Multi-lingual fun!
A top MI6 agent has been murdered and was just about to uncover a double agent. Work as a team to find the clues and solve the puzzles as you help to identify who the rogue agent is. There is already another agent working on the case but he needs your help. Travel through different parts of berlin as you search through the clues to complete your mission
Can you solve the mysteries of time and return through the time lock in just 75 minutes? Succeed and history will remain unaltered, fail and the berlin wall does not fall and the cold war continues
Brighton has such a plethora of good rooms that it’s not surprising that it’s neighbour, Worthing, with only one room, often gets overlooked. We’d just completed a few games in Brighton and decided to walk to Worthing to check out Time Lock (*Pro Tip: don’t walk, it takes ages and is not as picturesque as you may think!).
We arrived at the venue and were warmly greeted by our two in character hosts, in fact they never actually left character. Andreas and Johan were from Germany and Austria, respectively, which explained why their accents were so different (not bad, just different).
We sat in their waiting room and were made to feel welcome as they offered us water and chatted to us about our day. A quick toilet break (visit the toilet as it is a spectacle in its own right) and with the health and safety out of the way, we were issued with some specialist equipment that would aid us in our mission. Andreas and Johan explained our mission in quite some detail and then wished us ‘good luck’ as we entered the time lock…
PUZZLES
This was a 75 minute room and it certainly felt like there was enough in there to keep most teams occupied for the full time. With a mix of searching, observational, and logic puzzles there was a good range of challenges to really test your brain matter.
There was one puzzle which caused much frustration to Liz, and I was fully expecting her to start breaking things out of frustration; when we tackled it as a team we noticed some logic and suddenly we solved it in no time at all, and, despite Liz’s anger, this was actually my favourite puzzle in the room.
There’s a lot to get on with in Deutschland ‘89 but as it is set up in a non-linear fashion you can choose to work together or divide-and-conquer and even bigger teams should be kept busy, although it could get cramped in places.
Being set in Berlin it would be weird if everything was in English and it was nice to see that language became a puzzle in itself, but there was no outside knowledge required at all and everything you needed to know was in the room with you.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
Ok, let’s ignore the fact that this room is set up in what was probably an old shop front so there are panoramic windows in the waiting area, this room is going for full blown immersion as soon as you enter the premises.
We enjoyed how you entered the time lock and then immediately had to solve a puzzle to get back into East Berlin rather than just going through a door. But what was most impressive was the journey this room took you on, for such a small space it’s impressive how much of the story they have fitted in. East Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie, West Berlin, it’s all there and this gave a real sense of progress.
Being picky there were a number of padlocks, which personally doesn’t bother me but for some they may find them a bit anachronistic or annoying. The ending was also a little flat and left us with some questions, but to talk about that would be a spoiler so let’s leave it at that.
For some reason Worthing attracts a lot of French students so Time Lock have actually made this room multi lingual and it can be completed in either English or French – impressive.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Andreas and Johan were in costume and in character as soon as we entered and those were the only people we spoke with before or after the game.
During the game our clues were delivered by our agent on the ground 006 ¾, not quite up to 007 level. Clues were delivered via walkie-talkie or the time-lock itself had a clue system built in which worked as a good secondary system. The time-lock also displayed how much time you had left in 1989 to complete the mission.
I’m not exactly sure how many clues we had, but there was definitely a few. Agent 006 ¾ chirped in one time with nudges when we had missed things and gave us timely clues when we requested them.
ANYTHING ELSE
Everyone knows Brighton has good rooms, it’s nice to see that Worthing can hold its own too. This is a solid room with a great team behind it and it’s 100% worth trekking out from Brighton to do it, although perhaps don’t walk there.
I personally like interacting with the GMs and owners after the games but because they stayed in character it made it much trickier to do gigs. It’s obviously a choice they’ve made so they don’t break the immersion but I’d like to have chatted to the ‘real’ people.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation | |
Puzzles | |
Room Design | |
GM/Clues | |
Excitement |
Team: Two Players (escaped in 51 mins)
Address: 70 Church Walk, Worthing BN11 2ND
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