The most fun you can have in 25 minutes?
Didn’t your parents ever warn you not to get into a stranger’s van? We all make mistakes sometimes, but this one may cost you your life!
You and your friends have been kidnapped! A satanic cult has been stalking you for a while now, and you’re due to be sacrificed in just 25 minutes to the one they call Mother. That is, unless you can work together and escape the van before your time is well and truly up!
Mother is great! All praise Mother!
‘The Sacrifice’ was a bonus room that was included when we booked our enthusiast package [LINK] with The Panic Room. We probably wouldn’t have booked this separately as it is only a 25 minute room but we’re glad we did it as it was a lot of fun in a small space.
Our GM greeted us (in character) and after the usual briefing sent us into the van for our experience to begin. It’s weird, even though you know this is a shorter room so the puzzles will reflect this you still feel an element of pressure as if you were trying to do a full room in half the time.
We both set off to investigate the van and see what puzzles or clues were hiding in the dark and we soon found the place to start. At first we were knocking them down like a team possessed and then we gradually slowed down to a bit more of a crawl, and at one point very nearly a stop.
We really liked what was in this room and the designers had been realistic when looking at what would work in this space, but this didn’t hold them back and the have done a good job. None of the puzzles had a ‘wow’ factor but to do something really impressive in such a small space would have been very tricky.
If you’re in Gravesend and want to do a room then give this one a try, it’s a great introduction for inexperienced players, or a nice little warm-up / cool-down after a long weekend of full length escape rooms.
PUZZLES
As you would expect from an escape room in van that only lasts 25 minutes there wasn’t a massive amount of puzzles to complete. But the puzzles that were there were good and fitted the theme really well. At one point we were blitzing the room and it looked like we may get out in ten minutes but then we hit a bit of a wall and this slowed us down considerably.
We were thrown by something which to us was a bit ambiguous as, if you have done any of the other rooms at The Panic Room, there is a bit of a theme in relation to one bit of set design, but in this room it is actually part of the game and we didn’t pick up on that. Regardless of that, the puzzles were fun and worked well in the space you had.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
The inside of the van was good; it was still very much a van but they had some nice touches which made it more atmospheric. This room has the bonus that all dark rooms have: when it is dark people can’t see everything at once so you can get away with a lot more, and this room was dark! There are no windows at all so without the torches it would be impossible.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
The GM was dressed up in robes and remained in character throughout this short experience. Clues were delivered via walkie-talkies and the GM did a good job of keeping an eye on us and providing nudges where we needed them.
ANYTHING ELSE
For £10 per person you really can’t go wrong with this room, it’s a 25 minute experience rather than the usual 60 but it is still worth it. Even better, they hire the van out for events so you can have an escape room at your next birthday party!
Success / Failure
Final Rating:
| Operation | |
| Puzzles | |
| Room Design | |
| GM/Clues | |
| Excitement |
Team: 2 people
Address: 148-150 Milton Road,Gravesend, DA12 1DP
Website: www.thepanicroom.net
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