Breakout Manchester – Virus

Breakout Manchester – Virus.
Location: Manchester
Game Date 16/03/2017.
Team: Amy & Ian

Theme:
“Can you slow down the outbreak and find the cure? You only have 60 minutes to do so or the fate of mankind may be in jeopardy. Virus was our 2nd room to open in Breakout Manchester. It has some great, unique and ingenious puzzles that makes the room very special indeed.”

Theming in Virus was excellent, and immersive! We’ve come to not expect the best theming in the world with Breakout, but the last few games we’ve played have had very good theming.
The dilapidated lab was very well done, and it looked gritty and abandoned. The use of locks added to the game & the immersion. The room looked out via a rather large window to the street below which took a little bit of immersion away, but was used to good effect within the game.
The room was finished well, with clearly a lot of attention to detail within the set dressing and decoration. It certainly had a wow factor when we walked in, coupled with a full soundtrack, this is a room not to be missed at Breakout Manchester.

On a side note, I always mention Breakout need mics in the room, this room HAS MICROPHONES and it was like playing with a different company… Get them in all your rooms Breakout!

Game Play:
A linear game with lots of fun puzzles, that were all on theme. Plenty of searching within this room too! The puzzles were all logical, with no massive logic leaps anywhere, and all very enjoyable with good ah-ha moments. The puzzles covered all basis, with word, math, (but nothing overly complicated or obtuse, and a calculator was provided!) observational, logic and searching.
There were a few unique puzzles in this room too, and some twists on “objects” we’ve seen used a couple of times, along with the staple “breakout” type puzzles. Led to a jam packed room with loads to do.
The flow was excellent, with the only sticking points being where WE missed a couple of searches (not our strong point) and obvious things that we should have got (from previous mistakes!) Everything lead on to the next puzzle and once we clicked into what we were doing the game flowed beautifully.
A 4 star difficulty on Breakout’s scale, this room would be a very enjoyable room for a small team of enthusiasts and a bigger team of Newbies, although some puzzles may trip newbies up!

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via screen in the room.

Game Host:
Dave was out Game Host, and is the BEST we have had at Breakout, incredibly friendly and clearly cares about the industry and was more than happy to chat (well have me rabbit on to him) about games both before and after our game!
He ran the game to perfection, giving us clues at the exact time, leaving us to think things over, but nudging us just before we got to the point of frustration (we never really got frustrated in this room if I’m honest) and was obviously paying full attention to the game as his timing was exemplary. It’s clear that having mics in the room helps the Game Host immensely, and that coupled with Dave fantastic attitude and hospitality made this the best experience we’ve had at a Breakout venue!

Did we escape?
Yes! In 50 minutes

Website: https://breakoutmanchester.com
Price:

OFF PEAK
2 Players £36
3 Players £48
4 Players £56
5 Players £65

PEAK
2 Players £40
3 Players £54
4 Players £68
5 Players £80