Lock and Code: Breakout (Weston-Super-Mare)

“We have to do what?! This feels so wrong…”

Whilst trying to collect vital information for your cause, you have been caught by the enemy. Can you evade the guard and escape the prison before your time is up?

We’re always trying to introduce friends to escape rooms in the hope that it will give us more people to share them with, so we invited along a lifelong friend of mine and her partner to do not just one room but two – trial by fire. We close ‘Breakout’ and ‘League of Superheroes’ to do with them, and beause we have a bit of an addiction we decided to do ‘Night before Christmas’ and ‘Alchemy Enigma’ as just the two of us later in the day.

Weston-Super-Mare is an interesting place that feels like it is on a bit of a downward spiral so it was nice to see that there were some escape rooms in the area to make me revisit my childhood seaside resort. This room is at Lock and Code’s central location in the town centre and although not being the most inviting of buildings once you get inside it gets a little better, maybe. The waiting room is decorated in a style that feels like an homage to Fallout.

After chatting with the GM about the usual stuff such as rules and the story etc, we were given our Pip-Boy (yes you get a Pip-Boy for clues!) and locked in the room. We did this as a four and one of our team is a bit of a man-mountain so it was a bit cramped in the initial room that you start in, but fortunately we didn’t spend too long in there and managed to get on to the next section.

For such a seemingly small room this room kept us guessing and had one or two nice little surprises that we really didn’t see coming. There was also a live actor who comes into the room, not in a scary way and we were warned about him, but it’s good to know that someone will be appearing. There is also one thing that really makes you doubt yourself and if you should do it or not as it goes against everything you know about escape rooms, fortunately they left some little clues so you know it is ok.

There were some bits in the room where we struggled a bit, but that was mostly me being an idiot and not checking things properly. Once the GM gave us a nudge and we realised I had messed up, I apologise profusely, begged forgiveness and hoped to not be kicked off the team. Fortunately they forgave me and we continued the room and successfully broke out!

This was a really enjoyable room, a little bit rough around the edges in places but had a good mixture of finding things and solving things. I wasn’t sure what to expect from an escape room in Weston-Super-Mare but was pleasantly surprised by this room.

PUZZLES

Some good puzzles in this room and it was nice to see a few things that we haven’t seen before, resetting the room must be a bit of a bugger though! One could argue that some of the room is on the easier side but it’s easy when you know how and we spent an inordinate amount of time on some of the simplest puzzles there were.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

There were some really nice features in this room that made the styling work, like the waiting room it was an homage to Fall Out. It’s hard to write this and not give anything away but let’s just say there was a room that was accessed in a way that we didn’t expect it to be (no, not down the toilet).

Some of the room was perhaps cheaply put together and was possibly reaching the end of its life but with a little bit of DIY I am sure it can be salvaged. There were a few things in the room that looked like they used to be puzzles but for whatever reason are no longer part of the game, these ended up distracting us on a few occasions and costing us time.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

This is where they really tried to be different, clues were delivered on a Pip-Boy that you could wear on your arm and if you needed any clues then this is how they would be delivered. In the second half of the room the Pip-Boy becomes mostly obsolete as clues are also delivered via a screen.

The GM was on the ball and delivered clues and nudges perfectly on time, always being helpful but never giving too much away.

ANYTHING ELSE

These are the types of companies I enjoy doing rooms with, a small company staffed by enthusiast. We spoke with our GM at great length about rooms he had done and wanted to do and he wasn’t short of recommendations for other rooms we should try. I hope Lock and Code keep continuing to improve and start creating some true masterpieces.

To ramp up the pressure at the end they do something which I’ve seen before in other rooms and am personally not a fan of. You can see why they do it but it comes as a bit of a surprise and I really wish they wouldn’t.

Success / Failure

Final Rating: 

Team: 4 people

Address: 67 Meadow St, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1QL

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