Present, in August 2023, were: The Ant, Aunty Ant, Lioness, Parker

Another trip to Norwich and this time to the super-pretty touristy bit, down by the Cathedral, and one of the cutest, wonkiest, most historic venues I have been to for an Escape Room. A beautiful sunny day, two games booked and pizza for lunch – a perfect set-up for escaping.

Despite the historic nature of both the Cryptic Escape HQ and our first game there, the two don’t really match up – the very English Tudor building versus exploration of ancient Egypt. But once we headed into the basement (technically, the undercroft) to the Tomb of Akhenaten, this didn’t matter for us at all. All the trimmings are present and correct – sand! sarcophagi! secret chambers! – and the underground space gives it plenty of atmosphere.

You know I love a temple game, and this had plenty of the temple-y vibes. The puzzles were cleverly on-theme all the way through, with some really nice use of unexpected items. This is a quest, following in the footsteps of a lost explorer, so it mixes in fun, modern tech, as well as some mythical magic. There was enough to do for us to split up for most of the game, so I didn’t see everything, but the range of tasks definitely played to plenty of different skills. As per usual our searching sucked (and I mean, really. I had my hand on one item at one point and needed a clue to find it) but it isn’t a major factor in gameplay. One task we found a little frustrating (I didn’t do that one) but it was fair once we got it. A lot of the puzzles I really loved and fell in our sweet spot of clear but satisfying.

Scare-wise, it isn’t a horror game by any means, but with the usual temple proviso of bugs, bones and bangs. We may have yelped a couple of times, but generally this is family-friendly (particularly for kids doing Egyptian stuff at school) with no triggers for darkness or claustrophobia. Lovely touches of humour too.

Our GM, Steve, was absolutely lovely and on-cue when needed. Lioness declared him the nicest GM she’d ever met, and we were well-taken care of, even if we had to walk out into the tourist-filled streets wearing explorer hats! (possibly purely for Steve’s amusement). Unusually for us, we smashed this game, time-wise, although we didn’t feel short-changed or rushed. We had a very minor reset fail, which theoretically could have bypassed a section, but instead we actually just did it in a different order, so that wasn’t a factor in our time. We just found the game had a really nice flow and was thoroughly enjoyable. A fantastic start to our day, and recommended if you are in the city.

• Storyline: Good plot, avoiding too much Escape Room Logic, with a proper conclusion.
• Theming and Set: Nice and expansive and on-theme. A little noise-bleed from another game at one point, but nothing too intrusive.
• Searching: Some for youngsters to help with, not excessive.
• Puzzles: Some practical tasks, some codes, good use of tech.
• Physicality: None, but steps down to the basement, so not mobility-friendly.
• Scare factor: A tiny bit of Halloween humour.
• Company Age Guidance: “There must be someone 16+ in the room responsible for anyone under the age of 16. We recommend to become fully involved in the experience, players are ideally 12+. Minimum age we suggest is 10+”
• Age suitability: Wannabe 10 year old Howard Carters would have fun in here, but a bit of ER experience in the team would help.

Cryptic Escape website