Breakin’: Blackwing’s Cave review

Company:
Breakin’ Escape Rooms
Location:
89 Holloway Road, London, N7 8LT
Synopsis:
Knightsbane city is under attack. Dr. Drakker, the evil genius, has escaped from prison and has sworn vengeance on his nemesis, the city’s hero Blackwing. He has released all of the other prisoners from Alistair Penitentiary and has tracked down the location of Blackwing’s secret cave. Using his engineering skills he has set numerous traps for the hero by planting various devices in his cave only to be entertained by his torment. The fallen hero of Knightsbane city must now face his greatest challenge yet by defeating Dr. Drakker once more and bringing him to justice. As Blackwing’s sidekicks you will need to help him throughout all the mad puzzles prepared by his arch nemesis and escape the cave before the time runs out!
Date we visited:
13 April 2017
Price at time of visit:
From £16 pp off peak and £25 pp peak times
Goats attended:
Daiman, Jenny, Paul, Bharath
Did we escape?
Yes
Value for money
5/10Whilst there were some cool touches here and there, the room was very basic for what it was supposed to be.
Daiman
5/10We paid £27 pp for this room. At the upper scale of the pricing ladder. I felt the hosts and designs of the room let this room down.
Jenny
5/10It’s a little pricey for what you get, especially if you’re in a group of 5-6 people as they charge per person and not per room.
Paul
5/10Slightly over valued for what you pay.
Bharath
Theming
5/10It’s a cave bearing very little technology considering that this is apparently the lair of a superhero. I at least expected a control desk!
Daiman
6/10The theming was quite poor on this one, where the only connection to the game was the dark cave. There was one high tech part but overall it was just a dark black room.
Jenny
5/10It was a black room with dim lighting making it hard to see, which meant they didn’t need to make too much effort with the theming!
Paul
5/10The darkness didn’t add to the theming. Did not really feel like a cave.
Bharath
Uniqueness
5/10It’s a very run of the mill room though I guess the theme is less prevalent than others out there. It just doesn’t do anything interesting with the potential that’s there.
Daiman
6/10The room had a great Crystal Maze type game which was different to other rooms I’ve played so I liked this element, plus there was a twist half way through which again was a new style of game. However as mentioned previously it was still just a dark room so nothing too special.
Jenny
6/10Nothing too special with this room, apart from the fact we got separated at one point which made the game a lot harder – at least for us!
Paul
5/10Nothing too unique about the room, but it will keep newbies entertained.
Bharath
Puzzles
5/10Nothing really stands out, a few pattern recognition tasks and a physical puzzle that really didn’t make sense given the storyline. However, there is one cool moment that splits the group up, forcing communication.
Daiman
6/10Some of the puzzles were standard where you searched for items, but they did throw in a couple of skill games which increased the score for me. The games were logical and solvable but hints were needed for this one.
Jenny
6/10The puzzles were varied but are pretty standard fare, except for one physical game which needed all 4 of us to work together to solve and required good teamwork. If you manage to escape in time, be careful not to skip through the final challenge without realising it, like we did!
Paul
6/10Some fun puzzles which can keep people entertained. But a large amount of time spent searching in the dark.
Bharath
The good
Can’t think of anything to say here. The room wasn’t awful but it was extremely uninspiring.
Daiman
I liked the skill games and the music in this one.
Jenny
Breakin’ is in a convenient location close to the tube station with bars and restaurants nearby.
Paul
There were a mix of skill games and logic games that require teamwork, so solving them gave a good “feel factor”.
Bharath
The bad
This did not feel like a Batman Blackwing game at all. Appreciate that sometimes puzzles can’t fully fit a theme but this was more of a stretch than I was willing to accept.
Daiman
I felt the room should have had more high tech games. There were also parts in this game where a couple of players were standing around as the puzzle only required 2 players.
Jenny
The lack of light got annoying after a while. A misleading sign in the room caused me to not try something which would have solved the puzzle I was on and so I had to ask for a clue which was frustrating.
Paul
Having a dark room can be good if used creatively but felt like it was just used as it’s a cave, making the puzzles more difficult due to lack of light rather than the actual difficulty of the puzzles.
Bharath
Overall scores
-
Value for money - 5/10
5/10
-
Theming - 5.25/10
5.3/10
-
Uniqueness - 5.5/10
5.5/10
-
Puzzles - 5.75/10
5.8/10