Secret Studio — Local services in London

I hate not being in control. It’s a personality trait that makes me somewhat reluctant to try new experiences, unless I have done extensive background checks. That is why, when our two adult daughters announced that they have organised a “surprise activity” for us, I was mildly alarmed. That turned into full-blown panic when, on the day, they not only refused to tell us what this was about, but also dragged us to a nondescript door in a blind wall in East London. It was Secret Studio’s escape room.

To say I entered it reluctantly is an egregious understatement. It is therefore almost miraculous that, in the end, I was almost reluctant to leave! I cannot recommend this warmly enough. The whole thing was impeccably, professionally and engrossingly done. From the initial encounter, where some of us were so taken in that it wasn’t clear to them when the welcome address ended and when the scenario was being explained, going through the mystery of a woman’s disappearance, which seemed totally impenetrable but which gradually unfolded its solution to a startling (literally!) climax, all was superb. For me, the highlight was the “movie sample” (we found out later it was a genuine film-student’s diploma project, from the ‘70s) - a Hitchcock-ian sequence filmed with the blunt, primary colour esthetics reminiscent of Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands” - I really found that captivating and intriguing.

It was an unadulterated triumph, and we have (all 4 of us, aged between 22 and 62) totally enjoyed it. Never in the course of family history has so much reluctance been replaced by so...

This is a really well produced and thought out escape room with a continually developing storyline. The storyline does get a little bit muddled at some points and could do with a couple of little tweaks (maybe making the narrative at the beginning slightly simpler so there's a clearer idea of why you're solving the puzzle).

They say up to 6 players but because this escape room is quite linear (there's pretty much one thing to work on at a time) and because of the room size, I'd recommend it for a max of 4 people. They do have multiple rooms so you can always split up and compare times!

My favourite thing about this experience is the way they've integrated the extra clues into the game: in other escape rooms I've been to you have to ring a bell or something, someone will come in, you have to explain what you know so far, and they give you some hint. Which totally breaks the flow of the game (not to mention the concept of being locked it) and eats into your precious escape time! Secret Studio ping you with slightly cryptic clues at exactly the point you actually need them - or just reassure you to not give up! This keeps the game at the perfect level of challenging. Make no mistake though - it's not spoon feeding; only 50% of people get out.

The props here are authentic and not too worn, so you won't feel like a thousand people have been through it before you. I played it with 3 for my birthday and had an...

What a great time we had doing the Emerald Phantom escape room, Secret Studio's newest room.

The game was very interactive from the get go, with us having to provide a secret code before we were allowed in! Oscar was great and talked us through the rules and showed great enthusiasm for the game, which got us very hyped up for the experience before we were even locked in the room!

Tice met us at the end and told us how great our team "Saucy Sakis' Saviours" did. He and others helped to create the room and told us about how much of a laugh he had watching us through the camera system!

We also set a new record for this room, escaping within 49 min 5 secs! I hope we keep this title for a while!

13/10, would...