Photo above is property of Prestige Escape Rooms
Company: Prestige Escape Rooms
Games: The Witch's Lair
Country: United Kingdom š¬š§
Language: English
Type of Game: Digital Escape Game š»
Genre: Spooky
Date Played: May 10, 2023
Difficulty (based on 3 players): 7/10
Size of Team: Up to 6 Players
Time: Expires 72 Hours from start
Price: Ā£15.00
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Double, Double toil and trouble! hehe
Francesca, the beloved Prestige Escape Rooms designer, has gone missing without a trace. All we know is that she was last seen working on the ominously titled Witch's Lair escape room, researching the history of witchcraft in Lowestoft (where the room is based), and that she had started acting quite strangely in the days running up to her disappearance. In fact she appeared quite dark sided, one might say. Maybe the room she was working on - and the crazy dangerous demonic magic that is sure to mess you up that she was toying with - has something to do with it? Either way, there's no way in hell we are going into that room. It should be safe enough for the public though, and that is why we invite you one and all to come help us explore the Witch's Lair, and hopefully uncover what awful dark sided satanic black magic may have gotten our beloved Francesca. Children to the front, please!
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Admittedly, after a nice instructional on the intricacies of Telescape virtual escape room gaming, it took us a second to get into the room and find our bearings. We had a group of three and although it was slow going at first as we looked around at all the stuff and tried to figure out what to do next, once we kind of deciphered the formula of the narrative/puzzle structure we were off to the races. The puzzles and story emerge in a semi linear fashion, each narrative stage introducing a new riddle while cryptically directing you to engage the room in various ways. The space has quite a few little stations, lots of drawers and such with locks, and lots of clues and objects to pour over. Half the challenge is in deciphering just what the puzzle actually is, and which objects you should be trying to use to figure it out, which I think was one of its strongest points. The room itself is a bit sparse and low tech, but it has some hand crafted and intriguing objects. The occult and astronomy theme is used to good effect, and the whole idea really shines through in the design of the puzzles. I'll admit they got me at least with an initial scare, after which it was a lot more light hearted. There was a lot of croaking (you'll understand this when you play). They have a really great hint system for each stage/puzzle, that gives several increasingly explicit clues before granting the solution, and which does a bang up job of giving you that little nudge you need without ruining the puzzle.
Photos above are property of Prestige Escape Rooms
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Though low in tech and effects, the puzzles are quite well designed, and very entwined with the theme. Even once we got the formula we eagerly leapt at each new set of information, and celebrated every unlocking. They are one part narrative, from which you have to deduce just what is being asked of you, in a way forming the puzzle yourself, and then identifying the relevant objects, and the one part puzzle solving once you've honed in on the relevant objects or station. I really liked the act of putting it all together, which although at first seemed overly abstract, quickly became our favorite part. As a routine set of puzzles it would still have been fun, but we really reveled in the moment of forming the narrative-puzzle connection. The puzzles themselves range from somewhat standard to an intriguing fusion of enigmatic narrative with the occult and astronomy lore. You really have to immerse yourself in the idea of zodiac signs and witchcraft to unlock the logic of the more abstract puzzles.
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I would recommend the room, I think it was solidly done and on point. It had a kind of unity of theme, a convincing narrative, and a substantial set of fairly ingenious and challenging puzzles. It has that feel of going down the rabbit hole, getting lost in a world of arcane symbolism and semiology, and of wanting to push further and further into the enigma. I would say that it was more lighthearted fun than scary. I think there needs to be just slightly more direction at the beginning, though the excellent hint system may make up for this. It could have been slightly more thematic at every turn as we slowly uncovered the mystery of Francesca's disappearance, and I kind of wish they had tried to scare us just a tad more. Overall Hats off to Prestige, it was an entertaining room that had both heart and soul.
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Prestige Escape Rooms for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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