Enigma Quests: Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time (London)

Some cool bits, but needed more

A dizzying journey across 100 years of history, Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time tells an unforgettable story about changing the present by altering the past.

Our third and final game at Enigma Quests, was to be Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time. We had already played their World of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Billion Pound Heist games, plus we’d also spent an hour giving their Escape Arcade a try too – we were definitely warmed up, both physically and mentally.

If you happen to arrive at the venue early, or have time to kill between games, there is plenty of space to sit and wait, and boardgames to keep you entertained. If that’s still not enough, there’s also a licensed bar on site!

Our host for Inventor’s Odyssey was the same host we had for the Billion Pound Heist, Saria. We were escorted down the stairs (all their games are downstairs) and then led through the corridors before we ended up outside the entrance to the game.

It was in this corridor where we received the mission and health and safety briefings. Once the mission was clear (or I think it was clear), we entered the room and began.

It seems like all of the escape rooms (and Escape Arcade) at Enigma Quests take place downstairs. I couldn’t see a lift, but it’s a very modern (and large) building so I would be surprised if there wasn’t one. If accessibility is a concern, then it’s worth checking with the venue. This game did have some tight spaces, and one or two steps inside it.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The premise of this game was quite simple, we were essentially time travelling through an inventor’s lab and each time we entered the time machine, we would reappear in the same location but in a different time. The theory was sound, and it was close to getting it right, but also at the same time, due to how they had used the space, it just didn’t quite work perfectly – but we can overlook that.

The key piece of set design in this game is something that is likely to be the ‘wow’ moment, but we have seen this used in three games now, so perhaps the ‘wow’ was lost on us a bit. Also, if you suffer from motion sickness, pre-load on the Dramamine before you head into this game – you’ll thank me later.

The room(s) that we encountered were filled with ephemera that one may expect to find in the lab of a time travelling genius. Nothing was what I would call a red-herring, but you did have to spend a little time working out what was needed for puzzles and what was just set dressing.

Each time period that we visited saw subtle changes to the space, while the core remained. It would have been nice to have seen this played on a bit more rather than just things that we couldn’t interact with changing.

Another downfall that we seemed to notice at Enigma Quests is how the games end. From what I recall they all seem to end without much fan-fare and the GM just knocking on the door and coming in to say ‘well done’. All felt a bit flat and anti-climactic.

PUZZLES

As a team of four, we found that perhaps there wasn’t a huge amount for us all to do. At one point, one member of our team seemed to genuinely get bored and just take a seat while waiting for others to solve things, and I can understand that as I felt a bit disconnected at times.

The puzzles had unique interfaces with which to input solutions, and once again, there were no padlocks. It again felt like this game suffered from a lack of signposting and direction, which we noticed in their other games, and we often found ourselves wondering what to do next, or how we were supposed to know what to do with this and that.

The puzzles involved some minor searching, observation and following directions. There were probably other puzzles too, but I think we just wanted it to end so my brain has purged most of them. Saying that, one puzzle had a cool concept, especially in a time travelling game, so kudos to them for that one.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Clues in this game came over a speaker system in the room from our host, and we simply had to ask, or if she saw us getting frustrated she would chime in with some help. Generally the help was enough to get us back on track, but on more than one occasion it left us asking ‘how were we supposed to know to do that’ – so again, signposting was the downfall.

ANYTHING ELSE

There’s not much to say about this game really. I wanted to love it, but I ended up just loving that it ended. The ‘wow’ feature was cool, but we’ve seen it done better elsewhere, and the lack of signposting left our team frustrated.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players – took around 30 mins

Address: 86 Fetter Ln, London EC4A 1EQ

Website: https://enigmaquests.london/