Company:
Room Escape Southend

Location:
12 West Street, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 6HJ

Synopsis:
The human race is on the verge of extinction, with two worlds existing as one. Join the last remaining humans and help close the portal before the boundaries between Earth and Hell cease to protect us. This room contains moments of complete darkness and is not suitable for under 16s.

Date we visited:
20 January 2018

Price at time of visit:
£15 per person

Goats attended:
Daiman, Jenny, Paul, Bharath

Did we escape?
Yes – with 6 minutes to spare, using all 3 allowed clues

THIS ROOM HAS SINCE CLOSED

Value for money

6/10£15 per person is reasonable for an escape game although the experience isn’t as fleshed out as pricier games but there is the inclusion of a live actor, you’d expect this to carry a higher price tag. We were fortunate enough to play this in just our four but be warned that this company operates a mixed group system up to twelve people (according to their website) which could make for a very different time.

Daiman

7/10At £15 I feel you get a great experience for the price. The room is challenging and has added ‘thrill’ moments to make the experience greater.

Jenny

6/10If you manage to get the room to yourselves, which we thankfully did, it’s very good value for money. However if they fill it near to the max of 12 people, it would ruin the experience.

Paul

6/10At £15, this room can be considered as a bargain, compared to other escape rooms, but you should be aware that up to 12 people can be in the room at the same time and you may be in with other groups depending on the slot you book.

Bharath

Theming

6/10I’m torn on this. We had played their last game, The Cabin and were amazed at the total rehaul that the team had undertaken. I was expecting a bit of a repaint but this was way beyond that, the space was totally unrecognisable. It immediately felt like an apartment and I loved how the reception was designed to look like the communal hallway in the building. This was absolutely an immersive environment. However, I then took a step back and although what they had done was impressive, the room itself was uninteresting.

Daiman

6/10The design of the living room was good but nothing too stand out. The puzzles were not linked to the theme of demons/possession. However the thrill factor of the ‘possessed guy’ visiting in parts does link to the theme but in limitations.

Jenny

6/10It’s made to look like a house so nothing too exciting or hard to create, but it looks the part. The games generally fit in with the theme.

Paul

6/10There is a fear factor in this room in the form of a possessed guy which was interesting at first, but got a bit frustrating by the third time as you have to stop what you are doing and I just wanted to get on with the escaping.

Bharath

Uniqueness

6/10Again, I’m torn on this. They do a lot of things right – the inclusion of the live actor ratchets up the tension whenever that character appears, although he is ultimately inconsequential as far as the gameplay goes. I think, certainly this time around, the puzzles let this experience down. I obviously can’t divulge details but pretty much nothing we had to do made any sense whatsoever. This game is the absolute definition of a bunch of puzzles just thrown into a room. However, it does sound as though their next game will address this issue.

Daiman

6/10What this company do with changing up their rooms every three months is pure genius to keep up revisits. Having played a room in December we were shocked at how different the room was. Unfortunately the room was a basic living room, but with an added thrill factor. It did stand out but it’s fairly similar to the previous room.

Jenny

5/10There are elements from their previous game The Cabin which this replaced which they have just reused like the added scare factor of the demon coming into the room when the lights go off, and with the end chanting. This lacks originality and made the room too familiar. The rest of the room is a pretty standard affair, but with more challenging puzzles.

Paul

5/10The uniqueness was supposed to come from the scare factor. But as it was quite repetitive, that scare factor was lost.

Bharath

Puzzles

2/10This is what completely ruined the experience for me. Functionally, they were fine if a little obscure but I just couldn’t get over how random they were in the context of the theme. I would implore the team behind these games to spend a little more time thinking about the narrative of the game and contextualising things more. There’s a lot of potential here but the core element of the room needs to feel less thrown-together.

Daiman

6/10The puzzles were quite difficult and you are limited to only three clues. Whilst the puzzles were challenging they were logical and there was a need for a lot of thought throughout. Some puzzles I found that without the hint I’m not sure how you’d solve it.

Jenny

6/10There wasn’t a single key needed in this room, but there were a few number based locks. Some of the logic puzzles were very tricky, with a few having solutions that I can’t imagine anyone would ever get without help.

Paul

7/10The puzzles were of a good difficulty level and many puzzles to do. It was all about solving codes for the combination locks. Not much searching was needed. I felt the puzzles were fun to solve. The hosts restrict the number of clues you are allowed to have and you can only request when you have a “clue card” which you get as you go through the game.

Bharath

The good

The live actor element is a lot of fun and induces panic brilliantly. Their clue system has been revised from their previous game and it has quite a cool twist to it.

Daiman

I liked the visitor however I felt let down that the twist in the game didn’t happen to our team.

Jenny

Although it had its downsides, I did enjoy doing this room. I liked the fact you had 3 clue sheets which you could use to either get a clue, or to rescue your teammate if they got caught by the demon. It gives your team a big dilemma – save your friend or get a clue?

Paul

This escape room was reasonably decent with enough to do without you standing around for too long.

Bharath

The bad

The puzzles really need to be worked on. They’re absolutely the weakest part of this game from their lack of relevance through to some moments of obscurity, they feel like a real afterthought and the experience suffers for it.

Daiman

I thought the puzzles could have linked to the theme better.

Jenny

Some of the puzzles are almost unsolvable without a clue. Room Escape Southend are still leaving the host in the room with you which I don’t like, although it didn’t feel quite as annoying this time.

Paul

The games master was in the room, which can make it harder to relax. Also, he was resetting the room as we solved clues.

Bharath

Overall scores