The Forgotten Son

Good story and great atmosphere

Very well themed. One puzzle felt quite out of place (windows) and there was a wire puzzle that was a little annoying but overall it was quite a fun and interesting game.

A classic escape room in design, ‘The Forgotten Son’ offers some enjoyable and distinctive puzzles with a unique Australian theme. Moving from the outback into a creepy, dimly lit shed in search of shelter, players uncover details about its former residents and how they can help them. Some puzzle elements were worn and occasionally difficult to operate, while others felt more ambiguous in how they connected to the narrative or how they were intended to be used. One key prop was particularly impressive, but unfortunately cumbersome — it took a few attempts to understand how it was meant to be utilised due to the difficulty in handling it. That being said, I appreciate what Expedition Escape designed in ‘The Forgotten Son’. The set dressing effectively captured the Australian outback, and the use of corrugated iron walls deepened the immersion amidst the sounds of native wildlife. Many prop pieces were uniquely Australian, and great care went into fleshing out their offering of the Australian Outback. The team were very kind and accomodating of our late booking from the initial call through to leaving the venue.

Awesome! Loved the Australian outback theme. The puzzles were good too, some which got us stuck and needed help for.

7.5/10 Amazing, attentive GM, Caroline. Game was subtly creepy and satisfyingly challenging. We totally couldn’t solve a few of the puzzles but totally loved it!

A fun immersive room, full of excellent and logical puzzles. Lots of fun - and felt like you were back in the 19th century outback.

The scares were subtle but definitely made others jump. Some of the room did break during it. I saw the game master open the door and throw the next key into the room which did break immersion a little bit. Was a great room overall.

Despite being underwhelmed by Kingdom Besieged, we decided to give Expedition another try by tackling their flagship room, The Forgotten Son. We are glad we did, because it was a much better and more enjoyable experience! Apart from the rare Aussie outback theme, the quality of the props was excellent and the puzzles made sense in the space. There are some mild jump scares (which you can tell the GM to dial up or down), but it relies more on lighting and sound to create a creepy atmosphere. I would say it's a good level of difficulty — not too easy and not too hard — perfect for a group of four. We found it satisfying enough to consider giving their Gladesville rooms a try in the future.

Experiencing The Forgotten Son was a roller coaster ride that is hard to put into words. Beginning with the positives, our Game Master Maddie was an absolute joy, dealing with our incessant jokes and commentary throughout the room, also making us a unique gift to take home. The room itself is a pretty cool setting out in the Australian outback that I hadn’t seen utilised before. The puzzles were mostly decent but the storyline was confusing as anything with myself and my teammate consistently asking each other what was going on. The one puzzle we had some trouble on got us stuck in a semi-confined space with no aircon which got us absolutely delusional. Pretty sure we exited out of the room in a tidal wave of our own sweat. Overall we had a pretty good time fearing the mysterious appearances of wood logs and melting into our shoes.

A truly dubious experience over at Expedition as my friend and I played their top rated room, The Forgotten Son. The story concept is pretty unique as it implements the Australian outback and Ned Kelly but we did have trouble following exactly what was going on around us for most of it. Some clever puzzles and thoughtful set design were the main features but we ended up playing on a hot day with no aircon which meant we were 🔥roasting🔥 in there, slowly but surely descending into madness. Our GM Maddie was awesome and a great sport, even making us a wonderfully unique collectable badge upon completion. 8/10 🔏🧩