No Crocodiles in sight
Every member of The Illuminati has gathered for its Annual General Meeting. Locked away in the Board Room, the higher order had just wrapped up the meeting when the lights suddenly dropped, and one of them killed the King of the Illuminati, otherwise known as Plato!
As junior members of The Illuminati, you and your team will have to gather any evidence from within the Board Room to find out who the killer was, how he or she did it, and where they have scarpered to! However, there may be a sting in the tail of this case which means you will need to be out within the hour, or it will be curtains for everybody!
Our mini Northern Road Trip was packed full of games that we were very excited to play, but The Escaporium was one of the venues that we were most looking forward to, thanks to our friends, and team-mates for the trip, Amy and Ian of Brit of an Escape Habit. We started our visit with The Haligonian, which is the only other game at The Escaporium’s gorgeous venue within the Grade I listed Piece Hall, but since we had a bit of time between games, this presented the perfect opportunity to explore the other businesses in the building, like the charming Sweet Tooth and The Wine Barrel. But the time flew by, and once again we were off to the colonnade level (AKA, the upper floor), this time to play Crux Codicillus.
We made our way back up the stairs (don’t worry, there’s a lift if you need it), and this time, stepped through the door to be greeted by Darrian, our host and GM for Crux Codicillus. We settled onto the bench in reception to listen as Darrian went over anything and everything that we might need to know about the investigation we were about to embark upon. (And let’s face it, we had a bit of a chat too – it’s hard not to when the staff and owners at The Escaporium are so passionate about their jobs.)
Now, I’m not sure about anyone else, but every time I see Crux Codicillus in writing my brain automatically seems to think that the game was some wild theme like a temple heist where you had to thwart the evil river god in the shape of a crocodile. (No, I have no idea why, my brain is just weird.) So imagine my surprise when I found out that this was, in fact, very much not the case, and we would instead be dealing with not only a secret society but also a murder!
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
The set of Crux Codicillus fits well into its surroundings with deep red walls and chunky furniture that perfectly compliment the Georgian architecture of the building that houses the game. The set evokes the sort of feeling and images one associates with the Illuminati and other secret societies. You know – kind of heavy, ominous and mysterious. Seated around the table, as we watched the intro video, it was easy to be transported into a world veiled in secrecy.
As with any good murder mystery, one clue unveiled the next, and we found the game to be relatively linear in its structure. That’s not to say we had to stick together though. You absolutely can, but thanks to the design, when we wanted to split up, we could divide and work out the basics of a puzzle independently, then come together to solve it once we uncovered all of the information we needed.
Crux was paced well, and flowed seamlessly, allowing the game to build up to the inevitable climax, because after all, it’s a murder mystery, so there has to be a twist! And there certainly was a twist, flipping the game on its head, upping the urgency, and giving us a reason to race towards the finale.
PUZZLES
Crux Codicillus was only the second game we played at The Escaporium, but with just those two games to go by, it is clear that the games at The Escaporium are designed by puzzle enthusiasts for puzzle enthusiasts. While the game was essentially one big game of Cluedo, as you narrowed down the suspects, their locations and the murder weapon, the puzzles themselves were anything but simple deduction.
The puzzles fit into their surroundings and the theming perfectly. There was a fair amount of scavenging, after all, we had to find the murder weapon (or rather, discover which weapon was missing), and search for clues, but aside from that, the puzzles were the perfect blend just tricky enough to make you think, but logical in their execution, giving some really satisfying “Ah-Ha!” moments to the team when things clicked together.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Darrian was a delight, delivering her briefing with panache, and a bit of humour, but also tailoring it to the experience level of the group by checking that we didn’t need to go over any of the escape room basics, and just sticking to the health and safety side of things and the story. Darrian’s thorough debrief following our game was equally delightful, and showed she was paying very close attention to our game, although that was also obvious from her GM style while we were playing.
Darrian’s hints were well thought out, and perfectly timed, appearing on the screen in the corner. Darrian chimed in at the perfect moments with just enough of a nudge to get us back on track while avoiding any frustrations due to the fact that we have a habit of being very lazy with our searching.
ANYTHING ELSE
I don’t know what I was expecting from Crux Codicillus (other than crocodiles, which it definitely does not have), but what I got was a thoroughly satisfying who dunnit mystery in an absolutely stunning building.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 4 players – escaped in 27:30
Address: The Piece Hall, Colonnade Level, East Wall, The Piece Hall, Halifax, HX1 1RE
Website: https://www.theescaporium.com/
*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review
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