The Panic Room: The Happy Institute (Gravesend)

A very Happy institute

Welcome to The Happy Institute! Are you ready to face the darkness inside and make the change to happiness? It’s only a pill away… What’s the worst that could happen?

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone were happy? Here at the Happy Institute, testing is going swimmingly with our newest cognitive supplement; Risus. You have been invited to test the drug in its most recent strain, to help suppress those pesky negative emotions. RESULTS CLASSIFIED. SIDE EFFECTS GUARANTEED

This experience is sure to chill you to the bone! With challenging puzzles and a live actor, this experience will make you unable to look at hospitals the same way again! you’re guaranteed to come out with a smile on your face; whether you like it or not!

It had been over three years since we were last at The Panic Room in Gravesend, and in that time they had opened a few more games. However, our first game on our little Kent escape room break was one that was open last time we were there, we just didn’t do it. We were told that The Happy Institute was hard for a team of two, so we avoided it when we were less experienced, but now with over 300 games under our belt we thought it was time to finally try it. As it turns out, we had nothing to worry about.

When we arrived at The Panic Room we were greeted by our host, and GM for the game, Reece. Reece was upbeat and happy, much like all the GMs we have encountered in our various visits to The Panic Room. After a quick chat, a toilet and refreshment break, Reece disappeared to notify Dr Hawker that we had arrived for our testing. In no time at all Reece Dr Hawker arrived, in full character and escorted through to the waiting room for The Happy Institute.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

First impressions of The Happy Institute were good, the waiting area that we entered felt like any other generic doctor’s waiting room, including the odd ambient waiting room music – only this one had lockers that we could use to dump our personal items in.

This game does take place all on one level but there are occasions where you will need to crawl for short periods of time – I’m not sure if there is a work-around for this, but I’m sure if you asked they would accommodate you.

The game had a good sense of exploration, as we started in reception and then found ourselves exploring the whole ‘institute’ and constantly going backwards-and-forwards between all the spaces. It’s a good way to get your steps up for the day!

Other than the solid set design, what really added to this experience was the interaction with Dr Hawker. He was an ever-present entity, on hand to subtly provide help if needed, but also to add an extra bit of creepiness/pressure to the room.

PUZZLES

The best thing about an escape room that takes place in a ‘testing facility’, is that pretty much any puzzle feels like it belongs. That was very much the case for The Happy Institute too, the puzzles in the waiting area were the type of things you’d expect to find there, and then the same can be said for puzzles found in the other area.

As expected when being ‘tested’, there was a good range of puzzles; observation, spatial awareness, searching (minor), teamwork, wordplay and maybe a minor bit of logic. Something for everyone! Fortunately the thing that stumped us the most was something that wasn’t really needed and seemed to be included as just part of the immersion (or so we thought).

We actually managed to create our own puzzle too, memory! If it wasn’t for our very attentive GM we would have bypassed a big chunk of the game as Liz managed to remember something we had seen earlier and we used her exceptional memory to solve a puzzle despite technically not having everything we needed – I was all kinds of impressed with her!

The game plays out in a mostly linear fashion and I’d imagine it would be good for both small and larger (not huge) teams. We played as a team of two and it felt like the perfect size for us, we got to see all the puzzles and had a lot of fun.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

A GM can really make or break an escape room experience, and I’m pretty sure that our GM, ‘Dr Hawker’ made our experience much more enjoyable. There are obviously numerous members of staff at The Panic Room, and when the GM for The Happy Institute, they take on different roles and personas – so who knows who/what you will get!

Dr Hawker not only provided an element of creepiness (not scary, just creepy) to our game, but he was also a great GM. The best clue system in a game is one that feels like it is part of the game and it’s even better when you aren’t sure if you’re getting help or if that’s just part of the experience. I think Dr Hawker gave us some subtle nudges at various points but thanks to his character choice, it just felt like this was part of his testing strategy.

If we did need a clue, and I’ve no idea if we did (although we didn’t ask for any), Dr Hawker would appear, in many different ways, and give us a little bit of information to get us on track again.

ANYTHING ELSE

We left it a long time before playing this game, and we shouldn’t have. The puzzles were logical and fair, our GM was great, and we had a very ‘Happy’ time in this Institute.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 37:39

Address: The Grove, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 1DP

Website: https://thepanicroom.net/