AstroJafar
11 escape rooms
We attended for my birthday, due to the high reviews the room has. We were a group of 6, half of us have done a lot of escape rooms, and the rest have done a couple. We’re big ghost fans, so we were excited by the rooms theme. First, the production value and theming of the room is excellent - some good effects, creepy props, very high quality and immersive. The “plot” was good too, easy to follow and suitably creepy. This is definitely one of the best themed escape rooms I’ve done, certainly the best I’ve seen in Devon. When we arrived, our host told us that the room was ‘linear’ - solving one puzzle gives you what you need to solve the others. For me, this is not a good thing; it never takes more than 3 or 4 people to solve a puzzle, so with a group of six, especially experienced players, this meant that at any one time two of us didn’t really have anything to do. All of the puzzles were interesting with good solutions, but for me, this is a 4 person room at most! Additionally, we escaped in just over 30 mins without any hints, meaning that for me the puzzles needed to either be harder or have many more puzzles to solve. If you’re a group of 4 or less, or a slightly larger group looking for your first escape room, then this is an absolute must-try! But for a large group of experienced players, I’d suggest splitting up, or finding a non-linear room.
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ProdigyEscapes (Owner)
Hi AstroJafar. Really appreciate you taking the time to visit and to share such a thoughtful review, and I am really glad you enjoyed the theming and atmosphere. That room was the very first experience we ever created, so it means a lot when people connect with it. You escaped in 38.21 which is a fantastic time. We monitor performance across all teams and at the moment the average time for Mount Clifton Manor is 52.08 with around three and a half hints. Groups of eight completed with an average 53.22. We try to find a balance between allowing most teams to feel a sense of progress and completion while still keeping the challenge rewarding for experienced players. Mount Clifton Manor is intentionally linear because we like building clear story driven moments and that structure can really support immersion. We also know that with larger or very experienced groups there may be moments where not everyone is active at once. For that reason we offer our rooms for groups between two and six so that players who want a tougher challenge can choose to come in smaller numbers. At the same time we also want to support newer teams who really value completing the full story from start to finish often with larger groups. If you're interested in the thinking behind this, we have written about team sizes here: https://www.prodigyescapes.co.uk/2023/03/04/escape-room-team-size/ And about linear escape rooms here: https://www.prodigyescapes.co.uk/2022/12/09/linear-escape-rooms/ Over time we have adjusted things based on feedback like yours. We have now capped capacity at six for this room to help preserve the energy and enjoyment. We are always learning with every build. Our upcoming Curse of Mount Clifton Manor will bring in more non linear elements while still keeping a strong story so there will be more for different players to get involved with at the same time. How will this go? We'll keep striving to do our best. You also touched on something we find fascinating. Difficulty inside spooky themed rooms behaves differently. When players feel very nervous, they slow down a lot, while confident ghost fans often power through. For Mount Clifton we chose an eerie feel rather than constant fear so players could focus on puzzles, which sometimes leads to faster runs for groups like yours. Thank you again for the balanced feedback and for recommending us to smaller or newer teams. It really helps us improve and it helps other players choose the right experience for them. If you are ever back in the area I would love to welcome you again and hear how you get on in some of our other rooms. All the best, Dan
Jan 4, 2026
