A cute room
A walk in the enchanted forest has gone wrong, as you and your friends have gotten lost, and run out of food. Fortunately, you’ve come across a house made of gingerbread surrounded by gumdrop lampposts.
But things are much more sinister than they appear, and rushing in you’ve found yourself trapped by a witch’s curse. The witch is soon to return, but perhaps you can find some help in her wicked house, remember to follow the breadcrumbs to safety..
We were recently down in Cornwall and were trying to work out a way to swing by Escapism in Plymouth on our way home, but unfortunately it was just not meant to be. Not wanting to miss out, we decided to plan a day trip by train to head down to Plymouth to check out all of their games in one go.
Escapism has two branches, one in Chester and the other in Plymouth (obviously). The Plymouth branch only actually opened in May of this year (2022) so it still had a very clean and new feel about it – there’s also a chance that things are still being built, so the venue waiting area etc may change in the future.
Breadcrumbs was to be our third game of the day, having already played (and smashed) Legacy and The Missing, after Breadcrumbs we still had Radioactive booked to play – what a fun day!
Because of timings we had a bit of time to kill between most games so we just went for a wander around town, but every time we were on site the staff were nice and so enthusiastic about their jobs that it was a lovely place to be. Really the only negative was that there was no seating area in reception, so it involved a lot of leaning/squatting on windowsills to try and find some comfort. Hopefully this changes though as a few seats would be a great addition to the waiting area.
After killing a bit of time while the previous team played their game, and then waiting for our GM to reset, it was finally time to see what Breadcrumbs was all about. We’d already had the health and safety briefing when we arrived, so didn’t need that again. Our GM, gave us a brief summary of our mission outside of the room. Interestingly, and something we didn’t realise at the time, this game was a split start game – so being the gentleman I am, I allowed Liz to go first and get locked up in her area. After a couple of minutes, I was brought into the room and our time began.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
Once we got into the room we received another briefing via the TV in there. Despite being split up at the start, both of us were able to see and hear the briefing, so that worked well. It’s also worth pointing out that this room is wheelchair accessible, although some parts of it may be less suitable for those with limited mobility, but really those areas are minor.
For lack of a better term, this room was very quaint. It was kinda like being in a kitchen from a fairytale (as you’d expect), although I guess when you think about it, the underlying story is perhaps a bit dark. Still, I’d probably class this game as one that is family friendly and it would be suitable for large and small teams alike as there is plenty to do, and plenty of space to move around.
As I said, this is a split start room but we didn’t find we were separated for long, and even then we could pretty much see and hear each other without too much difficulty. One of the split start areas was a bit dark, but a torch was provided so that was nice. The other area was perfectly well lit and we never found lighting to be an issue at any point.
PUZZLES
Being a split start game, it’s not surprise that this game initially relies on your teamwork and communication skills. It soon opens up though and we found it to be quite a multi-linear room where we could have solved things in many different orders – perfect for a larger team.
This game had a little bit of everything; searching, observation, wordplay, colours (minor), audio, maths (really minor) and logic. I’d say that the puzzles strayed towards the easier end of the spectrum but they were still fun to solve and some were quite clever in their execution. Signposting was pretty much spot on so there were no issues at all with playing this game.
There were a lot of padlocks, or variations of padlocks in Breadcrumbs but the signposting was carried over to these too so it was generally quite easy to know what combination went with which lock. For good measure though, there were some puzzles that had a bit of tech involved.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
We gave our GM a pretty easy ride as we didn’t actually need any clues – everything just made sense. We did waste a few minutes at various points working out what to do, but it soon became clear once we took a step back (and checked each other’s work).
If we had needed any help, I am positive that we would have received it quickly and efficiently. It would have arrived via the screen in the room and been accompanied by a witches cackle just so we knew to look at the TV. The screen also displayed our countdown timer.
ANYTHING ELSE
This is classed as the easiest game at this venue, and it may be, but I’m not sure. It was a fun game with cute set design. Ignoring the slightly dark undertones of the story, I could see this game being a family favourite.
Success / Failure
Final Rating:
Operation | |
Puzzles | |
Room Design | |
GM/Clues | |
Excitement |
Team: 2 players – escaped in 27:58
Address: 17 Bretonside, Plymouth PL4 0BB
Website: https://www.escapismplymouth.co.uk
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