Escapism: The Missing (Plymouth)

Nothing missing here

​​A slew of missing persons cases, all centred around a dense portion of woodland, have brought your search party together. Tasked with finding what has happened to those who are lost, you are sent into the dark of the woods and to explore their last known location.

Can you discover the secrets within the trees? Or will you too, become one of the Missing?

Despite having a couple of locations around the country, Escapism is a company we hadn’t yet had the opportunity to visit. But with a new location recently opening in Plymouth, the timing was ideal to go check them out – especially now that Plymouth is only about an hour and a half from us by train.

Escapism is an easy walk from the station, and very close to plenty of amenities, including shops and restaurants. We arrived nice and early finding a clean, bright, and welcoming reception area, and were warmly welcomed by a couple of games masters. Escapism Plymouth currently have four games open (Legacy, Breadcrumbs, Radioactive and The Missing), with space for many more, so of course we booked in for all four games. We started with Legacy, but after getting out in very good time, we had an hour until we were due in The Missing, giving us the perfect opportunity for lunch! So armed with recommendations from the Escapism team, we did just that.

As time always does, that hour disappeared quickly, and it was back to Escapism for Round Two. Thankfully, we had already been through the basic briefing (What is an escape room, and how do you play?) for Legacy, so we were able to skip that and just head straight to The Missing once the team were ready for us. Outfitted with just two torches, we were led down the hall, and through the door into the woods.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The first thing to mention is that The Missing is that it is dark. We were given two torches, but I gather that may not always be the case, and at first the only light comes from the torches and the ambient light of the briefing screen. Eventually this does change, but teams may find themselves stuck in the dark for a little while.

Once our eyes adjusted to the gloom, we found ourselves standing outside of the ominous cabin in the woods. We quickly set about exploring our surroundings, finding that there were often several things that could be worked on simultaneously. We uncovered little in the way of narrative, but ambient noises and the periodic footsteps indicating the imminent return of the hunter, helped to further the immersion and ramp up the tension.

PUZZLES

The puzzle styles we found throughout The Missing were very much in the vein of what we’ve come to expect from escape rooms – searching, observation, communication, logic, keys, and codes – making it a great option for those that want to dip their toes into the world of escape rooms, and want a slightly more edgy theme. As with most serial killer cabins we’ve come across, there was an abundance of padlocks, alongside a few more tactile things to change it up a bit.

Unlike Legacy, which subtly telegraphed which code would be used for which lock, The Missing left it to be a free for all, forcing us to try any codes we found in every lock that it might possibly work in. Thankfully, there were a variety of lock styles employed throughout the game, so it wasn’t a case of trying a code in every single lock, but there was an element of tedium to it.

But whatever the puzzle type, we found them to be clear and fair… at least, once you found all of the pieces you need.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Tash (we think it was Tash) returned as our GM for The Missing, sending us through into the woods. There wasn’t much wisdom she needed to impart to us specifically for The Missing, other than the obvious don’t stick your fingers in plug sockets, and she quickly left us to find out more about The Missing on our own. Having been our GM once already, had a good idea of how we operate. Luckily for her, we gave her an easy day at the office, as the puzzles clicked well enough, and we didn’t need much in the way of assistance.

If we had required any assistance, she would have been able to provide it using the screen in the game that also played our video story briefing and displayed our timer. Clues are always accompanied by an audio alert, so we knew to pop out to the screen if we heard anything.

ANYTHING ELSE

The Missing is the epitome of “Classic Escape Room.” The set build is decent, with fun and engaging puzzles that are sure to delight those new to escape games, and please seasoned enthusiasts.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 30:45

Address: 17 Bretonside, Plymouth PL4 0BB

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