Escape Room Online Review!

Since the beginning of lockdown we’ve been looking for ways to entertain ourselves, and we’ve been missing the extremely addictive puzzles that you’d find in our escape rooms. So you can imagine how pleased we were to find out that Breakout has partnered with Escape Room Online to present to us a brand new online escape room to play with on up to 6 other devices!

During lockdown we have been learning how to use various video chat platforms, sometimes to play quizzes or just to have a catch up - but now the stakes were higher. We were going to rally our teams and play the online escape room together! Two of us documented our experience with the game; Tom played it with his family, and Amy played it with her partner. Here are our reviews and results!...

Tom - Family Game!

As soon as I saw the online escape room advert I knew that it would be a great thing to play with my family, we have a range of ages and skill sets, and we’ve done SO MANY quizzes for the past few weeks that we were desperate for a new kind of activity. Some of my family have played escape rooms before but some of them hadn’t, so I didn’t know how it was going to work out...

Once we had set up the video call and shared the screen, it was extremely easy to follow the step-by-step guide to begin our game. We had a few technical issues at first but with the instructions we were able to easily overcome them. It was clear from the start of the game what we would have to do, and it allowed us all enough time to read the opening story and get an understanding of what was going on!

The game was logical, and the puzzles were really interesting, even some of the most skeptical family members found themselves wanting to work them out and being pleased when they spotted something that nobody else had! Even some of the people who had never played rooms before were able to identify some of the common puzzles we sometimes come across in real life.

One of our favorite parts were the seriously terrible robot dad-jokes which were scattered throughout and served to break up the intensity of some of the puzzles. We found a good mix of serious problem solving and light-hearted humor. We also realised early on that it would require some good communication skills, excellent teamwork, and patience, if we were going to enjoy it and complete it as quickly as possible…

We needed a few clues for one puzzle which was so obvious when we thought back about it! This is such a common feeling in escape rooms and one which made the experience even more authentic and real. It was always good to know that we could ask for clues whenever we wanted, and that the game would definitely be completed no matter what, so we were quite proud of ourselves for only needing clues for one puzzle!

There was a way to celebrate too by pressing a very handy air horn button, which we mostly used to wake my Grandad up… Still very useful and a good way to celebrate loudly when we’d figured something out! A really good part of it was that one of our family members had to leave halfway through, but it was absolutely fine and didn’t affect the game mechanics at all. Also, he was able to return if he wanted to at any time!

We completed the game in 1 hour 16 minutes with 2 clues! We were proud of it and I’d definitely recommend it as an activity that the whole family can enjoy! We cannot wait to play the sequel!

Amy -  Played with her Partner

My boyfriend and I have been in lockdown together for 10 weeks and we were super excited to try something new at the weekend with Breakout’s new online virtual game! Although this is perfect for larger groups over a distance, we set up a device each in our living room, cracked open a bottle of wine and had a puzzle-filled date night for two. We’ve completed quite a few escape rooms as a couple before, but this was a whole new experience, here’s how we got on-

 Once the game had been purchased, I received a code which we both had to enter the game page. It loaded up quickly, the instructions appeared, and it quickly became apparent that we could see each other’s cursors on our screens, giving us the chance to work simultaneously with a screen share. We were also delighted with the revelation that we could take notes! There are 6 ‘sectors’ in the game and each one is unlocked as the last one is completed. We managed 2 sectors without a clue, which at this point was much needed! The clue we received was clear and concise but did not give the whole game away.

The puzzles were challenging but not impossible, there is something for everyone and they require lots of teamwork, which meant the game was never one-sided and always felt like a team effort. I was surprised at how much the pressure built up, as the clock ticked away at the top of the screen you genuinely felt a panic on-par with being locked in a room! Without giving too much away, there was one section that we were really stumped on, but it was all the more worth it when we had that ‘eureka’ moment and figured it out.

We ended up completing the game in 49 minutes and 1 clue, which I was super proud of! Of course, afterwards I had to brag about my time on Instagram, and it was great to see other people posting theirs. I especially liked how the results show a breakdown of the time spent in each section, it was interesting to see how people did compared to us.

If you are running out of ideas of how to pass the time inside, looking for something to spice up your weekend or wanting to spend your weekly family zoom call doing something a bit different, this is the absolute perfect option!

If you want to have a go yourself and see if you can beat our times, visit www.breakoutmanchester.com/playathome and don’t forget to tag us with your results on social media! Good Luck!