Room Story - from Compendium Escape Rooms
You and your friends are driving along route 66 when you notice your gas running low, a friend suggests to make a turn at the next set of crossroads to see if there is a gas station… you don’t find a gas station but decide to explore the one place you have discovered by taking that WRONG TURN…. Will you escape or will you spend your life regretting that wrong turn?
Key Stats
Review
Back in December 2018, we played the original Wrong Turn game. It instantly became one of our favourites because of the well themed and immersive atmosphere they’d created (see original review here). Fast forward to July 2019 and we found ourselves playing Wrong Turn again.
Thankfully for my easily scared team mates, the original version of Wrong Turn had no live actors. In many ways, it’s actually a room whose storyline and theming would be extremely well suited to live actors. So that’s what Compendium did. For a limited period, they re-worked about 90% of the puzzles in the room and put on a live actor experience. A complete no-go for my regular team.
However, at the end of the live actor run they banished the chainsaw wielding maniac and opened the changed version of the room up for the less brave souls amongst us. Having loved the original game, we had to go back and replay it.
I’ve played an updated version of a room before, but that was a major refurbishment and overhaul of the game (Howitz at Escapologic, Nottingham). This was more subtle. The set, the theming, the props and your journey through the game remained largely unchanged. However, the puzzles and aim of the game were almost completely different. When I booked it, I didn’t know how I’d feel about it and whether it would feel different enough.
The summary of how I feel now: I loved the chance to get to re-live one of my favourite games, without feeling like I could walk in, remember everything and be out in 20 minutes. Enough had changed to ensure it felt like a different experience, whilst also feeling familiar. One of the downsides was definitely losing the element of surprise and the sense of discovery, but I felt that was a price worth paying.
In terms of the game itself, it felt more difficult as it took us an extra 8 minutes to escape. All in all, the new puzzles were good, logical and flowed well. We particularly loved the new story and aim of the game. It centred on collecting evidence about the discoveries of our previous foray into the maniac’s shack. There was only one puzzle that frustrated me a little bit as I dropped an important item (which was easy enough to do). There was no easy way to retrieve it, leading to a bit of wasted time trying to get it back.
We were really pleased with our decision to head back to Compendium and enjoyed the opportunity to take on Wrong Turn again. When we played the game, it was the last day with the altered puzzles before they changed it all back. But if they do decide to change it again, it’s definitely worth a replay for anybody who has played it before and either version of the game will be enjoyable for anybody who hasn’t played before. The guys told us a little bit about the live actor experience and it sounded very good for anybody who enjoys that sort of game – I definitely don’t think it would be one for those easily scared!
Ratings
You and your friends are driving along route 66 when you notice your gas running low, a friend suggests to make a turn at the next set of crossroads to see if there is a gas station… you don’t find a gas station but decide to explore the one place you have discovered by taking that WRONG TURN…. Will you escape or will you spend your life regretting that wrong turn?
Key Stats
| Room Name | Wrong Turn v2 |
| Venue | Compendium |
| Location | Bury, UK |
| Date | 14/07/2019 |
| Escape Time | 54:33 |
| Team Size | 3 |
| My Recommended Team Size | 3 - 5 |
Review
Back in December 2018, we played the original Wrong Turn game. It instantly became one of our favourites because of the well themed and immersive atmosphere they’d created (see original review here). Fast forward to July 2019 and we found ourselves playing Wrong Turn again.
Thankfully for my easily scared team mates, the original version of Wrong Turn had no live actors. In many ways, it’s actually a room whose storyline and theming would be extremely well suited to live actors. So that’s what Compendium did. For a limited period, they re-worked about 90% of the puzzles in the room and put on a live actor experience. A complete no-go for my regular team.
However, at the end of the live actor run they banished the chainsaw wielding maniac and opened the changed version of the room up for the less brave souls amongst us. Having loved the original game, we had to go back and replay it.
I’ve played an updated version of a room before, but that was a major refurbishment and overhaul of the game (Howitz at Escapologic, Nottingham). This was more subtle. The set, the theming, the props and your journey through the game remained largely unchanged. However, the puzzles and aim of the game were almost completely different. When I booked it, I didn’t know how I’d feel about it and whether it would feel different enough.
The summary of how I feel now: I loved the chance to get to re-live one of my favourite games, without feeling like I could walk in, remember everything and be out in 20 minutes. Enough had changed to ensure it felt like a different experience, whilst also feeling familiar. One of the downsides was definitely losing the element of surprise and the sense of discovery, but I felt that was a price worth paying.
In terms of the game itself, it felt more difficult as it took us an extra 8 minutes to escape. All in all, the new puzzles were good, logical and flowed well. We particularly loved the new story and aim of the game. It centred on collecting evidence about the discoveries of our previous foray into the maniac’s shack. There was only one puzzle that frustrated me a little bit as I dropped an important item (which was easy enough to do). There was no easy way to retrieve it, leading to a bit of wasted time trying to get it back.
We were really pleased with our decision to head back to Compendium and enjoyed the opportunity to take on Wrong Turn again. When we played the game, it was the last day with the altered puzzles before they changed it all back. But if they do decide to change it again, it’s definitely worth a replay for anybody who has played it before and either version of the game will be enjoyable for anybody who hasn’t played before. The guys told us a little bit about the live actor experience and it sounded very good for anybody who enjoys that sort of game – I definitely don’t think it would be one for those easily scared!
 |
| The team were Beth, Becky and Daniel. |
Ratings
| Overall |  | It was great to get to experience one of our favourite rooms for a second time – albeit with completely different puzzles. |
| Difficulty |  | The different version was slightly harder, which can be seen in our higher escape time. |
| Fun | | Wrong Turn is a fun game full of atmosphere. It’s so enjoyable exploring the immersive set. |
| Puzzles |  | 90% of the puzzles had changed from the original game, with the replacements just as enjoyable. There was only one puzzle that was a little bit frustrating. |
| Immersion | | The main strength of this room is Immersion. Sights, sounds and smells make it a multi-sensory experience. |
| Surprises | | Obviously, because we’ve played the game before the surprise factor wasn’t as high. But I’m not going to knock it down because anybody who plays it for the first time will enjoy the sense of discovery. |