Code To Exit – The Endless Energy

Code To Exit – The Endless Energy
Location: Altrincham
Game Date: 27/09/2020
Team: Amy & Ian
Duration: 60 Minutes

Theme:
“Mankind’s future survival depends on finding the right solution for an infinite energy source. The world best minds have been focused on this for decades. You have 60 minutes to solve this puzzle – if you can, you might save the planet!”

The Endless Energy looked good, a fairly bare space at first sight, but with lots hidden that comes to life as the game progresses.
The decoration was done nicely (save for using masking tape on the walls at parts, this was a little jarring!) and the theme carried on through the entire room, looking futuristic, but stylised.
Lighting was excellent throughout and the space was big enough for the maximum of 6 people.

Game Play:
A fairly linear game, with a few open elements, that had emphasis on observation puzzles with a mix of math, codebreaking, logic and searching thrown in.
The game felt very classic, whilst the story wasn’t particularily furthered through the puzzles, the theme gave a nice backdrop to play in.
The puzzles were mostly on theme, but felt a bit “placed” onto the theme of the room rather than intrinsic to it. The loose theme of “energy” did flow through most of the puzzles.
The puzzles were fair in their logic, but some of that logic was not instantly seen, and there were a few places where a little bit more signposting would have gone a long way to develop the game and make it a little bit smoother.  Nothing frustrating, but I can imagine a few puzzles most teams will need a hint for.
The puzzles were enjoyable to solve and there was no frustrating moments in the room, Ah-ha moments were there but they were subtle in the most part.
The flow of the room was decent, the linearity of it in places making some places a little sticky as it often felt we had nowhere else to go other than the puzzle we were trying to solve. It wasn’t so bad that we were left stranded though, and the game moved at a fair pace.
Signposting was shaky, with some elements having lovely signposting and others none at all, this lead to some puzzles being completley overlooked for quite some time!
For all its minor flows though, The Endless Energy is not a bad game, I wouldn’t recommend it to first timers as it’s a complex game in its design (requiring a couple of logic leaps to get around that lack of signposting) and for enthusiasts, it’s a game to play if you want an hour of puzzle solving with a light theme thrown over the top, there are some very nice puzzles in the game!

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via a screen

Game Host:
I didn’t catch our host’s name, but she was friendly and professional. Her brief was good and she delivered excellent nudges throughout the game to keep us moving.

Covid19 Safety:
The room was clean and tidy, as were the toilets. Social distancing was adhered to by staff at all times, and we were the only people on site at the time of our game.

Did we escape?
Yes, in about 45 minutes

Website: https://www.codetoexit.com
Price:
2 Players £40
3 Players £57
4 Players £72
5 Players £85
6 Players £96