Escape Rooms Cardiff: The 13th Floor (Cardiff)

Fun, on the level

13 FLOORS IS A LONG WAY TO FALL

The 13th Floor takes place in the abandoned Henderson Hotel with a dark and twisted past.

In your exploration in you are met with the ghost of the hotel’s final owner. He strikes a bargain with you to find his fortune within the hour.

Solve the mystery of the missing fortune lost in Henderson Hotel, step into the elevator, and ascend to the 13th Floor, but be warned – this is no ordinary elevator, and if you fail, 13 floors is a long way to fall…

Whenever we’re in Cardiff we always check to see if Escape Rooms Cardiff have anything new on offer, and on our most recent visit there were several we hadn’t played yet. We weren’t in the mood (nor did we have the time)  to cram in four games, and we weren’t really in the mood for serial killers or detectives anyway, but The Tomb 2 and The 13th Floor sounded like they would be the perfect additions to our day.

Although there are still a few games that we have yet to play, I still feel a bit like we’re frequent flyers at Escape Rooms Cardiff, but even if you’ve never been to the venue before, it’s very easy to find, with a convenient city centre location. Having played there previously, we knew the drill, and found ourselves pushing open the door the requisite five minutes early.

As usual, we were warmly greeted, and enjoyed a bit of a chat while filling out our waivers. But it wasn’t long before we took a seat to go over the essential health and safety briefing with our GM, Jo. Once that was out of the way, we made our way through the venue and found ourselves stopped outside the doors to a very fancy looking lift. Here we learned a bit more about what exactly our mission was to be, but then it was time to call the lift, and begin.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

If you’ve ever been to a Disney theme park, you might find yourself getting some Hollywood Tower of Terror vibes from The 13th Floor, which isn’t surprising, given it takes place in the elevator of an abandoned 1920’s/Art Deco style hotel and there are, of course, ghosts. The set and theming are on point, and while the atmosphere is creepy, rest assured, it’s not quite as dramatic as The Tower of Terror.

The doors slid open, like any proper lift would, and the game began. Gameplay was incredibly linear, with one challenge flowing into the next and we uncovered bits of story along the way. The linear structure makes The 13th Floor particularly well suited to smaller teams, especially when taken in consideration with the somewhat small floor space of the game itself.

And while The 13th Floor isn’t going to make your stomach drop or give you motion sickness, it does come with some pretty cool cinematic moments, giving it a little bit of a wow-factor as you move through the game, and through to the inevitable conclusion.

PUZZLES

I suspect, for many players, the puzzles in The 13th Floor will either be a love them or hate them situation, primarily because there are very few traditional locks. Instead, the majority of the puzzles are more tactile and tangible, forcing players to mess around with their surroundings to figure out how things work. Many players prefer this style of play (myself included), but others like the comfort of knowing that they’re looking for a four-digit combination.

The puzzles still use a familiar escape-room style logic to arrive at the solutions, however, resulting in puzzles that are both fair and satisfying, as well as challenging.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

The GMs at Escape Rooms Cardiff have always been great, and Jo was no exception. She knew when to chime in with help, and when to just let us puzzle things out on our own. That help came in via a screen in the elevator, alongside the time remaining. Thankfully, any clues were also accompanied by an audio alert, just in case you weren’t standing directly in front of the screen when help arrived. While the screen worked perfectly well, it’s a shame it wasn’t a more integrated system. After all, The 13th Floor lends itself perfectly to audio clues and nudges from the ghost haunting The Henderson Hotel, and then the screen wouldn’t be. But really that’s just me being nit-picky; as the saying goes – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

ANYTHING ELSE

If you’re in the mood for a little Tower of Terror nostalgia, this game may just be the one for you. With spot on theming, satisfying puzzles, and just a hint of theatricality, The 13th Floor is another great addition to the games already on offer at Escape Rooms Cardiff.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 36:56

Address:119 St Mary St, Cardiff CF10 1DY

Website: https://www.escaperoomscardiff.co.uk