Templars

In line with other reviews I've read. The room itself was beautifully crafted. It looked lovely. It was clearly based on the Kingsman films, although I've not watched them. This has the potential to be a superb room, but for us it sadly wasn't. I've thought hard about whether this is because we didn't get out or whether it's the game itself, and to be honest it's the latter. We have failed to escape one room before and still enjoyed it (in fact we want to have another go), but this one we didn't really enjoy at all. It started with a briefing by the GM. The GM was in character and explained that there are no locks or codes to find (there was at least one or two codes, but no locks) in the room. He said the room was linear and not to go off looking for things and pulling things out, because we wouldn't need to (hint: you really do or you'll lose). He advised to take instructions literally and do as they say and you won't go wrong. Like many other reviewers, including enthusiasts/review site hosts, we did go wrong. Once we started, the first codes to crack were ok, but then we got stuck on a clue which we were taking literally, as instructed. I'm not going to spoil the game for those who wish to try it, but this set the tone for the rest of the game. The puzzles were lateral thinking ones rather than mechanical and the game was immersive. The puzzles appeared to have been written to suit the personality of the host, rather than ones that anyone could work out. In the debrief afterwards we both felt a "it makes sense to me, why not to you" vibe from the GM, and during the game we were told that there wouldn't be contact from the GM - if we wanted a clue we'd ask. The opposite was true and he called us several times. My partner didn't want to speak to the GM after the second call to her - she felt the GM was abrasive and rude to her. We did miss several hints and it's important to acknowledge that we missed several bits of the game during normal gameplay, rather than this just being a diatribe at the room/host. There was a point however where we realised that something was amiss and that we were bound to fail. Our enthusiasm for the room dropped off after that. What became apparent afterwards was that the GM must have known we would fail at a similar time (no spoilers, but we didn't have what we needed to progress). Some objects were hidden in places we didn't explore because we were told at the start not to go pulling things apart looking for things. This was contradicted in the debrief. What would have been better would have been an instruction at the start to the effect of - unless it has a sticker saying otherwise, it's part of the game. In all, we were disappointed and won't be going back. We feel that if so many reviewers, including some serious enthusiast's, are united on our views, we can't all be wrong. Maybe change some bits around and this game could be as good as it looks. Also, don't put your homemade merchandise in the room and advertise it - it's confusing.