Room Story - from Compendium
Bentham Asylum has been standing since the 1900's. In 1950 Bentham was given the nickname "Bedlam" because of the events that happened in those 50 years. And in 1974 Cell P23 was mysteriously locked without an explanation as to why. Bedlam has secrets that need to be uncovered. You and your team are top journalists and experts in your field. You have been tasked with uncovering the secrets that are held behind Cell P23's walls. Can you go undercover, get in the cell undetected and escape with the documents that will uncover the secrets of Bedlam?
Key Stats
Review
Bedlam is Compendium’s 3rd room and is themed around an abandoned cell shrouded in rumours and mystery that some journalists infiltrate Bedlam asylum to explore. At the beginning of the game, one of the team is separated and taken into the room blindfolded and secured to a chair. I volunteered and remained in place for a few minutes until my team entered the room and unfastened me. It’s actually quite a strange feeling sitting in a room blindfolded with creepy sound effects playing… but I survived.
Upon removing my blindfold, I was instantly impressed with the room’s theming. They’ve created a realistic space that looks sufficiently aged to fit with the story of the room. It’s not just the look – the room also smells musty and abandoned.
At first, the room appears quite sparse. But as we began to explore, we started to uncover more and more of its secrets. They’ve done a great job of creating lots of hidden spaces to discover, really fitting in with the investigative theme of the room. It’s quite a small space, but the construction and layout of the room cleverly makes it feel much larger.
The majority of the puzzles were based around unlocking padlocks, but there were a mix of varied puzzle styles used to uncover the codes. Most of these consisted of multiple stages, using objects well suited to the theme of the room. This isn’t a room where you’re searching for codes obscured away. Everything requires you to flex your puzzle muscle and work through a series of logical steps.
There were a couple of puzzles in the room I particularly enjoyed. One required good team work and communication to create something that uncovered a code. Another was one we’d never seen before that cleverly hid away some information in plain sight.
We progressed well through the game with a few hints to help us along the way – these were delivered via an intercom telephone in the room by your “man on the inside”. As we reached the end of the game, there was a nice twist they’d introduced that created a frantic, fast paced and memorable finish.
Compendium have impressed us again with this room – it’s extremely immersive and has a great set of well flowing puzzles. We’re so impressed at the incredible amount of discovery and exploration they’ve managed to create in quite a small space. Bedlam is a really great game that we’d highly recommend.
Ratings
Bentham Asylum has been standing since the 1900's. In 1950 Bentham was given the nickname "Bedlam" because of the events that happened in those 50 years. And in 1974 Cell P23 was mysteriously locked without an explanation as to why. Bedlam has secrets that need to be uncovered. You and your team are top journalists and experts in your field. You have been tasked with uncovering the secrets that are held behind Cell P23's walls. Can you go undercover, get in the cell undetected and escape with the documents that will uncover the secrets of Bedlam?
Key Stats
| Room Name | Bedlam |
| Venue | Compendium |
| Location | Bury, UK |
| Date | 11/08/2019 |
| Escape Time | 53:38 |
| Team Size | 3 |
| My Recommended Team Size | 2 - 4 |
Review
Bedlam is Compendium’s 3rd room and is themed around an abandoned cell shrouded in rumours and mystery that some journalists infiltrate Bedlam asylum to explore. At the beginning of the game, one of the team is separated and taken into the room blindfolded and secured to a chair. I volunteered and remained in place for a few minutes until my team entered the room and unfastened me. It’s actually quite a strange feeling sitting in a room blindfolded with creepy sound effects playing… but I survived.
Upon removing my blindfold, I was instantly impressed with the room’s theming. They’ve created a realistic space that looks sufficiently aged to fit with the story of the room. It’s not just the look – the room also smells musty and abandoned.
At first, the room appears quite sparse. But as we began to explore, we started to uncover more and more of its secrets. They’ve done a great job of creating lots of hidden spaces to discover, really fitting in with the investigative theme of the room. It’s quite a small space, but the construction and layout of the room cleverly makes it feel much larger.
The majority of the puzzles were based around unlocking padlocks, but there were a mix of varied puzzle styles used to uncover the codes. Most of these consisted of multiple stages, using objects well suited to the theme of the room. This isn’t a room where you’re searching for codes obscured away. Everything requires you to flex your puzzle muscle and work through a series of logical steps.
There were a couple of puzzles in the room I particularly enjoyed. One required good team work and communication to create something that uncovered a code. Another was one we’d never seen before that cleverly hid away some information in plain sight.
We progressed well through the game with a few hints to help us along the way – these were delivered via an intercom telephone in the room by your “man on the inside”. As we reached the end of the game, there was a nice twist they’d introduced that created a frantic, fast paced and memorable finish.
Compendium have impressed us again with this room – it’s extremely immersive and has a great set of well flowing puzzles. We’re so impressed at the incredible amount of discovery and exploration they’ve managed to create in quite a small space. Bedlam is a really great game that we’d highly recommend.
 |
| The team were Beth, Daniel and Becky. We were awarded with a mini cup for completing all of the top floor games at Compendium! |
Ratings
| Overall |  | Another excellent game from Compendium. Good puzzles, good theming and a nice humorous twist. |
| Difficulty |  | There are lots of puzzles to get through in the time, but everything flows logically. |
| Fun | | We really enjoyed Bedlam. They’ve cleverly used the space in the room to give a sense of exploration and discovery. |
| Puzzles |  | All the puzzles were nicely integrated into the theme of the room. Everything felt logical and flowed well, with good variety. There was even a clever puzzle we’d never seen before! |
| Immersion | | The theming of the cell is excellent with realistic smells and “aging” to make it really feel like somewhere that has been abandoned for some time. |
| Surprises | | This room is full of hidden surprises and a lovely humorous twist you discover towards the end of the game. |