TLDR - Absolutely terrifying escape room with solid story and theming. Highly reccomend!
Details
Team - 3 players
Theme - Paranormal
Outcome - Escaped
Time Elapsed - 56:05 / 60:00
Overall Thoughts
Paralysis claim to have the UK's scariest escape rooms and it was certainly intense. Having only done fairly tame horror rooms in the past I was apprehensive on booking an escape with a live actor, but as a huge fan of horror films and haunt attractions I thought I couldn't pass up the experience.
The experience set the tone from the get go, from knocking on the door and it opening on its own to the general unease caused by the "haunted" nature of the building. The building and waiting area are beautifully decorated with haunted items, horror props and other spooky easter eggs. The briefing for each game included a warning about how haunted the building was and just how scary the game we were about to play was going to be.
The room itself made me feel so uneasy, I don't know if it was because the building is "actually haunted" or if the suspense of the game but I had a tight sensation in my chest. The room is beautifully designed to feel like you've gone back to the 1940's and aiding the development of the story throughout the game.
The atmosphere of this room was perfect and the scares ranged from jump-scares and more subtle unease to full blown live actor interaction. The live actor does a great job to both scare and guide you while setting up further scares.
Puzzles flowed seamlessly between the rooms and all maintained the theming.
This is definitely a scary experience and this certainly adds to the general difficulty of the puzzles.
Final Review
Difficulty - 4 / 5
Puzzles - 3.5 / 5
Theming - 4 / 5
Set Design - 4 / 5
Enjoyment - 4.5 / 5
Value For Money - 4 / 5
Location - Stoke