The Dungeon

I had a fab time in the Riddle Room Dungeon, escaping with a couple of minutes to spare. It’s one of their older rooms but it’s aged well. Mostly padlock-based but a great variety of creative puzzles to find codes and keys. My GM Ren was a delight - accommodated my last-minute solo booking, very engaging, even gave me a little behind-the-scenes tour of the tech after I escaped.

A fantastic multi-linear, puzzle heavy room with idea that fit the theme well. Even though we escaped in less than half the time, we were very busy throughout and felt extremely satisfied with the experience!

7/10

The Dungeon was fantastic! Essentially a one-room experience, the space itself is massive with puzzles and props galore all perfectly fitting the medieval theme. While the room can become a little overwhelming due to its multi-linearity, playing with a group of 4 proved to be incredibly helpful, splitting into groups of 2 and tackling everything within the time limit. Riddle Room even includes a super helpful puzzle chart players can refer to at any time to stay on track, a really awesome addition that I loved utilising. While there was definitely a bigger focus on more tactile puzzles in this one, rest assured there’s still plenty of intellectual solves to be had. Overall one of my favourites at RR, these guys don’t miss.

Post Nightmare we were feeling pretty hyped to jump straight into another room and it did not disappoint. The set design was really top tier, you do feel trapped in a dungeon and begin handcuffed which is always a fun classic moment when done correctly. The storyline made a lot of sense and flowed nicely throughout, it doesn’t force the story on you but I do feel you get more out of this experience if you keep up with it. We were pre-warned that at one point we will come to a section where the puzzles bisect into two pathways and we may decide to work together or apart. Normally we’d probably try and stick to one path but we instead naturally ended up separating into two different teams without even intending to which is a credit to the puzzle design. You do come back together which creates a nice sense of collaboration where you can share discoveries and how you completed certain things, a true huzzah moment fit for the dungeon/medieval theme. The focus on customer experience is really apparent with a plaque that guides you through the puzzle flow. It was well balanced in that we didn’t feel like we were being told how to complete the puzzles but just which ones we had enough pieces to work on so we didn’t waste time on something we could not yet solve. A labour of love and one that didn’t go unappreciated, definitely check it out.

In the dungeon the lonely dungeon we were to spend the night In the dungeon the dingy dungeon escape before first light Bilinear. Two teams are fair. Solved it in pairs. There are no scares. You can compare. Puzzles in there. To clear the air. Experts beware coz weeeeee-eeeeee-ee-eee got quickly out of there...

We completed The Dungeon as a group of 4. It started off with everyone chained to a wall, which was an interesting way to start. This was a bilinear room so we split off in 2 groups of 2 to solve a few puzzles separately until they converged. The down side is that we didn’t get the chance to try all the puzzles but at the end we were given the opportunity to look at and understand the puzzles that the other pair did. Out of all the rooms we did I feel like this one had the best flow and we never felt a lull in the puzzle-solving. We worked really well on this one and completed the room in just under 40 mins. I would recommend this room to groups of 4 or more.

We did this room with a group of 4. This room was bilinear so we could divide and conquer different puzzles together, this made it interesting for all of us so that we all had something to do. However, it was a bit on the easier side so we finished it faster than the other rooms. In terms of storyline and theme it wasn't as immersive as the other rooms and felt more like a series of challenges.

After finishing The Nightmare, we had a brief intermission. Once that concluded, we were back in the beautiful establishment that is The Riddle Room. The staff at Riddle Room were exceptional—very welcoming, highly attentive, and spot-on as our Gamesmasters. They use a different method of communication for Gamesmastering, utilizing a version of the "Voice of God" system. Responses to our questions are displayed on a monitor that also keeps track of our time. I quite liked this approach as it minimized miscommunication. However, the only drawback is that in a multi-room escape, you have to make your way back to the first room to see the monitor. Fortunately, this was not the case with The Dungeon, which is almost exclusively a single-room escape. The Dungeon boasts a dimly lit space, with an area that is almost pure darkness. However, don't let that deter you if you aren't a fan of scary or spooky rooms, as there was not a single jump scare in sight. The room flow and design in The Dungeon are really interesting and unlike any other room we've been to. The room is designed with two paths that players must take. Each path is linear, but both can be progressed simultaneously, making it multi-linear rather than non-linear. The design is really well thought out. To assist players in understanding the order, the game includes iconography on a wall that signposts each step along the way for both paths, with a convergence point towards the end. We hadn’t seen this done before. The puzzles in The Dungeon are truly varied. Using spatial awareness, pattern recognition, and more. It was a great room for enthusiasts, the Team and myself really enjoyed the diversity of challenging puzzles. As far as theming goes, all of the props were high-quality and made sense in the space. There was also a strong storyline that continued throughout the experience and brought everything together nicely.

It was a fun room, and the puzzles were enjoyable. My only criticisms are that I struggled a little with the darkness, and didn't find the theme exceptionally thrilling. But, as always, RRC rooms are some of the absolute best in the game!