Will you perform a séance at 13 Paper street? The eminent paranormal investigator Clarissa Stubbs disappeared last year while exploring an abandoned house known for paranormal activity. When retracing her footsteps and attempting to discover what happened, you and your team awaken the same foul phantoms as she did that fateful night. Can you make your escape or will you join Clarissa on the long list of forgotten souls who were foolish enough to venture into the crooked old house on Paper Street?
	60 minutes
	2-5 players
	4/5 difficulty
	£19-25 per person depending on team size
	Bristol
	riddlr.co.uk
	Played by Daiman, Jenny, Paul, Bharath
	June 2018
	Escaped with 15 minutes remaining

Theming

7/10Very gothic horror. Flickering lights, busts of matriarchs, cobwebs and dusty old books. The space had been immaculately dressed, supplemented brilliantly with atmospheric effects. It felt as though you were stepping into the front room of a typical haunted house from any number of period ghost stories. My only qualm with the room was that it was just a front room, albeit a very well designed one! The later sections of the game offered a more interesting and fun environment although we didn’t get to spend too long in that particular area!

 Daiman

8/10We entered a living room where we were investigating an abandoned house with paranormal activity. Whilst the setting was yet another room, this room excelled on attention to detail. From the Ouija board, the room decor to the scary looking dolls scattered around the room. The one element that stands out for me was that the area was still clean with props added to create the dirt, this made a change from dusty dirty rooms which were just left to rot over time. The tech in the game was very advanced especially with the beginning intro. I also like the scare elements that were added like the darkness, the falling props and the screaming from the spirit world. This games ending was really cool too. The puzzles kept strong on the theme too. This was one of the first games I’ve played where a standard room was dressed so well to a theme.

Jenny

9/10The theming is a lot stronger here compared to their other room Brunel. It’s a quality build with a couple of jump scares but it’s not meant to be too scary. If you need help, there are buttons on the wall with pre-recorded clues. You press the corresponding button for the section you are stuck on. This means you have no contact with the hosts which helps maintain the immersion.

Paul

8/10In this room you are constantly changing from light to darkness with horror/jump scare effects, these were used effectively which in turn at times made the puzzles more challenging. The jump scares were timed well, some people may find it scary. The room was made to look dirty/filthy with the use of cobwebs, etc. This added age and realness to the room.

 Bharath

Puzzles

6/10There’s a centrepiece (literally!) puzzle to this game that’ll give phasmophobia sufferers pause. I wouldn’t say it was too much of puzzle but the interaction with it was great and it offered very clear feedback when the right thing solution was offered to it! Elsewhere, there was a bit of searching, pattern recognition but, saving one particular puzzle, nothing that particularly stumped us. I will say though that whilst they were solid and fair, the majority of the tasks we had to perform weren’t particularly innovative but I think, for me, this game was more about the experience than the gameplay. The setting was incredibly immersive and the majority of the game featured automation keeping us in the story rather than being an endless padlock expedition.

 Daiman

8/10This room had a nice selection of logical and skill games with some great tech ones thrown in where sensors were set off from the movement of items rather than the standard hunt for a key/clue to a padlock. The puzzles kept on par with the theme, I particularly liked the ouija board part (this may scare some newbies to horror theme rooms). We did fly through the room until the finale puzzle which we were stuck on for a while which without the aid of the unique clue system they have I’m not sure we would have solved this. Please bear in mind that in this game they have a plaque on the wall that guides you through the order to play, this can be off-putting and make you feel like you’re cheating in some way. As we played Brunel first we knew to try and ignore this so as to not spoil our game.

Jenny

8/10Although they’ve put more effort into the theming here, they haven’t neglected the puzzles. They are mostly logic based, linear and automated. Solving a clue automatically opens up one of the locked areas, allowing you to move onto the next step. Some of the puzzles are pretty challenging, but overall they felt a little easier than Brunel.

Paul

8/10As with the other escape room we did at Riddlr this is also a very linear game. Mostly logical with a skill game added in for variation. The puzzles are linked to the theming. There is minimal searching in this room as what you need for the next puzzle is generally given to you when you solve the current puzzle.

 Bharath

Enjoyment

8/10Playing around in a haunted house is great fun! It’s creepy and your progress is marked by events that may cause the odd jolt! As I mentioned earlier, this game is really focused on the experience and the designers have gone out of their way to immerse the player in its world. You don’t get the sense that you’re playing a game here – the puzzles all make sense and there aren’t many moments where you’re doing something that seems out of place in that environment.

 Daiman

8/10Being the first seance themed room I’ve played, I found this room to be a new fun experience for me. Having played a lot of horror rooms the scare factors didn’t really affect us (which I feel may have upset the designers!) but it was still fun wondering who kept turning off the lights and screaming. A newbie to horror games may spend a lot of time jumping in this one! I found the mixture of puzzles, the set design and the tech used in this game really helped enhance a great experience from the start to the finale.

Jenny

8/10The puzzles are challenging and the theming and jump scares added to the enjoyment. However, there were times when the room goes dark and there were a limited number of torches meaning I found myself not able to do much as I was unable to see!

Paul

8/10This room definitely gave a fun experience. I enjoyed the scare factor and effects. The actual seance part was interesting and spooky

 Bharath

Value

8/10For the price of entry you get a well-crafted set, a game that’s high on theatrics and a very cool, on-theme centrepiece puzzle. It’s absolutely worth the price of admission although, whilst there is definitely a full game there, go for the experience – this is one of the few games that I played where it felt like everything we did was leading up to something, rather than just opening a succession of locked items to find the next thing that we needed to unlock.

 Daiman

7/10The price you pay for this room is definitely worth it for the experience you get. The company clearly designed this game well and with the additional fun ‘scare elements’ thrown in, you will certainly enjoy this room. The advanced technology is the big selling point, and I liked how it was used in this room. There were times where I felt I was stood around as there were not many games to play which involved more than one person. I feel a large group may suffer here. Again I need to mention the unique clue plaque system on the wall, this becomes a distraction however as we’d played their previous room first I tried to avoid it so we didn’t ruin our game.

Jenny

8/10Considering this room has only been open for a few weeks, it felt very polished and worked well. £21 is a decent price for a room that does both theming and puzzles well.

Paul

8/10For the price you pay, it’s definitely worth visiting this room, there’s enough to do in there to get your money’s worth. It’s a well linked together room.

 Bharath

The good

The overall atmosphere of the game. The set design is a bit more involved than a few Halloween props scattered around the room – you can tell that a lot of care and thought has gone into its creation.

 Daiman

Being a fan of horror rooms I loved this game. It throws most of the elements a scare attraction can give, it was only missing an actor! The company designed the room brilliantly and the use of the tech made the experience even better.

Jenny

The room, props, puzzles and theming are of a very high quality. I like that everything is automated and that they make their own tech which means you don’t come across things that are used in other rooms. None of the room or objects within are out of bounds, meaning you don’t have stickers or warning tape breaking the immersion.

Paul

I liked the mix of automation and padlocks in this room, there is no involvement from the games master at all. It’s good to see this is a direction that escape rooms are heading.

 Bharath

The bad

The clue system. I totally appreciate what Riddlr were going for with this – a system by which the immersion is never broken as there is zero interaction with the game’s host. No walkie-talkies, no screens that display text from the gamesmaster – just pre-recorded, in character clues that are 100% self-serve. The problem that falls out of this is that you need to know what clue to ask for and the way that the game guides you to these clues are definitely not on-theme and they also somewhat aid your progress around the room by basically displaying the order that the game needs to be played in. It’s frustrating because you get the sense that the team have really given thought as to how to make even the clues relevant to the game’s narrative, it just has an unfortunate side-effect. But they’re definitely on the right track with the concept!

 Daiman

For me the unique clue system plaque is the only negative, I feel this can be really distracting and prevent you from playing the game how you would normally.

Jenny

The buttons on the wall with the pre-recorded clues are listed in the order that you need to solve the puzzles in. This feels like a cheat or free clue as it helps give away where you need to look. The pre-recorded reply that we requested was too detailed, giving us help for the bit we were stuck on, as well as the following part that we hadn’t yet reached. There weren’t enough torches which meant I was standing around in the dark unable to help at times. They are 2.5 miles from the nearest train station so it’s not the easiest venue to get to.

Paul

The clue system is a bit different from others I’ve tried. This was one thing we discussed at length after leaving Riddlr. At the start, you are given the order of the puzzles and the clues are pre-programmed in. So, if you get stuck in the middle of the game, you press the button for the puzzle you are on and you then get to hear the clue. There are 2 issues to this, the first is that you get to see the order of the puzzles, which is a big clue in itself, the second is as the clues are pre-programmed the clues are too detailed, not just hints.

 Bharath

Overall scores