Adrenaline Escape – Devil’s Gate

Adrenaline Escape – Devil’s Gate
Location: Trafford Centre, Manchester
Game Date: 14/01/2022
Team: Amy & Ian
Duration: 60 Minutes

Theme:
“The Archangel of The Abyss, Abaddon, has risen from the realm of the dead and returned to a mortal body. The void between Earth and The Abyss has been breached, and the gates of Hell are open.

As a team of Demonologists, you have experienced satanic behaviour before, but nothing can prepare you for what you are about to attempt.

Nadine Crease-Peal, born and raised in the Crease family manor, was always in her half-siblings’ shadow. Nadine, driven by her jealousy of the Peal family, traded everything to become successful. In her greed she sought help from the Devil himself and stole the Peal family business, leaving her siblings dead. Being consumed by her will to be all powerful, she ignored her deal with Satan and her debts and sacrifices went unpaid. Satan has sent his trusted servant Abaddon to recoup the debt owed by her as well as all human debt for the last 1000 years! Abaddon has attached himself to Nadine by means of possession and now walks among us.

You must close the portal to Hell by illuminating the altar of Abaddon using the statues. The statues were already collected and brought to the manor, only to be stolen by the possessed Nadine in order to prevent the closure.

Only the brave should enter here. With the possessed Nadine on the loose and time running out, we turn to you to save humanity. Find the 5 sacred statues and light the alter of Abaddon to seal him away from the living. Close the gates of Hell and seal The Abyss before times runs out.”

Adrenaline opened their second site in the Trafford Centre late last year, located in the new outdoor funfair/eating place outside it is set up in some shipping containers, I mention this only as it’s wonderful what they have done with the container, the moment you step inside you forget you’re in one!
The decoration was finished well, creating a dark and spooky atmosphere, with flickering candles and a unsettling feeling.
There was a good sense of exploration, with unexpected events and immersion created with lighting and a great soundtrack.
The room, due to the container contstraints isn’t HUGE but there is enough room for 6 friendly people!
Lighting at times is dim, but this is for effect and it never impeded on gameplay.
A lovely room, the decor is just right for theme and the story carries well through the gameplay in the room.

Game Play:
A non linear game with a great mix of puzzles, word, logic, deduction, teamwork, codebreaking, searching, math although it did lean slightly more to the word/logic side of things (which was fine by me!)
If you have played Kidnapped by Adrenaline, this game has a similar feel in its puzzles, content (amount of) and logic.
The puzzles were all nicely on theme, and had exceptional, clear logic and concise answers with no ambiguity.
A well designed game, where you can see the experience and detail in the game design coming from a place of passion and knowledge of how to make a game work, and this is a game that just works, seamlessly moving from one puzzle to puzzle, with wonderful ah-ha moments and a good sense of discovery considering the limitations on the space.
Sign posting was excellent, enough to guide first timers, and still not to much to hand hold enthusiasts. There was certainly plenty to do in the game, don’t let our quick time fool you, there were plenty of puzzles to keep everyone busy (we were just on form and clicked with the room!)
Flow was wonderful, with no sticky points or deliberate slow downs within the game.
A cracking game that shoots straight to 2nd place in my “Adrenaline” rankings! Lots of fun, with puzzles that compliment the theme and push the story.

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via a screen

Game Host:
Hamish was our host and he delivered a good brief (Adrenaline do the majority of their breifing through videos, but what Hamish added was well put over) He also was clearly paying close attention to our game as he was on the ball with the (tiny) hints we needed!

Did we escape?
Yes, in 32 minutes!

Website: https://www.adrenalineescape.co.uk/traffordcentre/rooms/
Price:
2 Players £40
3 Players £60
4 Players £80
5 Players £100
6 Players £120