Adventure Vault – The Scandal

Adventure Vault – The Scandal
Location: Shrewsbury
Game Date: 19/10/2018
Team: Amy & Ian

Theme:
“You have been hired by the eccentric Lord Talbot to track down his missing wife who has run off with the family heirlooms including a rare giant diamond. Only Detective Reid has any clues to the whereabouts of Lady Talbot and the missing diamond.”

Theming was standard, a typical office environment with not too much to put you off the scent of the game, it was finished to a good standard. Not the most immersive of sets, but then I feel this is more to do with the theme and not the theming… it’s hard for an office to be an interesting and immersive place!
The latter half of the game was more interesting, with Lord Talbots collection making more of an appearance, that gave the theme some diversity.
Lighting was excellent, there was never a worry about being able to see, and the room was large enough for the maximum number of players.

Game Play:
A fairly linear game, which leaned more towards word skills, with some searching, observation and maths thrown in. A good mix of puzzles that will test newbies, but enthusiasts are unlikely to find anything they’ve not seen before.
Flow was good, and there was a good story woven into the puzzles. There was one moment that could have been entirely skipped (and as it happened we opened it early) but we still backtracked and completed the puzzle we skipped (although I don’t think we truly needed to) – this was purely a case of experience allowing us to solve something without all the pieces. Whilst not a major issue, it is something that experienced players should be aware of!
Signposting was ok, not in your face but enough to guide you through the game.
The puzzles were fun and had good ah-ha moments and good logic behind them.
An overall good game that is well pitched to provide a solid, good experience for new teams.

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via a screen

Game Host:
Tom was our game host (who was also the owner) and he was friendly and had enthusiasm for escaping! He delivered clues (I think we had 1) with excellent timing!

Did we escape?
Yes, in 39 minutes

Website: https://adventurevault.co.uk
Price:
2 Players £44
3 Players £63
4 Players £76
5 Players £85
6 Players £90