A Lovecraftian delight!
Gather your fellow investigators and prepare yourselves for an experience like no other as you head into the world of Lovecraftian horror!
Hired by the Miskatonic University, you find yourselves entering a seemingly deserted, shunned house in the oldest quarter of legend and witch-haunted Arkham. On the trail of stolen relics taken from the vaults of the University by a dangerous Cult, you and your fellow investigators must use all your cunning and investigative skills to search for clues and recover these dangerous relics before the ever approaching doom devours you and all of humanity!
Historically, Cornwall has never really been a destination for good escape rooms – perhaps the perils of being in a highly touristy area. But of late, there are venues opening or changing hands and are pushing out games that are putting Cornwall firmly on the enthusiast map. We were down in Cornwall for a little forest break, and of course we had to play some games. One game that we’d been hearing a lot of good things about was Fear of the Unknown by Enigma Escapes in Truro – so of course, we booked in.
Thanks to some very clear signage, it was easy to find the entrance to Enigma Escapes. We just had to descend some stairs from the street to what could best be described as a historic looking basement. As we entered the building, we stopped at the marked point, and in no time at all our GM arrived.
Our GM was one of the owners, Ollie. Ollie escorted us through to the comfortable waiting area, filled with ephemera and tchotchkes, many of which were a nod to H.P. Lovecraft. After a lovely little chat with Ollie, it was time to get down to business. Ollie started with the health and safety stuff and then on to the more complex mission briefing. This is one of those games that comes with many instructions, and I must admit it was quite overwhelming at first. Fortunately, once we got into the game and got into the swing of things, everything made sense.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
I had no idea what to expect in this game, after all, it’s in a basement so what could they really do in such a space – spoiler alert – a lot – they could do a lot with the space. The spaces we encountered, at least early on, are not spaces that are easy to get excited about in terms of set design, yet each space we explored, we loved. The attention to detail was great and I’m sure that if I were a die-hard Lovecraftian, I probably would have found easter eggs all over the place to get excited about.
Although the individual rooms are not huge, they make up for the size in the quantity. This is one of those games that felt like it just kept going. And not just going forwards, sometimes we went back and found even more new spaces that we hadn’t spotted before. This game is a masterpiece of utilising every inch of what is most likely an awkward space, while still managing to keep secrets hidden until the right moment.
I can’t fully recall now, but I feel like this game didn’t have music playing (why would it?) but there was certainly an atmospheric soundtrack that muffled the noises from the outside world, and dare I say it… added to the fear of the unknown. Was there something or something around the corner? We were never fully sure, and that feeling only heightened the anticipation of what was going to happen next.
Quite possibly the most interesting thing about this game was that it was more like we were living through a live story. Each progression through to a new space was accompanied by narration that explained what was going on and why we were where we were. I’m not normally one for story, but I appreciated these moments to stop, focus, and get deeper into this slightly unsettling world.
PUZZLES
How many puzzles can you fit into an old basement in Truro? A LOT! This game, despite being story and narrative heavy, also crammed in a lot of puzzles into a small space. The puzzles were varied, creative, and many were new to us; searching, observation, teamwork, audio, decoding, communication, wordplay, and logic.
One could argue that the first puzzle for this game is understanding the rules. You are given a book that becomes your guide, and a pro tip is to be sure to use it! Working out what this thing and that thing does will be the most beneficial thing to progress your mission, and if you get the choice wrong, you make your life harder (like we did).
This is not an easy game, especially with no hint system (more on that later), but the puzzles were fair, enjoyable, and plentiful – the perfect combo. It’s one of those games where you need to question everything, as most things can be interacted with, so you never know what will become a puzzle.
As a team of two, we were kept busy. For good chunks of the game we were able to split up and work on things individually, but there were times where the game brought us back together to work on a collaborative puzzle. I am trying to recall if there were many padlocks, and I believe there were some, but as I can’t remember, I think that’s a sign that there weren’t too many. A lot of the puzzles resulted in tech triggering, or behind the scenes actions, but everything was seamless…and mysterious.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Ollie was a great host, and it’s clear to see that Fear of the Unknown was a huge passion project for both him and his partner, Megan. I know nothing about the Lovecraftian universe (other than that Cthulhu seems pretty bad ass) but Ollie clearly knows his stuff and I’m sure we could have spent the entire day going through the game again to spot those easter eggs that only true experts would notice.
It’s interesting talking about the ‘clue system’ for this game, as technically there isn’t one. You’re essentially on your own with no source for help. It’s a big risk to run a game with no hint system as it could easily go horribly wrong, but Enigma have been quite clever in how this game is run, so even if you technically fail, you will still get an ending – and could easily play again to try and get a different ending.
Fortunately we made it through to the ‘good’ ending without the need for help. There was one point where we did get stopped for a little while, but Ollie was experienced enough to know to hold on and give us more time to be less stupid, and we’re so glad he did as although we don’t care about times or scores, we do like to finish everything.
ANYTHING ELSE
In escape rooms, the ‘fear of the unknown’ is often not knowing if a company/game is going to be good, or a waste of money. This Fear of the Unknown is a lesson in why one should give things a try, as it was a beautiful game and I’m so glad we made the time to play it.
With a great set, enjoyable puzzles, epic narration/story, and a passionate host, Fear of the Unknown is one of the ‘must-play’ games in Cornwall. Don’t go in and rush, this is a game to be savoured, let the narrator do his thing, and enjoy the ride.
Bonus – Like I said, I know nothing about the Lovecraftian world, but there is a wonderful song by Gunship, called ‘Cthulhu’ that is a great tune for getting into the zone for this game!
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 2 players – success!
Address: The Old Basement, 18 Lemon St, Truro TR1 2LS
Leave a Reply