EO Escape Rooms: Scary Tale (Sudbury)

A Beautiful Set

If you go down to the woods you better not go alone

rumour has it a witch lives there who turns children into stone.

Grimm tales of Hansel & Gretel, Snow White and Red Riding Hood playing heavy on your mind,

but this cottage in the woods you stumble upon seems quite the mysterious find.

The cottage appears rigged with puzzles and codes designed to keep you here,

but surely you can make it out if you stick together and conquer your fear

Small spaces, loud noises and limited light,

the witch has gone to great lengths to give you a fright

Will you succeed or will you fail?

it’s time to live your own Scary Tale.

All of the games at EO Escape Rooms have received nothing but praise on Escape the Review, so when we were deciding how many we would play on our mini road trip, well, the answer was obviously all of them. We spent a great deal of time in reception having a chat with our hosts, co-owners of EO Escape Rooms, Kelly and Rich, but in between our chats, we had managed to play Castaway, Captive, and Karma Club before it was time for a little lunch break. Luckily, we came prepared and didn’t have to wander off site, so it wasn’t long before we were back in reception, ready to watch the video briefing for the next game on our list: Scary Tale.

We had been sitting just outside the entrance to Scary Tale the entire time we were in reception, with the set spilling out into the common area. We watched the intro video seated just outside the entrance to the witch’s cabin, but as the screen flickered off, it was clear it was time to enter the witch’s lair.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The interior of Scary Tale was dimly lit, and of course it didn’t help that we managed to do our usual half-assed job searching, leaving us without torches until Kelly took pity on us. But the inside was an homage to fairy tales that would be sure to delight anyone familiar with the works of the brothers Grimm.

With a name like “Scary Tale,” a recommended age limit of 16+,  and being loosely based on the Grimm fairy tales, I had half expected the game to be, well, scary. Thankfully, Scary Tale is actually just atmospheric, with some darker elements, and not a full on horror game.

The background noises added to the atmosphere, but it was the over all staging of everything, combined with the thematic puzzles that really gave the game a somewhat creepy feeling. Scary Tale felt like it had a much more linear structure when compared to some of the other games at EO, but in reality, I think this had more to do with how we played, as there were certainly plenty of opportunities to solve different puzzles in tandem, coming back together at the inevitable choke points.

The team at EO have made excellent use of the space they have, and Scary Tale was full of little things to explore and take in. It seemed like everytime I looked I spotted something new. The pace of the game never slowed, due in part to the sheer volume of content to solve, and things to look at, and we found ourselves hurtling towards the finale and our eventual escape.

PUZZLES

If there’s one thing I could say about the games at EO Escape Rooms, it would be “Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles.” Each of the games is positively packed with them, and Scary Tale is no different. There is no shortage of content within the game. Each puzzle was a delight to solve, with plenty of “ah-ha!” moments to make us feel particularly clever. But as well as being fair and satisfying, the puzzles were incredibly varied. There were plenty of padlocks to give the satisfaction of a job well done when the shackle fell open, but there were also more tactile puzzles to play around with. Communication and teamwork factored heavily into one section of the game, but don’t worry, there are plenty more challenges to satisfy everyone, whether your strength is searching, or logical deduction.

Once again, the bonus puzzle made an appearance. While this puzzle in no way helps teams escape, solving it was worthwhile for the extra ten minutes we added on to our time once we released the token.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Kelly returned as our GM, and since this was our fourth game, she had a good idea of how our minds work, and was able to tell when we would eventually get something ourselves, and when we would need a nudge because we hadn’t searched the area properly and would never find the thing we needed in a million years.

Thankfully, there wasn’t too much of that needed, so it wasn’t often that we heard the cackle of a witch, alerting us to look at the screen on the wall for a little assistance.

ANYTHING ELSE

The thing that makes the games at EO Escape Rooms so great, Scary Tale included, is simply that they’ve done the basics right. This game is everything an escape room should be: cool set, a narrative that ties the set and the puzzles together, and loads of solid content. When you combine those things you get a game that is just, simply, a joy to play.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 31mins (we got the bonus 10 mins)

Address: Unit 1 Drury Dr, Sudbury CO10 1WH

Website: https://www.eo-escape.co.uk/