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Imagine the escape game equivalent of George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and you’re pretty close to this crowd-funded Brixton-based live action experience. There's only one game here, which means they’ve gone all out with impressively theming the venue to their concept: when you enter, you’re told that you’re in a sort of travel agent’s for adventurers, which is located above a portal to a fictional totalitarian state called New Pelagia. You’re then taken through said portal and shown a welcome video from the ‘Ministry of Perception’. Partway through, it’s hacked by a bunch of freedom fighters who beg you to infiltrate the Ministry and help rescue a captured agent. So, in a nice twist on the usual escape game format, you not only have to escape a room, you first need to break into it. And just to make it a bit trickier, this involves getting past an actor playing an officious, typewriter-bound jobsworth.
The decor's great, the puzzles are enjoyably tricky (only about 50% of people succeed) and they’re also helpfully generous about timings – if you’re really struggling at the end of the hour, you’ll find an extra few minutes tacked on. Slightly disconcertingly, there’s a person playing a ‘guard’ standing in there with you - but you’ll forget him pretty swiftly as you tear around searching for clues. Be warned, though: don’t attempt to visit with less than the recommended number of players. Fewer than five to seven people and you’ll struggle to complete the challenges in time. Oh, and anyone who really loved the theme will appreciate the journey back out through the shop you entered via. There’s a purchasable range of cool ‘souvenirs’ themed to the experience done by trendy creative types (official Ministry of Perception-endorsed versions of Aesop's Fables done by a comic book artist, New Pelagian propaganda posters from video game-makers, bespoke subversive ‘zines’, etc, etc). It shows an impressive level of creative thinking about the place and definitely beats the usual white-washed reception area. Alexi Duggins