Time Run is a bit more involved than your average escape game. You’re not just locked into a room with mates so that you can engage in frantic puzzle solving against the clock. It’s also an immersive experience.An immersive experience that’s a bit like a Victorian ‘Back To The Future’.
From the moment you step in, you’ll be greeted by an actor who explains that you’re about to go time travelling to find mystical artefacts that are intrinsic to the world’s stability. You’re shuttled through a series of astonishingly impressive sets designed to recreate different historical periods. And, as you puzzle solve, projections deliver you messages from your supposed mentor, Luna Fox: a sort of hybrid of Phileas Fogg and Doc Emmett Brown.
There are two games: the Lance of Longinus and recent opening The Celestial Chain. The first of which is utterly fantastic: the varied puzzles are thoroughly fun, and the sheer size and attention to detail in the sets is staggering. Less good is The Celestial Chain, however, which – unlike basically every other escape game in existence – doesn’t let you solve puzzles to unlock the next part of your challenge. Instead, it sends you into a series of rooms, imposing a 15-minute time limit for each one. If you don’t solve your puzzle in that limit, too bad: you’re booted into the next one. And, frankly, it’s frequently frustrating - just as you’re getting to grips with something, you’re forced to abandon it. Nonetheless, in terms of escape games, ‘Time Run’ is definitely up there as one of London’s best.
Editor's update: There's now an excellent Crystal Maze experience in London, too.
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