Breakout – Reclassified Blue

Breakout – Reclassified Blue
Location: Manchester
Game Date: 17/06/2019
Team: Amy, Ian, Benn & Jane

Our game at Breakout for Reclassified Blue marks a special occasion… we have done EVERY Breakout room, call us sad or addicted, we have completed every unique game Breakout has to offer! Wowzers! Anyhoo, on to the review!

Theme:
“After a tough six months of vigorous training, today is the day you will take part in your final agent examination. You will be tested on eight key skill sets that will challenge you in every way possible. Do you have what it takes to become a top-secret agent?”

Reclassified Blue was just that BLUE! The room was very simply decorated, with everything being painted blue and with lots of coding and geometric designs on the wall. A fairly sterile place which whilst not the most immersive setting did create a feeling of being a “lab rat” to some extent!
The room was large, airly ad well lit, there would be no problem with 5 people in this room and at times it felt like we were rattling round quite a bit!

Game Play:
A multi-linear game that played well. The puzzles were nice and varied consisting of word, observation, skill, physical, math, logic, codebreaking, reasoning and searching. The premise of the game being tested on each skill set led to some nice variation in puzzles, and some good compartmentalizing that aided the signposting and thus, flow of the room (but we’ll get to that later)
The puzzles were all nicely on theme, and not too taxing, but still took a bit of working to come to the answers.
The logic in the puzzles was good, with nice ah-ha moments that meant there was little ambiguity in the solves. The multi-linear nature of the game meant that we could be working on several things at once, this kept us all busy and also aided us in that if we got stuck we could move away, swap or work on something else for a little bit before coming back to the puzzle at hand.
There were some really fun elements to this room and it had a nice, integrated use of tech which served the game play, and didn’t become the focal piece of star of the show, and never felt shoe-horned in (as tech can often do!)
The skill/physical challenges were met with aplomb and even later in the game brought some humour with them.
The flow was excellent, with us never getting deliberately slowed down or stuck. It was a smooth game that had clearly been honed over its time to make the most seamless route between its puzzles.
The signposting was wonderful, with enough direction to clarify and lead players but not so much that it made the game too easy. It was pitched just right and one of those “if you read it, it’s all there” type rooms.
A really good game, I would take a small group for enthusiasts, or even split into the smallest group your team allows and do battle with each other as Breakout have an identical copy of Reclassified (green) which allows teams to battle each other! LET THE COMPETITIVE JUICES FLOW!
A good game for newbies, although I’d recommend warming up with a couple of Breakout’s easier rooms first to learn their techniques!

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via a screen

Game Host:
I didn’t catch our game host’s name, but she was friendly and gave a good brief.

Did we escape?
Yes in 33 minutes, breaking the room record!

Website: http://www.breakoutmanchester.com
Price:

Off-Peak:
2 Players £38
3 Players £51
4 Players £64
5 Players £75

Peak:
2 Players £42
3 Players £57
4 Players £72
5 Players £85