by Escape Hunt Manchester (website)
Corn Exchange, Exchange Square, M4 3TR
2-6 players
Languages: EN
60 minutes
Step into a legendary age of gods and monsters, where your peaceful Viking village is being threatened by an invasion of spine-chilling Ice Giants.
Overall rating
based on ratings from 34 users
combined with 3 pro reviews
Your review
Player reviews
Required some prior knowledge in one task which was quite annoying.
A Victorious Viking Venture!
This marked my first visit to Escape Hunt: I was saving it for when I had a big group coming to keep costs down.
Story
Summon the Norse gods for their protection against the Ice Giants who are on their way to destroy your village. NB: I really like this storyline: simple, creative and adventuresome with a clear goal!
Puzzles
We were all stumped at first- the first puzzle must have taken us ten minutes- but with a couple of hints, we then powered through. There were one or two occasions where it was almost a tad too unclear what needed to be done. However, it seemed to gradually get easier: we made light work of the final tasks. The puzzles were entirely (and appropriately) practical, making it the most hands-on room I’ve ever done so far. Vikings wouldn’t have been involved with number-crunching or word games! The game was very linear, perhaps too much so for a group of 5. We were all often huddled around the same thing, so I'd recommend a smaller group for this one.
Mise-en-scene
The room was thoughtfully decked out like a Viking cabin. There were ‘proper’ props e.g. metal helmets, furniture and tools to appreciate. A lack of traditional number locks in favour of other means of progressing fitted in nicely with the Nordic setting.
Final Comments
We broke out with ten minutes to spare. This room scores highly in all three of my sub-categories!
The first half of this room was super fun, with logical puzzles and a great set design. Unfortunately, as the room progressed, the puzzles became slightly more sporadic and less linear. The GM was also aggressive, and (jokingly) swore at the youngest member of our group- she is 16! This was unprofessional, and despite being at the end of the room, when we were taking a picture, it put a damper on the whole experience.
