Escapism: Accused (Plymouth)

Another fun game from Escapism

Thomas Cartwright has been murdered! You’ve been hired as Private Investigators by the main suspect to prove their innocence.

The crime scene is locked up, so you’ll need to break into Cartwright’s office and find the evidence to clear their name. Their trial is in an hour, so get a move on!

We don’t have many games local to us in Somerset, especially not many that we haven’t played. And while Plymouth isn’t in Somerset, convenient train links allow it to be about as close to local as we can hope for. When Escapism Plymouth first opened, we took full advantage of their proximity to us, playing Legacy, The Missing, Breadcrumbs, and Radioactive not long after they opened in 2022, and returning again in 2023 to add their new games Wrecked and Forge. So, when we heard they had opened a new game, and not only that, it was a game that had been designed by the Plymouth team and not the team up in the original location of Chester, we didn’t wait long before hopping on a train down to Plymouth once more.

Escapism have a pretty central location, and it’s a relatively easy walk from the station, but we started our day at Escape Plymouth instead, with Beanstalk. Thankfully, we left ourselves plenty of time to grab a bite to eat (i.e. decompress after what turned out to be an exercise in frustration) between the two games. But by the time our booking for Accused rolled around, we were more than ready for an hour of good puzzling.

Our welcome at Escapism Plymouth was just as friendly as always – in fact, some of the staff recognised us (to be fair though, it’s probably hard to forget a team calling themselves “Moist Tornado”). Although we’ve visited a few times before, Tash, our host, still made sure we got the usual health and safety briefing, just in case we were tempted to stand on each other’s shoulders or lick a plug socket, before leading us to the entrance to Accused to tell us a bit more about why we were there.

With the preamble out of the way, Tash opened the door, and we were off. The door closed, and moments later the screen came to life, bringing us a news broadcast regarding the trial of the accused. We’d only have an hour to prove his innocence – Game on.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

As the broadcast finished, we took in our surroundings and found ourselves standing in a forensics tent outside the home of our murder victim. Like something straight out of a crime drama, we were surrounded by tables of evidence, and information on the investigation, but also some of the paraphernalia one might find in a typical English garden. The ambient music and noises faded into the background as we got to work.

It’s well decorated, but the space in Accused is tight, and I certainly wouldn’t want to play with a team of more than four. At points it even felt like Gord and I were tripping over each other, but that eased a bit as we got into the flow, progressing enough through the game to give ourselves some extra space. At times the game felt as though it was very linear, but there were definitely points where we were able to split up, which helped with the feelings of claustrophobia. Once we got started, the puzzles flowed well, and there was never really a lull in the action as Accused provided a quick pace, with periodic time updates in the form of another news broadcast to keep the pressure on, right up to the moment when we broke the news that we had secured the evidence to exonerate our accused client.

PUZZLES

There were padlocks of all shapes, sizes and types everywhere, but that was actually worked into the story. After all, Thomas Cartwright, the murder victim, was a lock enthusiast! (Or eccentric nut job – take your pick). Searching, observation, wordplay, a bit of lateral thinking, even some more tactile challenges, and of course, a hefty amount of logic will help you in your quest to solve the puzzles in Accused. The variety of different lock styles kept the puzzles from feeling too “samey” by always solving for a number code, but there was very little in the way of technical surprises.

For the most part, the puzzles were the typical sorts of things we would expect to find in an escape room. Regardless of familiarity, type or style, however, the puzzles throughout the game were fair and pleasing to solve, and although there weren’t many surprises, there were a couple! There were even a few puzzles that were a bit deeper than they seemed at first, providing a bit of complexity that was delightfully unexpected.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Our host at Escapism this time around was Tash. Tash hosted our Legacy game on our first visit to Escapism Plymouth, and from the warm greeting we received to the post game chat, Tash was just as wonderful at hosting as she was the first time we met her – friendly, passionate about escape rooms, and excellent at reading the room regarding clues.

Clues in all Escapism Plymouth’s games are delivered using the tried and true TV screen, accompanied by an alert noise, to ensure players take note of any help that’s being offered. The puzzles flowed well enough for us that I can’t recall ever being hung up for long enough to warrant a clue, but from our experience with Tash (and in fact, all of the staff at Escapism), we wouldn’t have been left to flounder on our own for too long without at least being asked if we wanted a nudge.

ANYTHING ELSE

Accused is another solid offering from Escapism Plymouth, with good puzzles, and a great pace. But really, if you’re playing a game here, you can’t really go wrong with any of them.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 38:55 mins

Address: 17 Bretonside, Plymouth PL4 0BB

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