Mission Escape
The Mint Methodist Church, 1 West St, Exeter EX1 1BB, United Kingdom
4.3
163 reviews
8 comments
PF97+XX Exeter, United Kingdom
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Monday: 10–21
Tuesday: 10–21
Wedneasday: 10–21
Thursday: 10–21
Friday: 10–21
Saturday: 10–21
Sunday: 10–21
Tuesday: 10–21
Wedneasday: 10–21
Thursday: 10–21
Friday: 10–21
Saturday: 10–21
Sunday: 10–21
The location itself looks interesting and the game itself was well thought out.
Only gripe that I have personally is I cant see well at all in low light conditions (and the room we did had a few places where i did struggle to see a bit) however it went well with the theming.
Host was wonderful as well, and kept us going, and with the rare clue here and there we got out with just under 1 minute to go.
Worth a visit for sure.
There was no story at all despite Chernobyl being a concept with a lot to work with. We were just put in the room, given a hint for the first puzzle and basically told to get on with it. No explanation as to why we were in Chernobyl with a 1 hour time limit.
Virtually every single puzzle was a 4 number combination lock. Most of it was very linear, such that even with only 3 people we often found moments where one of us had nothing to do. Get the password, get a clue for the next password, get the password, rinse and repeat.
The most interesting puzzle in the room was solved when we got there because the host forgot to lock it. We had no idea where to use this combination we found and carried it around the whole room with us, trying it on every lock. Turns out it was to open a box that was open when we got there.
Awesome theme. Awful execution.
Positives first: Staff were friendly, reasonable pricing compared to other escape rooms, we enjoyed ourselves, decent theming.
Now the negatives:
- The story was literally read to us from a sheet of paper - this immediately screams poor quality. It was an interesting narrative for the room and could have been well executed if it was delivered in a more exciting and engaging manner.
- Most of the puzzles involve finding a code and inputting into a computer which lacks imagination.
- Many of the puzzles required guesswork and randomly trying numbers in different orders, this is poor design.
- Set design felt lackluster. Lighting was poor and we couldn't see the puzzles and numbers a lot of the time.
- There was nothing to write on in the room, which didn't help when there are a couple of maths puzzles.
- Hints were poorly given. The host basically gave us the answer after we struggled for a bit, instead of prompting us with suggestions of what to try. This takes the fun out of the puzzles.
- Game flow is poor. There are not actually many puzzles in the room and they have to be done one at a time, so half the team was often left doing nothing.
Overall, the room worked and we had fun, but it felt janky and lazily put together. Instead of discussing which bits of the room were awesome and made us think like we often do with other rooms, we found ourselves slating the puzzle design, being annoyed at having to guess codes and having the host give us answers instead of hints. The theme and story is unique and has potential, just the puzzles need to be more imaginative and interesting to raise the quality of the room. 3/10