Company:
Breakin’ Escape Rooms

Location:
89 Holloway Road, London, N7 8LT

Synopsis:
Dr. Vladimir Knifesblade, your friendly university professor seemed like a really nice person. You and your friends always enjoyed his lectures on human anatomy so when he invited you all to his house for a dinner party you never hesitated and accepted the invitation. Once you arrived at his house, though, the door was open so you went in. Nobody seemed to be home so you went down into the basement hearing some weird noises. The door slammed shut behind you and there was no way to move but forward, into the Doctor’s secret laboratory, where it looks like your group might be on the menu…

Date we visited:
30 March 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

5/10Another basic room which was clinical (I guess intentionally) in its blandness. It’s an adequate game but nothing exciting and feels very basic compared to others out there.

 Daiman

4/10We paid £27 pp for this room – at the upper scale of the pricing ladder. I felt the designs of the room and the easy puzzles let this room down.

Jenny

3/10It’s quite pricey for what you get. For groups of over 4, I’d say it’s a bit of a rip off as you pay almost as much per person, but get to do less of the puzzles.

Paul

4/10One of Breakin’s more basic rooms. Slightly over priced for what you get.

 Bharath

Theming

4/10Almost non-existent. This was a white room with very few items of interest. There were the expected surgical tools and blood splatters but then mixed with very odd features that existed purely to facilitate puzzles.

 Daiman

4/10The theming was quite poor on this one. Being the ‘horror’ room of this collection of games, we hoped they’d go all out. Sadly the theme was a lab with white walls that had blood splattered on it.

Jenny

3/10The room is very simplistic and looks like it has been done on the cheap. A few splatters of blood paint on the walls with some cheap props does not impress.

Paul

4/10For the theme it was supposed to be, it wasn’t terrifying/tense at all.

 Bharath

Uniqueness

2/10The serial killer room is fast becoming an escape game cliche, right next to Sherlock-based games. And the theming did nothing to help break this experience free of those shackles.

 Daiman

4/10The room was quite basic. It did have logical puzzles but nothing new about it.

Jenny

2/10Nothing at all unique about this room. Been to other horror themed escape rooms that did it a lot better than Breakin’. Plus there are no ‘wow’ features to the room or games.

Paul

3/10I would say not unique at all, there was nothing that stood out, easily forgettable.

 Bharath

Puzzles

5/10The basic Breakin’ staples; some pattern recognition moments as well as a more physically engaging puzzle (but not interactive to the level of their other games). This one moment had us scratching our heads, even after we had the solution! They’re all okay but nothing particularly exciting. Again with Breakin’, a few of these didn’t make sense in the context of the game’s story.

 Daiman

5/10The puzzles were fairly basic, with most being easily solvable without the aid of a hint. However at one point in the game we did have to use a clue. To this day I still don’t understand the logic or how this puzzle can be solved without a hint.

Jenny

4/10There was one interesting puzzle which had a multiple choice answer and for every wrong answer, you lost time on the clock. I liked the idea but unfortunately it was poorly executed. Other than that, the games were OK but nothing special.

Paul

4/10The puzzles were of a basic, linear, logic form. Nothing too difficult. However, some of the puzzles didn’t even fit the theme/nature of the room.

 Bharath

The good

It’s a good beginner’s room.

 Daiman

I liked the background story and the fact that there were various puzzles which in a larger group everyone can work on.

Jenny

Racking my brains for something to add here, but I’m struggling! You will probably still enjoy doing this room, especially if you’ve never done an escape room before, but you can get so much for your money elsewhere.

Paul

If you enjoy doing escape rooms and want to do as many as you can, I would go and do this room, otherwise I would not put it at the top of your priority list.

 Bharath

The bad

It’s just another uninspired game, basic puzzles and a minimal amount of theming.

 Daiman

I felt the room should have had better theming and more puzzles linked to the theme. I also still struggle with the final puzzle and how it logically makes sense.

Jenny

Out of all the escape rooms I have played up to now, this is challenging for the wooden spoon as the weakest of the lot. The solution for the multiple choice puzzle was very tenuous. I would be surprised if more than a handful of people managed to solve it without needing clues or guessing.

Paul

With this theme I was expecting a scare factor, but there wasn’t. It’s a room that has been done time after time and it did not have any USP compared to other escape rooms with a similar theme. I wouldn’t rush to do it.

 Bharath

Overall scores