We were kindly invited over by Puzzlair to review one of the escape rooms before 2018 ended. Puzzlair is based in Bristol and is one of the oldest escape rooms. Winning awards by TripAdvisor for Excellence in 2015,2016 and 2017! Hosting 6 escape rooms in 2 different sites which are walk-able distance between each other, they constantly look to be ahead and current in the escape room business.
We decided to play one of the earlier games they released called The Lab Of Dr.Lev Pasted. "This is the secret hideout and laboratory of the mysterious Romanian geneticist and biologist Dr. Lev Pasted. In his late years he focused his experiments on some kind of blood elixir. The formula has gone, so has the doctor. Some say, the secret blood serum is still inside the lab hidden somewhere. You and your team have 60 minutes to solve the puzzles, find the hidden items, search for the codes, and get out of the room in time. If you like a dark and misty atmosphere, this escape game room is your choice…"
The story of this room was given to you in parts and the more challenges and puzzles you completed, you unlocked more of the story and started to understand more. The themeing of blood stained walls and cages were a great effort to help indulge you into the story even more as you carried out the puzzles. The puzzles had a nice range however, we did find some of the puzzles extremely hard! We unsuccessfully didn't manage the first puzzle which the Puzzlair team had to assist us on. Also, the ending of the escape room was sadly rushed and we missed key parts due to us struggling from the beginning which was a shame.
Although, the puzzles in the room were very clever. Everything you needed was always under your nose and really did require you to look twice and make sure you've checked properly. With this being one of the older escape rooms, everything they did was more basic compared to some of the newer rooms around. Yet, they managed to keep great originality in the room by being extremely clever in the puzzles.
Overall, this is probably the hardest escape room we've currently encountered. We didn't manage to escape but got out of the room in just over the 60 minute threshold by kindly given an extra few minutes to finish. We recommend this room more towards escape room veterans or somebody after a challenge due to the difficulty of some of the puzzles in the amount of time given. Feel free to book your tickets on the link below and let us know if you managed to escape!