STAFF REVIEW: ESCAPE THE CELL EXPERIENCE

Sep 9, 2021
Staff Reviews , Escape Room

Connor Howling

Thinking caps were securely fastened for this exhilarating escape room themed around breaking out of jail – Escape the Cell (from the team behind Escape The Vault's Bank Heist Escape Room) really was a tough one to crack!

Being the first escape room that I had attempted, I was excited but unprepared for what lay ahead. The building of the escape room hosted the most intriguing collection of random decorations scattered around the interior of the waiting room; note that this was also a fully functioning coffee shop and bar!

From the get-go, we were welcomed by an enthusiastic and friendly staff member who set the scene by telling us about the story behind the escape room we were about to take part in. This context made the entire attraction seem more realistic than ever as I felt that we were all part of a true story where the ending was in our hands.

Before I knew it, my three colleagues and I were handcuffed together and placed in the cell – this is a literal series of events that I cannot believe occurred! I thought the interactivity was phenomenal as it not only made the experience aesthetically pleasing but created additional difficulty to solving the puzzles.

The pressure built as soon as the door shut, and the countdown had begun. 40 minutes was the time limit we were assigned to ensure that we made the great escape, or else there was no escape… At the beginning, we all seemed to be collectively working as a team with stress levels remaining low. However, this did not last long because as soon as the timer depleted to 20 minutes, panic was rising rapidly, and we lost our communication skills amid the chaos!

The clues that we had to gather and the objects we had to investigate collaboratively combined to make a unique experience that was cleverly formed to truly get the cogs moving in your brain! The room we were aiming to escape from really aligned with the theme of a prison cell as there was everything you’d expect – the basic living facilities and a consistent ticking timer. With the timer leaving us only 10 minutes, we managed to exit the first door but there was one more mystery to solve; the code for the final door.

I know you were rooting for the Experience Days team to beat the challenging escape room but unfortunately, we fell at the final hurdle. After initial disappointment, we took a moment to realise how far we had progressed through the room and this feeling of sadness soon turned into triumphant joy!

As we were exiting the escape room, we were encouraged to place a sticker with our initials on a map to state where we had travelled from and prove we had beaten the escape room (almost)! It was a satisfying addition to really highlight the scope of individuals who had visited this attraction.

Escape the Cell is an experience that I would recommend any mystery solver to attempt. Drop a comment below to let us know if you’ve beaten us and escaped the entire room!