Excape: The Vault (Exmouth)

A worthwhile detour!

Legend tells of an abandoned Vault, full of gold and home to the biggest single diamond in history… you and your team have one shot to break in, steal as much as you can and get out. Just one problem, the power is running out. Fast. You have 60 minutes. If you’re not out by then, you’ll be trapped. Forever.

It’s not just about getting out… it’s about what you can get away with.

Exmouth is really not that far from where we now live, but for some reason we’d never actually ventured down there to play at Excape Escape rooms. It was a trip to nearby Exeter to visit Prodigy Escape Rooms where we spoke with the lovely owners who recommended that we pop over to Excape, specifically to play The Vault.

We love a good recommendation, especially from owners and to cut a long story short, the recommendation was a solid one.

Arriving in Exmouth on a very wet and miserable day, we found plenty of parking nearby and then had a short walk over to the venue, which appears to be located above an old bank (suitable for a vault themed game).

When we arrived we ascended the stairs and were greeted by our GM, and one of the owners, Dan. Dan welcomed us and showed us through to the waiting area, of which there appears to be a couple. We stashed our personal belongings in the provided lockers and made sure to make use of the facilities. With that out of the way it was time to get down to business. Dan supplied our disguises (all heists need a disguise, right?) and then proceeded to give us our mission briefing.

Suitably disguised, we entered the lift and our time began.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Being completely honest, I didn’t go into this game with high expectations. I don’t know why, perhaps it was the reputation of this venue from the previous owners, but actually, first impressions were good. A little bit of theatrics and a room layout that fitted the story well and we were off to a good start.

The centrepiece of the game, as you would expect, is the vault, and that also didn’t disappoint. Some fun theatrics at key moments helped to make what could be a dull ‘bank’ like setting a bit more exciting, and the ambient music playing at all times is always a nice way to cut through the silence and up the tempo a little.

We’ve robbed many banks/vaults in our time, and many of them have been done in rather dark environments (well you wouldn’t want the police to know you’re there). Fortunately, this vault was very well lit and we never had any issue with lighting.

In terms of accessibility, I’d say it wasn’t bad. There were perhaps one or two steps and then it was on one level for the most part – I think the vault was also accessible…once you get the door open of course. If accessibility is an issue for your group, then it would be worth having a word with Excape as they may be able to offer workarounds so that everyone can take part.

PUZZLES

This game started strong with linking the puzzles into the theming and had us performing tasks that we probably could reasonably expect to perform when breaking into a bank vault. As the game progressed, the puzzles started to fit into the usual escape room tropes, yet still the link to banks/banking was present.

Searching, communication, teamwork, observation, wordplay, dexterity and colours made up the bulk of the puzzles. They were generally fair puzzles and once we had all the information we needed, and interpreted it in the correct way, we had no issues solving them. Although, playing devil’s advocate, one could argue that outside knowledge was needed in a couple of spots – it’s very much common knowledge, but I can imagine not everyone would know the things they need to know to complete those puzzles.

Once solved, the puzzles generally resulted in codes for padlocks – so if you’re not a fan of padlock heavy games then perhaps this isn’t one for you. Despite the number of padlocks in the game, it was well signposted so we generally knew what code went in which lock (which was much appreciated).

As a team of two we found that we worked well in this game and were able to split up and work on different things at various points. The game was quiet open in that sense so I would imagine larger teams would also be kept well occupied.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

There was nothing fancy with the clue system, just walkie-talkies. But in the theme of a bank heist I would imagine that many criminals would perhaps use walkie-talkies for communication so I don’t think we can really complain too much about that.

I don’t recall needing any clues or help in this game, but we had a lovely chat with Dan at the end and he seemed to have been watching closely so I’m sure that if we needed help it would have come in quickly.

The room also had a countdown timer that was very prominent, so there was never any doubt about how long we had left – or that’s what we thought anyway.

ANYTHING ELSE

This game was a surprising hit for us. Perhaps it’s because we went in with low expectations, but the recommendation was a good one and we had fun breaking into yet another vault. Decent set design, an adrenaline filled ending, and lovely hosting made our time in The Vault a fun one.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 32mins

Address: 11 Rolle St, Exmouth EX8 1HA

Website: https://excape.co.uk/