Room Story - from Lucardo
Notorious gangster Tommy Neil is one of the most wanted criminals in the country. You have been chasing his tail without success for nearly ten years, his luck seems to be running out - his right-hand man has turned himself in to the authorities. He is currently in a safe house before being entered into witness protection. As the lead investigation team in this highly coveted case, it is your job to interview the witness and extract everything possible to finally convict Tommy. Be prepared for twists and turns in this epic game.
Key Stats
Review
Lucardo Rawtenstall is one of our favourite venues, so we were really excited when they announced the opening of their 4th game. Safe House is set in the same “world” as their other game, Corruption.
As always at Lucardo, there’s an interesting and theatrical start to the game as you make your way to the Safe House. It was also a bit of a confusing start initially, requiring your powers of observation to actually find your way into the Safe House from a well-themed apartment corridor.
Once we got inside, we found ourselves in a realistic space and started to search the room and explore. We often find that once you get stuck into trying to solve things in any escape room, you can quite easily lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve and the storyline of the game. We did that quite quickly in this first part of the game as we felt there wasn’t enough up-front to introduce you to the story and enough in the room to remind you of it.
In this first space you also find quite a few items as you’re searching the room. Almost all the items don’t really get used until later in the game, which left us on several occasions trying to find clues and meaning in things that just weren’t needed at that time.
There’s a big turning point in the game that’s key to the storyline, but when it happened, we weren’t quite sure how to react. If you react the wrong way (which we did), it’s easy to miss a vital part of the storyline. We were left a little bit confused about what had actually happened.
When we progressed further in the game, what we were trying to achieve became much clearer though. The second half of the game presents you with a clear set of objectives that help you clearly see your progress. Again, the theming and immersion in later parts of the game is excellent and appropriate to the storyline.
Throughout Safe House, we found all the puzzles to be logical, well-constructed and clear. There was quite a bit of searching which isn’t always our strong point!
Our host Molly was excellent. She gave us well-timed clues, an enthusiastic safety briefing and did some fantastic acting that played a big part in making the game an immersive experience.
We enjoyed Safe House, it was another excellently themed and hosted game. One of the areas Lucardo always excels in is storytelling – I’d consider Corruption to be one of the most cinematic and well told stories I’ve played in an escape room. This game has a great storyline, but I felt there wasn’t enough of it on show in the first half of the game. It definitely didn’t help missing one of the key story elements because we did the wrong thing!
Ratings
Notorious gangster Tommy Neil is one of the most wanted criminals in the country. You have been chasing his tail without success for nearly ten years, his luck seems to be running out - his right-hand man has turned himself in to the authorities. He is currently in a safe house before being entered into witness protection. As the lead investigation team in this highly coveted case, it is your job to interview the witness and extract everything possible to finally convict Tommy. Be prepared for twists and turns in this epic game.
Key Stats
| Room Name | Safe House |
| Venue | Lucardo |
| Location | Rawtenstall, UK |
| Date | 01/09/2019 |
| Escape Time | 46:46 |
| Team Size | 3 |
| My Recommended Team Size | 2 - 4 |
Review
Lucardo Rawtenstall is one of our favourite venues, so we were really excited when they announced the opening of their 4th game. Safe House is set in the same “world” as their other game, Corruption.
As always at Lucardo, there’s an interesting and theatrical start to the game as you make your way to the Safe House. It was also a bit of a confusing start initially, requiring your powers of observation to actually find your way into the Safe House from a well-themed apartment corridor.
Once we got inside, we found ourselves in a realistic space and started to search the room and explore. We often find that once you get stuck into trying to solve things in any escape room, you can quite easily lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve and the storyline of the game. We did that quite quickly in this first part of the game as we felt there wasn’t enough up-front to introduce you to the story and enough in the room to remind you of it.
In this first space you also find quite a few items as you’re searching the room. Almost all the items don’t really get used until later in the game, which left us on several occasions trying to find clues and meaning in things that just weren’t needed at that time.
There’s a big turning point in the game that’s key to the storyline, but when it happened, we weren’t quite sure how to react. If you react the wrong way (which we did), it’s easy to miss a vital part of the storyline. We were left a little bit confused about what had actually happened.
When we progressed further in the game, what we were trying to achieve became much clearer though. The second half of the game presents you with a clear set of objectives that help you clearly see your progress. Again, the theming and immersion in later parts of the game is excellent and appropriate to the storyline.
Throughout Safe House, we found all the puzzles to be logical, well-constructed and clear. There was quite a bit of searching which isn’t always our strong point!
Our host Molly was excellent. She gave us well-timed clues, an enthusiastic safety briefing and did some fantastic acting that played a big part in making the game an immersive experience.
We enjoyed Safe House, it was another excellently themed and hosted game. One of the areas Lucardo always excels in is storytelling – I’d consider Corruption to be one of the most cinematic and well told stories I’ve played in an escape room. This game has a great storyline, but I felt there wasn’t enough of it on show in the first half of the game. It definitely didn’t help missing one of the key story elements because we did the wrong thing!
 |
| The team were Beth, Daniel and Becky. |
| Overall |  | Another well-themed and theatrical game from Lucardo. We were a little bit confused in the first half of the game, but things became clearer as the game progressed. |
| Difficulty |  | It’s a fairly straightforward game – there isn’t anything that’s overly complex and difficult. |
| Fun | | We enjoyed the game – there’s a great atmosphere and a sense of urgency whilst playing. |
| Puzzles |  | There’s a lot of searching that isn’t always our forte! We felt all the puzzles were logical with good flow. |
| Immersion |  | Every aspect of the game is well-themed and the great acting from the host added an extra level. |
| Surprises | | There are a few surprise moments in the game as the story develops and lots to uncover as you progress. |