Nautilus

Ahhhh another day in Bikini Bottom. What a fun room! The Submarine vibes were very cool with the props and tech synthesising perfectly into the set design. Some genuinely tricky puzzles in this one, we had to really lock in at certain points. Though these rooms are pre-purchased there’s still a lot of love in the production and build of these rooms. It’s really easy to just throw these up and have them make little sense whereas this room felt like it was put together with love and proper attention to detail. A super super big shoutout to our wonderful hosts Rebecca and Harley who made us feel so welcome. The rooms are attached to a cafè they also run with a big room full of card/board games. They allow it as a study area for local students and it is a great place for the local community. Come for the escaping, stay for the immaculate vibes.

Thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed! I've done a few pirate or ship themes experiences but this is the first submarine plot and it was a lot of fun! The set design was fantastic - despite being a packaged build, you can tell a lot of love has gone into the set up. I truly enjoyed just being in the space. Also some genuinely tricky puzzles. It was a good balance where we felt challenged by the puzzles but were still able to figure it out without needing help or getting frustrated. (Except one - to hell with you symbols). The owners, and their beautiful lil bub, were great to talk to post-game. Thank you for having us!

I'M GIVIN' HER ALL SHE'S GOT CAP'N! My first ever subterranean voyage and what an absolute doozy it was, there was beeping, there were alarms, there were beeping alarms, I was not running a very tight ship. Whoops. Nautilus as an escape room is exactly what you'd hope for with a theme like this, it's an expertly crafted, tactile experience that looks fantastic and constantly creates a sense of urgency amongst players. I'm also a big fan of any form of visual progression system in this medium and it's amazing how something as simple as a red light flicking over to green can keep a team of people on track, organised and validated. Some genuinely tricky solves throughout this one are what made it a really satisfying experience; not only are you tasked with identifying the issues around the sub but actually understanding each problem, paying attention to the details, and troubleshooting effectively. Maybe I just like working with my hands or maybe I just yearn for blue collar work, who's to say? Either way, it was such a good time! There was one puzzle that I think could be tweaked a touch as it feels a bit out of place in its obscurity but overall a minor blemish (watch your back, TRIANGLE PUZZLE). Definitely a room I'd recommend to others if you're out Bendigo way, it's one of the most impressive pre-packaged builds I've ever come across. LAND HO! 7.5/10 🔏🧩

I personally have never felt dumber in my life and I found the loud alarm a bit disorienting but the room is absolutely incredible in terms of set design and furnishings. The puzzles are fun and I always like a room that has an overarching link to all the puzzles. Staff were so lovely and it was nice to have a room with less keys than there often are.

The puzzles were not too bad, but had to be followed in a sequence, which meant even if you knew the answers to some, they would not activate until you finished the previous puzzle. The design of the room was great.

It was disappointing to learn that Nautilus and the other room at Cryptorium were just pre-packaged escape rooms that you can order online for your escape room business. We could be anywhere in the world and accidentally stumble our way 20,000 leagues under the sea into the exact same experience. It's mostly disappointing because other escape room companies in the area are creating original hand-crafted experiences and this was just shipped over fully formed from a company in Poland. This isn't to say that the room itself is bad, the aesthetics are great, the puzzles are fun enough, but it was a bit of a letdown. It also felt overly pricey for a pre-packaged one room escape.