Next Level Escape
Next Level Escape
Billed as an Intense Horror Escape Room/Experience
A group of friends - unofficially dubbed the Horror Escapes Crew - and I took on ‘Jigsaw’s Lair’ at Next Level Escape in Ipswich - an intense horror escape room themed heavily around the Saw franchise, sort of adjacent to the story of the films.
Was it the best escape room I’ve ever done? No.
Was it an incredibly immersive and impressive experience? Yes!
The four of us in a "pre-scared" selfie - anticipation was high, as were our nerves...
From the moment we pressed the buzzer, the story began, with our host/actor thoroughly in character the whole time - and evidently having a blast - leading us through the rules and then taking us (blindfolded) into our various starting positions in the room.
I’ll try not to give anything away, but it was certainly a very unique way to start an escape room, with all four of us locked into and held by different apparatuses around the room. I had a particularly restricted start, and were I to suffer from claustrophobia I would NOT have been ok! The heat of the day did not help where I was, and as the uncomfort grew, so did my patience wane…
Still, 30 minutes later (yes!) I was free and by that point most of us were able to move around the room - the one person who was still held was a big focus of the next puzzle, in a very real-feeling way, with some great use of special effects, movement and tech until finally they were free too.
From there, we picked up the pace and started to get through all the puzzles presented to us quite efficiently. Intermittently, we were accosted/assaulted/verbally abused by the actor - playing a variety of different roles, each with brilliant dedication. I found his persistent attempts to belittle me for laughing very amusing, a response which only added to his enthusiasm - delightfully on both sides, I think.
Post-screams "success" photo. Thankfully, we all look quite alright considering the ordeals we had just been subjected to...!
Then, after crawlspaces, hidden doors, holes in walls and more - we reached the finale. In the spirit of the Saw films, we were presented with an “ultimate choice” though naturally without any actual consequences, but also quite disappointingly devoid of much in the way of tension or impact, despite the brilliance of the immersion up to that point.
All too soon for our liking - despite us being about 80mins into the game itself and almost two hours into the experience as a whole - it was over. We were congratulated by our host, now just as himself, debriefed and let out into the light again. Sweaty (it had been very very warm throughout!) and still giddy with the excitement/adrenaline of it all.
As I say, the escape room itself was not the best, I noticed a few of the puzzles misfiring, and some of the brilliant immersion was lost by tech not being quite as seamless as it could have been; but as an experience it was certainly absolutely fantastic. Surprises, tension and laughter throughout, and I genuinely did lose myself into the setting for a lot of it.
There are definitely things that could be improved upon, but for a room that’s only been open 3 months, being run by one person - yes, the same one person literally throwing himself around the rooms with us - it’s hard not to be supremely impressed.
I lament that I won’t be able to repeat the experience unknowingly again (though I am tempted to gather another group and play again after a suitable time has passed) but they are also now working on another room, so before long no doubt we will be able to revisit and be terrified all over again.
If you can handle the quite assaulting and high intensity nature of the whole thing, I highly recommend a visit, we all had a great time.
🩸🩸🩸🩸 / 5
Find out more about Jigsaw’s Lair and book your own game at the Next Level Escape UK website
