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Situated in Horton Park Golf Club on Hook Road, Epsom Escape advertises an escape room called ‘The Curse of Old Maid Milly’, which I had the pleasure of completing with a group of 3 other friends over the weekend. The time limit is 60 minutes, like many escape rooms, and it is suitable for anywhere from two to six players.
As suggested by the name, this escape room was teeming with blood-curdling bits, some of which were predictable, but most of which were deliciously scary. I was still able to have an enjoyable evening out with my friends, as our determination overshadowed our dwindling fear as we progressed. At points, we were in the dark, and this really allowed for the immersive experience of the escape room to take over and luckily, no acrobatics were needed to get through small holes or pull things unstuck, only some light stretching up to reach some high drawers.
Whilst the decorations were interesting and varied, this escape room’s strength lay in its plethora of hiding places in which lay many engrossing puzzles that all four of us were able to contribute towards. Each puzzle we completed was relevant and linked to the larger picture. We even skipped a few as we were able to guess the code for a logic puzzle without all of the components we needed, and this greatly reduced our time spent in the room.
Of course, no review is complete without a mention of staff. Our gamesmaster was engaging and entertaining, making use of a ‘communications device’ to give us a few helpful nudges in the right direction. He was in the character of a paranormal expert, there to help us find out what happened to Old Maid Milly. Each hint was clear and precisely what we needed in the moment to get us accelerating towards the finish line again. As well as that, the room was well set up, and as a group we did not encounter any faulty parts or, thankfully, any unsolvable puzzles.
If you are thinking of going to complete this, I would say it would be best to have more people rather than less, as it is really helpful to do a few puzzles side by side to gain the larger picture needed to escape. Furthermore, it may be more reassuring to have more people, almost as a subconscious safety in numbers, although no harm came to us in the room. My group and I liked this escape room experience very much, and we were able to escape in 37 minutes!
Best of luck on your next escape!