Breakout Chester – Identify

Breakout Chester – Identify.
Location: Chester
Game Date 14/03/2017.
Team: Amy & Ian

Theme:
“Your friend has been murdered! You know who did it, but the police do not believe you. In a desperate attempt to find justice you have invaded the killer’s lair in the hopes of finding the proof to bring the killer to justice. However, the maniac could return at any time. Gather the proof and send this killer to prison before he returns. Do you have what it takes to IDENTIFY this psychopath’s other victims?”

Breakout have really pushed the standard of room builds up with Identify, the room was immaculately decorated and very well themed.
It says in the blurb “killer’s lair” but it is actually a living room setting, which is done really well, with good quality fittings, furniture and furnishings giving a quality feel to the room. This helps the immersion greatly, with this being one of Breakout’s more immersive rooms. An excellent room, which yes is “basic” in the terms of a general office/living room setting but done very very well.

Game Play:
The game was fairly open, with the end goal clearly in sight for all of the game. There was one puzzle which contained a big no-no…outside knowledge. I feel that if you have to know something from the outside world in a room then this can be a detriment to the flow of the room (I suppose the parts to solve the puzzle were there, but it was a logic leap and not made massively clear – we went all round the houses with this puzzle and burnt at least 15 minutes on it, the clues given whilst good, steered us in the direction of needing outside knowledge) Aside from that one puzzle, all the rest of the puzzles were standard breakout fare with a mix of maths, observation, logic and UV. Whilst not the hardest room, a couple of puzzles required small logic leaps. The game had a great flow to it, and the last puzzle was a LOT of fun, I really enjoyed putting all the pieces together throughout the game and seeing it all come together.
Now, the elephant in the room, MICROPHONES. Breakout, please…. get mics! I feel the game play would be so so much better if the Game Host could hear, on the “outside knowledge” puzzle it would have helped so much if the Game Host could have heard our train of thought!

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via screen.

Game Host:
Emily was our Game Host and she did a stand up job, it was her first ever briefing (not sure if we were here first ever game) – she was friendly and chatty, and delivered the brief very well. Her clues were generous, and helpful, even if she send us a couple of clues for things we’d already done 🙂  This again would have been avoided or minimised with mics in the room.

Did we escape?
Yes, in 52 minutes!

Website: http://breakoutchester.com/
Price:
2 Players £34
3 Players £42
4 Players £52
5 Players £60