Escape Room Adventures – Steampunk Express

Escape Room Adventures – Steampunk Express
Location: Leamington Spa
Game Date: 28/08/2020
Team: Amy & Ian

Theme:
“It is 1892 in a steampunk version of western USA. You and your buddies are bandits that the sheriff has been unsuccessfully trying to catch for many years.

You plan to rob the Steampunk Express. But it’s a trap! The sheriff has rigged the train to crash with you on board, but he has left a way out if you are as clever as you think you are…

You have an hour to solve the sheriff’s puzzles and stop the train before it’s too late!

Can you escape this time?”

The room looked good, with a good finish to the decoration. There was nothing to distract and cause red herrings, and everything was used within the puzzles in the room.
There were a couple of anacronastic elements in steampunk express (clearly electrical push buttons?) they took me out of the moment somewhat and brought the game to be more of a sequence of puzzles overlayed onto a nice set.
The room was very large, and would have no worries about having the max of 8 in there (although the game play could be quite restrictive) lighting was good and we never had a problem.

Game Play:
A linear game that focused on logic, observations, trial and error and memory puzzles with a little bit of code breaking.
The puzzles were logical, but most could be found in any “point and click” escape game you could find online. Whilst the puzzles were constructed nicely, it felt like a fair few of them were designed to deliberatly take time and be “slow burners” – there was one puzzle that stood alone from the game, and in a bigger group, one person could miss the entire first half of the game working on that puzzle.
There were some nice ah-ha moments, but again as I mentioned in the theme section, there was lots of “button pushing” and even button mashing, at times. Had the puzzes been a bit more within the world this would have been a much more satisfying game.
The signposting was pretty bare, with us being left to make a lot of the connections ourselves.
Flow was OK. Nothing awful but it wasn’t a pacy or particularily smooth game.
All in all a game that fundementally does what it says on the tin. It’s an escape room, it has puzzles, they’re enjoyable. It would have benefitted a lot more through having some… personality, the room felt almost clinical and “here’s a room, play it, thank you” there was not much depth or heart in the game. It is not a game that will disappoint (especially newbies, it will more than hit the mark for a team that’s never played) but it is just missing a certain “special something” that is indescribeable.

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via a screen

Game Host:
Our Game Host was quite, but professional. He gave us a fair brief before the game, although the majority of the brief and story were printed for us to read. He was clearly paying attention to our game and gave us well timed nudges throughout the game.

Covid19 Safety:
We felt safe at Escape Adventures, social distancing was adhered to and masks were required in  communal areas but not in the room itself.

Did we escape?
Yes, in about 50 minutes

Website: https://escaperoomadventures.co.uk/
Price:
2 Players Adult £24pp Child £21pp
3 Players Adult £20pp Child £18pp
4 Players Adult £20pp Child £18pp
5 Players Adult £20pp Child £18pp
6 Players Adult £20pp Child £18pp
7 Players Adult £20pp Child £18pp
8 Players Adult £20pp Child £18pp