We've been reviewing escape rooms for a little while now and we are ashamed to say that it has taken us this long to do one our teams local escape room but we have finally managed to visit Spectre and after experiencing it for ourselves we can tell why the reviews it gets are so good. We arrived a bit early for our booking and had to wait a few minutes for our experience but once the room was ready we were allowed to enter. This is where we got our first surprise of the room.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
We entered what looked like a waiting area and a screen with a press here button. We pressed the button and we were told about the facility;
"At what was thought to be an abandoned facility in the heart of Salisbury, there’s been movement. People have been caught on camera coming and going carrying scientific equipment and classified files.
This facility, Station Athena, was once one of the UK’s leading research stations belonging to the RESPECT Foundation. Said to be focussing on genetics and human development they went from being at the forefront of many scientific breakthroughs in their field to completely silent. No one has heard from or seen any of the RESPECT scientists from the station. Their families have also disappeared."
This has been the only escape room we've played so far where you don't actually meet your host at the beginning of the game. It felt so wrong but it worked so well for the theme of the room. We were then let into the main facility and the game had begun.
There is a variety of different puzzles throughout the game. From hunting and finding clues to physical puzzles to mental puzzles. There really is a puzzle for everyone. One thing I did enjoy was the story felt like it continued to progress with every puzzle solved. It felt like you got a new piece of the story with every puzzle and it worked in a really fun and unique way. as the game progresses ylu unlock more things and every now and then the game will throw a couple of theatrics at you which work really well. Whilst this may not be the most highly themed room we’ve done, it’s definitely one of the stronger story based rooms we’ve experienced.
But did we save the world? Of course we did! We managed to save the world in 50 minutes and 50 seconds. It was such a great evening and I can not find fault with anything on this room. It just all worked and fell into place and was just a fun challenge for the brain. Our host Claire was amazing. Such a lovely lady and so passionate about the rooms and escape rooms in general and it we Shall certainly be back.
Live Escape Salisbury has 3 experiences in total. They have Spectre, Pieces of Eight and The Brig. For more information and to book tickets you can visit the Live Escape Salisbury website.