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Cavaliere
Junior Escaper
Offline
Description
Became an escape enthusiast the moment I played my first room … and later made a living from it (as an escape room owner).
Coming from Aken, Germany I (not surprisingly) played almost more rooms located west from my hometown than German rooms, which btw are really underrepresented here (also not surprisingly) … but will try to even this out.
Member since
05-03-2024
Statistics
Escaperooms12 reviews
27 Rooms played
58.3% escapepercentage
Games
0 reviews
48 played games
Managed escape rooms
aixscape
Aachen (DE)
12 reviews
A whole lot of puzzles
This has everything: some low-tech stuff from the early days of escape rooms with one or two nice twists (no classic locks!), some (partially) beautifully made high-tech stuff, some story elements which are not very helpful in order to solve puzzles, but which don‘t overstay their welcome and … puzzles, puzzles, puzzles!
Most of the time it is non-linear (which I like) with several (linear) reveals.
You have the possibility to take notes and you really should. Teamwork is very important here and I can clearly see why three players are the minimum.
Many puzzles are not really organic in regard to the story, but I don’t care. I want puzzles with a lot of variety, clear structure (even when I fail to see it in the first place) and dedicated goals I want to achieve. This room delivers.
The decor is a clunky in a lot of parts, other parts are done very well, but in the debriefing we learned that they constantly improve on several aspects.
Note that you have to read a lot in order to get the goal of the puzzles, in a few cases spoken text will tell you what to expect, but each text is kept very short, so this did not bother me a lot.
8.5
Ambiance: 5.5
Game experience: 8.5
Service: 10
Played in November 2025
Played with 3 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Puzzels
- Moeilijkheidsgraad
- Goede begeleiding
- Logica
- Diversiteit
- Sfeer
- Decor
Some good elements, but a lot to improve (and a reset failure!)
As part of a Hamburg escape tour we also played this room (and their – absolutely great – Toymaker) and were deeply annoyed. After a great and fun start – how to get into the room is something very special – everything went haywire for us in record time ... Access to another room was already opened (we suspected this immediately, entered this new space but quickly returned as we were sure that it should not have been open this soon). After more than 5 minutes of playing time, the host told us that we should close this door.
Another small hatch (with a magnetic lock) was also already opened in the first room which confused us even more (after the game we were told that this is by design because it is not any more part of the game; I had my doubts about this explanation).
We lost a lot of time mainly because we got the strong impression that even more stuff was going wrong in this room (this was not true, but the gut feeling was strong). Approximately after half of the game we came to a full stop because one puzzle was terribly far-fetched.
It was nice that we were allowed to experience all missing puzzles after the game ... though we forgot to ask about one item in the first room, which made no sense to us, a small turning handle (but we activated it again and again nevertheless until the host told us to stop this). We never learned what it did (or didn't).
Except for this abysmally hard puzzle I told of, everything else was, reset failures aside, good or even great, with some worn elements, but our overall experience was pretty sad.
We were told that the room will undergo a renovation soon. The sooner the better, I say.
4.5
Ambiance: 7.5
Game experience: 4
Service: 4
Played in June 2024
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: No
- Puzzles
- Original
- Diversity
- Difficulty
- Experience
- Illogical puzzle
- Needs maintenance
Fairly linear (great for two) and really satisfying
After the great Toy Maker and the less than great Insomnia, this was our third visit to Big Break Hamburg, and we loved it. Though the room had no outstanding ground-breaking ideas puzzle-wise, everything was very clear, it had a good flow, and was not overwhelming. Almost perfect presentation of all puzzles. We liked it a lot, as it was the perfect fit for us two players.
9
Ambiance: 8.5
Game experience: 8
Service: 10
Played in June 2024
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Ambiance
- Puzzles
- Difficulty
- Logic
It's great. Play it!
An almost perfect room with a "run-book" (which I usually despise, but here it is perfectly integrated and a lot of fun), some astonishing effects and ... what can I say? Play it. You did read all the other reviews here, I believe.
There is room to improve though: I would have liked it at one particular puzzle when you could see your group when looking up - and vice-versa - the group would see you, looking down. Not easy to achieve and costly, but they could have pulled this off, I'm sure.
The final reveal is a bit underwhelming but this does not taint the experience in any way.
10
Ambiance: 10
Game experience: 10
Service: 10
Played in June 2024
Played with 3 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Ambiance
- Original
- Experience
- Exciting
- Puzzles
- Difficulty
- Logic
- Diversity
Good flow with a few surprises
This was a lot of fun, with two or three tiny blemishes ... start from an explorer's tent and, after solving the first puzzle, you'll find yourself in the inside of an Egyptian tomb. All puzzles were grounded in the "reality" of the setting and were mostly great fun. The decoration was on spot, sometimes impressive and always lovely to look at!
Of course, the room uses the Dr Jones Sr diary gadget as a run book, which, in our case, was heavily tattered and the pages were not in the right order. This was not part of the puzzle, but did cost me some time to figure it out.
One sound bit coming from a mummified person suffered from the heavy cologne accent the voice talent had and one puzzle involving sand had minor technical problems. Other than that, some transitions were more impressive than they could have been. Overall, a good experience.
9
Ambiance: 9.5
Game experience: 8
Service: 10
Played in June 2024
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Ambiance
- Puzzles
- Experience
- Exciting
FUN!
A lovingly decorated place. with a small "outside" forest and a hut. Without spoiling anything, the first task is to get into the hut, of course. There you will instantly learn why the game is called "Yarrum" and most people will have a big smile on their faces ...
A good variety of puzzles, many of which could be solved in parallel, nothing ground-breaking but always logical, many times very pleasing, and with a particular nasty task when you get into the hut's privy room ...
Nice effects and lighting overall.
Nothing for story-seekers. I usually don't care too much and am always happy when the story elements are short and not overwrought.
Great and fun interactions with the "main actor" of the game (no person is in the room with you).
The only gripes I had was one of my pet peeves, the reliance on artificial flavours or smells for a puzzle (Molly's Game being the worst offender here), as these for me (and all people I know) tend to smell or taste samey and hard to distiguish after just a few moments ... and some magic words with a bit too many syllables for my liking.
If you are very experienced escapers, don't come with a full set of players in order to get the most fun out of it.
9
Ambiance: 9
Game experience: 8
Service: 10
Played in June 2024
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Ambiance
- Puzzles
- Experience
- Logic
- Lack of story
Make a short trip to Mars - but do it with a clear head!
To sum it up: it was the nicest escape experience one could have for us two, considering our conditions on this day. Both of us were a bit ill, had a long drive behind us but were eager to play the Mission anyway.
It was the right decision! Linda was the nicest host one could ask for (she even offered to do the introduction in German, which we accepted though we usually are happy with English).
The experience was really good, with competently made and convincing set pieces. The puzzles always stayed on-theme and never were too far-fetched. The amount of technology involved is stunning and everything worked perfectly (with the exception of us two players, as we made our usual stupid mistakes, this time increased by our weakened condition).
The gameplay is mainly linear with occasional spurts of parallel puzzles and with a great finale.
I felt like being on a space station, though I did not feel the change from shuttle to station and also never felt “Mars“ … especially when the Mars surface comes into view in one puzzle - this looked more like the surface of a crazy 50s scifi flick‘s planet - and I actually adored it for this, though it looks like a missed opportunity …
We even found “life on Mars“, due to my incompetence in solving one puzzle (this was absolutely unintentional, but it made me laugh in a good way).
It is a really great concept to let all groups experience the finale even if they overshoot the 60 minutes (which we did by 15 minutes) by giving more and more hints … and the debriefing after the game is an added and great bonus!
9.5
Ambiance: 9.5
Game experience: 10
Service: 10
Played in April 2024
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: No
- Ambiance
- Great service
- Puzzles
- Difficulty
- Great host
- Logic
A great experience with some incredible effects
As usual with Mama Bazooka, I did not care a lot for (or understand in full) the “story“, but this does not impact my review too much.
This is an older room with a lot of locks (it not always was clear which code had to go where), some standard puzzles plus some great ideas which made me smile while playing. Very spacious and enough to do for our group of four. At least one physical puzzle had a bit of an error margin, maybe due to wear and tear, but we were able to solve it anyway.
Nice effects and interior design.
9
Ambiance: 9
Game experience: 9.5
Service: 7.5
Played in November 2023
Played with 4 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Ambiance
- Puzzles
- Experience
- Difficulty
We did not make it, but it was still great!
Aqua Vita is what you call a first generation escape room, but a good one — full of varied puzzles to solve — so many that a couple of (somewhat tedious) puzzles are already solved if you play in a small group.
A healthy bit of searching is needed and you should pay a lot of attention to details. Things you might have noticed at the start will become important later.
The many number and letter code locks are not as overbearing as it seems as it is always clear where to enter a code you found.
Though the puzzles clearly fit the theme: If you are a fan of immersive rooms this is probably not for you, because apart from some very neat items and furniture not much work went into the surroundings … but as I personally admire great looking rooms but always am more interested in the puzzles, I still would give 4.5 stars. The half star is for the really nice owners with whom we had a long chat afterwards.
8.5
Ambiance: 4
Game experience: 10
Service: 9.5
Played in September 2022
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: No
- Puzzles
- Great service
- Great price
- Experience
- Great host
- Logic
- Difficulty
- Original
- Ambiance
- Decor
It is great (mostly)! But don't do it with 2 players!
Played this with two and failed. After a few minutes it became clear for me that we almost had no chance to finish this room within the hour.
Nevertheless, the decors are perfect, most puzzles were logical and well-integrated (nothing ground-breaking, though) – with occasional hiccups (guys, if you want me to read a certain symbol as a math symbol, please make it a bit more obvious!) - but as the group will be separated at one stage, two players is not enough IMO.
There was too much roleplay involved, which a group of two would not be able to cope with – it increases immersion, but costs time (as you always have to check: is this just for atmosphere or was it a hint?). They should have kept it to a minimum with just two players.
Also, the actress talking to us via walkie-talkie had a thick dutch accent, making it hard to understand her English for a non-native speaker via the speakers. Another time-eater.
The finale (I am not sure whether it was THE finale or just the one for the losers) was still great and taking everything into consideration we loved the experience - and they actually made me wince, though I'm normally immune to horror elements. And I liked this moment!
There was also a short walkthru afterwards, because we had some questions. In contrast to what others say here, the after-game was really pleasant!
My rating reflects the two-player experience. For more players, it would be close to a ten, I believe!
7.5
Ambiance: 10
Game experience: 7
Service: 7
Played in May 2022
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: No
- Ambiance
- Great service
- Original
- Experience
- Storyline
- Exciting
- Difficulty
- Illogical puzzles
When in Paris, use the Metro ...
Played this room a while ago (and years later returned to play several more rooms of this company) when doing a France round-trip. The name "The Game" gave the impression that their English should be good, and this really was the case (my wife is fluid in French, but my own French is just passive at best).
The puzzles were fine and all logical, though I needed a bit of time to understand that they are not completely grounded in reality. When being tasked with repairing a Metro car you assume that you have to find tools and manuals, press buttons and open compartments for technical access. This happened here, but not always. The moment I understood that there will be puzzles for the sake of puzzles (though all are thematically fitting), it flowed much better.
Great immersive setting with some impressive special effects. Some wear and tear (but a subway train usually shows a lot of wear and tear, so this was acceptable). As we were only two, we had to pay the fee for three (the minimum number) and The Game was able to "simulate" the missing third player without problems.
In the end, we would have needed 10 or 15 more seconds to escape (we had the solution but struggled with its order), but some you win, some you lose...
9
Ambiance: 10
Game experience: 8
Service: 9
Played in June 2019
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: No
- Ambiance
- Original
- Experience
- Exciting
- puzzles not always grounded in reality
A solid room experience
This was one of our first rooms in 2016 ... located on one very large floor of a very large and unappealing multi-storey building. The rooms itself were relatively nice decorated, though.
We played two rooms on one day there – which was not a good idea because we still were a bit tired from a long journey. Our second room was the now closed Big Pang Theory (sic!) room.
The Sherlock room has a lot to do, we found most of the puzzles entertaining and solid, though we had a hard time with one of the first ones (and without an override switch from the game master we would still try today to figure it out, I believe...). The rest worked mainly smoothly with occasional wow moments.
Though the room was and is advertised as authentic (they stress their very old furniture, though I have some doubts) it was a bit lacking, because of the bureau ceiling and some locks which were rather modern looking.
7
Ambiance: 6.5
Game experience: 7.5
Service: 9
Played in July 2016
Played with 2 persons
Escaped: Yes
- Great service
- Great price
- Logic
- Difficulty
- Ambiance
- Decor