Escape Hull — Attraction in Great Britain

(Visited Jan 2020)

I came here with four friends: two had done escape rooms before, but the other two were total newbies.

The vast majority of the puzzles were to do with ships. A bit of teamwork was needed at the start, after which our group was reunited to crack on with the rest. We required a couple of hints, but the last part of the game was certainly the easiest compared to some of the preceding tasks. I took an educated guess for one of the puzzles; when I was shown the proper way to work it out, it made sense but seemed a bit too inconspicuous. Information in the game is provided by a local historian, which is a lovely touch.

Theming felt off the mark. It was a museum, yes, but...a nautical one. The finer details such as an opening plaque and donations box were included, and the paintings, models and other objects on display were authentic...but they were entirely ship-related. I understand that Hull has a rich maritime history, but, from the title, I was expecting to be solving puzzles in a dark, gruesome and sombre set of exhibits. There was a mere trickle of this genre shoved in. Two of us being locked in the caretaker's closet at the start was my highlight, but this doesn't say much about the rest of the room.

Though 'The Darker Side of Hull' is a misleading title, if you want a fun, agreeable escape, take a team of three. We had friendly, chatty...

Escape is a Hull-based complex of escape room type games - where the idea is to solve puzzles to get out of the room within a predetermined time limit.

We had an enjoyable hour but we were almost exclusively faced with "find the number" type puzzles to open combination locks. Although there were a number of different ways in which the numbers were hidden, I had hoped for more intricate puzzles which didn't always gravitate back to digits. We played the Contagion Room, where there was an interesting theme but little storyline. More experienced escape room players may waste time looking for complexity that just isn't there.

In the end we were thwarted by a misunderstanding about how the door lock worked (we tried the correct code a few times and it didn't seem to work, although we were told it had but the door had locked itself again).

We had a few sparse clues through the process but were also unimpressed with the final clues, which came after the timer had gone off (that we shouldn't have needed anyway had the door lock worked) and a dry wipe pen which wouldn't rub off using the supplied eraser.

In all, a good experience, let down by a feeling that we had solved everything successfully, in time, and yet had...

We made it out of the cabin!!!

The mood was a bit dead when we arrived. We’ve previously done the Wizarding room at their other venue and the vibe was really upbeat there, so we thought it’s be the same here. Not the end of the world though, just doesn’t make it as exciting as I’d hoped!

I can’t say much about the room as I don’t want to give anything away. We were a bit worried at first as there seemed to be no obvious starter, and we wondered round the room aimlessly for a long time. Things did improve once we got a clue though. The puzzles were pretty simple once we knew what we needed to do, but there wasn’t the normal flow and link between puzzles as we’ve found in other rooms. There was lots of puzzles and plenty to do for our team of two though. The dark element did make the experience a bit more exciting.

Just a tip for the people running it, there was no need to give the name at the start. The final puzzle would have been really good as we’d noted the detail needed. We felt a little cheated as the answer was given before the door was closed. Just a sad way to end the room tbh

Thanks for another good room. We’ll be back to do...