Escapism: Radioactive (Plymouth)

Fun, and not dark – yay!

M.Corp have been experimenting with the effects of radiation on unknowing test subjects. After an accident caused a nuclear explosion which destroyed the surrounding areas and began turning the survivors into mutants, your underground research team began working on a cure.

Unfortunately, M.Corp have discovered your work, and have sent their people to destroy your hidden antidote research. It’s up to you and your genius team to gather your research and escape through the facility’s secret exit to save the world before it’s too late.

We’ve recently realised the joys of train travel for day trips to escape rooms (when the train companies aren’t striking anyway). So next on the list for east day trips was Plymouth. Last time we were in town we played over at Roomsmiths, this time we were in town to check out one of the newest venues, Escapism.

Escapism have two branches, one in Chester and now this one in Plymouth. It seems like the games are the same between both branches, so if you’ve played a game at one venue then its counterpart at the other venue will likely be comparable.

Radioactive was to be our fourth and final game of the day having already played The Missing, Legacy, and Breadcrumbs. We did pretty well in the first three games so we had high hopes that our so far decent performances would continue into this game.

The venue has that ‘new feel’ about it, both in a cleanliness way and also perhaps a ‘missing something’ kind of way. When I say something was missing, it was simply a place to sit while we waited for our games. As it was, there were only window sills for us to perch on, and after a few minutes (also in the sun in the window) it did get rather uncomfortable.

We’d already had the health and safety briefing when we first arrived, and the staff were kind enough to not make us sit through it another three times. So all that was left was to get in the room and get on with our mission.

Once we got into the room, that’s where we received our mission briefing by JJ (assisted by Alden). With the mission clear in our heads, and a 60 minute timer on the screen, there was no time to lose!

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

In the room it was clear to see that it was all very new, it just felt very clean (I’m not sure if that’s a thing, but it did). The other observation, which we were very relieved to see, was that the room was very well lit.

With ambient noise being played at all times, the whole experience has a bit of a creepy waiting room vibe about it. Strangely the audio aspect actually added something to the experience.

I really didn’t know what to expect from a room called ‘Radioactive’, especially as I didn’t actually know any of the background story. However, now having played the game, and read the mission bio at the top of this review, I can see it all makes sense and the theming fit in perfectly.

There was more than one part to this game and those areas that we did encounter all felt very distinct and like they served a purpose to progress the story of the game. The spaces were also of a good size so I can’t see that bigger teams would have any issues.

It’s also worth noting that some of the aspects in this room could be a bit scary for younger audiences, but from what I am led to believe they can make changes to make it more child friendly.

PUZZLES

I love it when we play a game and it just clicks, and that’s exactly what happened here. We found the puzzles to be logical, fair, and well signposted. It was also very much non-linear so we were able to split up and solve whatever we felt like.

The puzzles all fitted into the theme and the various spaces that we encountered. Searching, observation, wordplay, coding, directions, colour, decoding, communication and teamwork were all present in the puzzles here.

Despite the majority of the puzzles resulting in combinations for padlocks or keypads the room still had a modern and tech feel about it. Escapism are generally decent with their signposting of puzzles and padlocks, so we never had to try a combination in too many locks before finding the right one.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

We didn’t actually need any help, in fact the room clicked so well that we ended up shaving 10 minutes off the room record (in fairness, it had only been opened a few months). Knowing what our GMs were like in their other games, and how excited they were when we completed our mission, I have no doubt that if we needed help it would have come quickly.

If we did need any clues they would have been delivered via a screen (with an audible alert). But for our game, the screen was only needed to display our countdown timer.

ANYTHING ELSE

The puzzles in this game really clicked with us, and we quite enjoyed the theming too. It’s nice to play a room that perhaps has a darker side without being a physically dark room. More rooms with decent lighting, please.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 26:00

Address: 17 Bretonside, Plymouth PL4 0BB

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