Get Lost Escape Rooms: The Abandoned Cottage (Dover)

Strangely, not the scariest place in Dover…

In the middle of the woods, In the midst of all the trees

Stands a little wooden house, Untouched by man or breeze

In the middle of the cottage, In the midst of the abandoned house

Nothing moves or mumbles, No creature, sound or mouse

In the middle of the cottage, In the midst of all the dust

Stands a dark and dusty candle, In a dungeon full of rust

For in the middle of the past, In the midst of days gone by

A curse befell three witches, Named Edith, Margery and Lorelei

In the middle of the woods, In the shadow of a tree

Three witches lie in wait, For you to set them free…

Having already completed The Krevokar Programme and smashed the record at The World Fair Hotel we were feeling pretty confident going into the abandoned cottage. Our GM (and co-owner) Ross gave us the low-down of why we were standing outside this cottage and what we had to do to escape in one piece – basically, save some witches.

First impressions of the room were good, it was dark but not so dark that you couldn’t see and we had torches so that helped where we needed a little lighting boost. When you first get in the room you are greeted by a short video on the screen that one of the witches has left, once that is over your time begins and you have one hour to complete the task at hand.

Although I didn’t enjoy this room as much as the other rooms at Get Lost Escape Rooms, it was a fun room and it complimented the other rooms at the venue (Liz actually enjoyed this room more than The World Fair Hotel). There is plenty of space for larger groups and despite the name, this isn’t a scary room so it would be a good one to take the family along to.

PUZZLES

Like the other rooms at Get Lost Dover, there was a fair amount of searching in this room and if your searching skills are subpar then you could struggle. There was another puzzle, which involved an item that no good witch should ever be without, that was a bit fiddly as it didn’t ‘sit’ right so we struggled on that one, not sure if that was a design issue or just us being tired?

Most of the puzzles were pretty spread out so there was plenty to keep us occupied and even for bigger groups there would be enough to do without people standing around looking a bit lost. Communication was needed for one particular puzzle, but in hindsight this could be done by yourself although it would take longer and would be more frustrating.

One puzzle in the room was a bit tricky as it used stickers which unfortunately were peeling off, this made some of the symbols ambiguous and we wasted a lot of time on this as we had it set up incorrectly. We did raise this with Ross after the game and he said they would look into it, so hopefully it does get fixed – a better solution would possibly be to use a laser printer to print on wood.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

I like it when companies go a little further than perhaps they need to in order to create a full experience, and the team at Get Lost Escape Rooms have done just that with this room. They could have quite easily just put a door in a blank wall but instead they have created the full facade of a cottage which, coupled with mood lighting makes you feel part of the story before you even enter the room.

The actual room itself was well designed and it did indeed feel like a bit of a run down cottage in the woods. I wouldn’t say there were any ‘wow’ moments but there was one bit that did surprise us and we didn’t see it coming. With many escape rooms you will solve a room and then move on to the next and leave everything behind, what felt different with this room is that the first puzzles seemed to open up the room(s) and this just meant we had one bigger area to cover as puzzles couldn’t necessarily be solved by items in the room in which they were found (my FitBit was happy, I got good steps in this room).

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Our GM did a good job and despite not needing any clues (maybe a nudge or two) we have no doubt they would have been delivered promptly if/when we needed. What our GM did do, was to throw in a few one-liners in response to what we were talking about which added a bit of comedy and enhanced the experience. The clues would have delivered in a kind of creepy-hushed voice that felt in keeping with the theme.

ANYTHING ELSE

Get Lost Escape Rooms have more rooms opening later this year (June 2019) and if they are of the same level as their current rooms then they are going to be worth a special visit. I’m sure we keep on saying this but Kent has a ridiculous amount of quality rooms and so many of the owners are wonderful. We felt truly welcome at this venue, enjoyed all their rooms, and can’t wait to go back.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players (escaped in 35:31 with no clues)

Address: 143 Snargate Street, Dover, CT17 9BZ

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