We were greeted by a young gentleman named David, who really
couldn't have been more helpful if he tried! He explained everything with deep
detail and his pre-game brief was sharp, on point, and practically perfect in
every way. Shortly after the brief we were greeted by a busy little cherub,
Elinor, who was very welcoming and set the room up as fast as Usain Bolt. Now
we were both very much in two minds about everything so far, while I, Ginger,
was quite nervous about the room because honestly, I didn’t have high hopes. We
had had so many experiences where the setting and location of the escape rooms
kind of hinted to the standard of the room and the team, I really thought that
it was going to be rubbish…. Glasses on the other hand was like a bottle of
pop, he was RARING to go! I had never seen him dress as quick as when David
pulled out our prisoner uniforms and glasses could really get into the
character and the story of the room.
Now dressed in our prisoner garb, we anxiously entered
the room were a true-to-life scenario of life or (painful) death welcomed us. We
were greeted by puzzles, locks and a little bit of fear. We began with personal
interaction which turned into thought provoking and mild physical interaction.
We felt the seconds ticking away in perfect synchronicity with our racing
heartbeats with pure adrenaline. For the first time, we felt we were officially
locked in and all we wanted to do was escape. Not a single item in the room was
misplaced everything was thought out to within an inch! As we searched through
various things to find keys and combinations, everything in the room fitted.
Everything belonged. Everything was how I imagined a Torture Corps interrogation
room to be.
The theming of the room…. We cannot fault. It was
perfection. From the character touches, to the personalized touches, to the boxes
to literally the sound and everything that happened in the hour, felt like we
were the story. We weren’t just a part, or playing a game, we were LIVING the
story… We were the end of the story if we didn’t make it.
While the puzzles were strategic with some being more
obvious than others, certain puzzles and concealments were GENIUS. We actually
dismissed a few main clues because we hadn’t even thought about the possibility
that it was PURPOSEFULLY there.
There is nothing we can say that we think the people
running this room need to improve on. We cannot stress enough how every little
tiny thing was scrutinized and thought of. The level of detail in these rooms,
surpasses any room that we have done so far.
We managed to escape with just shy of 2 minutes to go
and when we did, we have never felt so relieved and elated to have completed
the room in our experience. The mild fear we had in the room, the confusion,
the frustration the mildly grossed out feeling we had completely disappeared
and instead we were filled with happiness, excitement and our adrenalin had sky
rocketed.
When we finished we practically bounced out of the
room and we were met by our two lovely game hosts, who after a chat for nearly
an hour, we found to be some of the most genuine and nicest people we have met.
Glasses and myself have actually discussed how we feel that we kind of missed
out, this being a kickstarter project, that we didn’t contribute to this
amazing room. We wish that we had put
some of our money towards it because hand on heart, the room and the runners
deserve EVERY bit of praise and positive vibes that their hard work will bring.
In the world of escape rooms, you have the best, and
the worst. You have a bar, a standard that you expect other escape rooms to be…
The Escape Rooms: Newport… Doesn’t set the bar, it
demolishes it completely. Other escape rooms need to visit this one, they need
to learn from these rooms because The Escape Rooms
: Newport IS the bar.
Our GingerGlasses Fun-o-meter rating, without a doubt
in our minds, is an easy but well deserved 10G… If we could award it higher, we
happily would. We CANNOT wait for their next room and we cannot wait to see
what the future brings for this up-and-coming front runner. One thing is for
certain, this is one room to watch!
Rise Up!
What other escape rooms have you played? I saw the review of Namco which is a pretty terrible game (I'm amazed you considered playing another room after that one...) so I'm curious to hear about some of the good games you've played.
ReplyDeleteHi!,
DeleteThanks for getting in touch with us!
All the rooms that we have played (so far... except Namco) have been in Wales, but while some are stand alone centres, quite a few are part of bigger brands.
We are currently putting the finishing touches to other reviews at the moment, so please keep an eye out for when we post again which will be some point next week ^_^
We can't hold TOO much of a grudge against that room, because after all, without that room we may not have done any other escape rooms... but we certainly think that that was one of our worst experiences. Thankfully, there have been MANY more great ones!
If you keep an eye on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TripAdvisor or our website, you'll be one of the first to know when we post a new review. You can also get in touch with us there too!
Have a great evening!
Ginger Glasses
Great review! I can't wait to give Torture Corps a try. It sounds like they've gone for a fully-immersive theme (which I love). Glad you escaped too :)
ReplyDelete