland, when they redecorated (thanks to the fairy lights). Either way, with lockers and seating, it was a comfortable to place to wait before and between games.

On our previous visits we had played Keep Calm, Temporal Tours (RIP), and Temple of the Lost Spirit (RIP), and on this visit we had already played Nightmare on Ripper Street, and had The Temple of the Forbidden Idol lined up next.

Our GM, George escorted us to the entrance to this game where he explained the story and what our mission was – basically, we needed to save Peter Pan. With the mission understood, the door was opened and our 60 minutes to save Peter began.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Unexpectedly this game starts off in a bedroom, a bedroom that is not particularly sizable but has everything you’d expect in an era-appropriate room. But don’t be fooled by the ‘standard’ decor in this game, as you are soon transported into a very different world, in a very cool way. This felt like something right out of a Disney movie and for lack of a better word, it was kinda magical.

The game starts off in a pretty small space where larger teams may be stepping on each other a bit, but it soon opens up into a much larger area where everyone can run around a bit (we certainly did). At least some of your team will need to be able to climb and crawl, but not all the team will need to do this and there’s still plenty to do for those who are less able – this game was a bit of a work out though I must say!

Music and general ambient music was being played at all times which certainly helped with the immersion, and the ever present Tinkerbell was always there keeping an eye on us. There aren’t many games where we’d felt Disney magic but this was certainly one of them and it was a space that was a joy to be in, and I’d love to go back just to experience the space again.

Probably the only let down for us, was the ending (and ok, maybe a couple of the puzzles as you’ll see). The journey to Neverland was so magical, yet the game ended with the GM walking in when we were done. I’d love to have done the return leg of our journey to Neverland just to bring the story full circle and round it off nicely.

PUZZLES

This is very much a family game and the early puzzles are certainly on the easier side, but don’t be fooled, once you make your journey to Neverland things step up a gear or two. The puzzles all fitted the theme and everything felt like it was something straight out of the Peter Pan story, although one or two props had perhaps had a bit of a hard life in places (you’ll see why).

A good variety of puzzle types make this a nicely rounded game that will bring joy to all age groups. Searching, observation, special awareness, physical, and colour puzzles all played a part in this room. Mostly everything was a joy to play and solve, but there were at least two occasions where we felt the game would have benefitted from a little more signposting as what we needed to do was quite ambiguous – this meant we had to take a clue or two and it ruined the flow for us.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

It’s nice to see a clue system that is fully integrated into the game, and that was very much the case in Return to Neverland. Any time we needed help we simply had to ask Tinkerbell and she would chime in with some prompt assistance. Clues came through a speaker system in the room but she was always around to keep an eye on us.

Obviously we know that Tinkerbell was controlled by our GM, George, and he did a great job. It was clear that he was watching us closely as we never had to wait too long to get help when we requested it.

ANYTHING ELSE

This game was a joy to play and was beautifully put together. The puzzles were fun and the game had a little bit of magic that made it a wonderful space to be. If you’re a fan of the Disney experience, get booked in!

If you’re a fan of Peter Pan (and have perhaps seen the film adaptation of ‘Hook’) then you are likely to appreciate this game a little bit more, but even if you haven’t you’re still in for a treat.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 34:58

Address: 3 St Mary’s Place, Eltham, SE9 1BL

Website: https://www.chronosoneescaperooms.com/

*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review.