Room Story - from Escapologic
After a daring bank heist goes incredibly wrong, can you finish the job?
Five very different criminals were brought together to accomplish the impossible, break into the high security vault underneath Scelus Bank and steal whatever is inside. The operation did not go according to plan and the five have found themselves in police custody, on the run or even worse, dead!
show more.... Were they set up by the mysterious leader known as Xander and if so, to what end?
Now is your chance to assemble a crack team of your fellow criminals and take on the most heart stopping heist in history. Will you crack under the intense pressure or will you escape before the police turn up? Heistakes is our seventh room here at Escapologic Nottingham. Using an actual vault as the setting makes Heistakes one of the most realistic and immersive heist themed rooms in the country.
With the help of two anonymous hackers your task is to finish the job before the authorities return, the clock is ticking and you’re running out of time!
...show less
Key Stats
Review
It’s just under a year since we made the 5 hour round trip down to Nottingham to take on Heistakes at Escapologic. This review has been on my “catch-up” list for a very long time as I’ve focused on reviewing more recent games I’ve played to ensure they’re fresh in my mind. Despite the passing of time, I can still remember this room in great detail as it remains one of our favourites. Given the fact it was nearly a year ago since we played this game, I will caveat the accuracy of the review because the game may have changed since we played it.
Heistakes sends you into a bank vault to complete a failed heist; the original team are dead, on-the-run or jailed. With the help of a team of hackers, you need to find out what went wrong and complete the original heist.
The second we entered the room, we were immediately blown away by the realistic set. You find yourself at a service entrance to the bank and your first task is to break-in. There are a series of tasks to break into the vault. This was really good fun and had a great sense of realism. After completing our tasks, we found ourselves inside the vault.
The vault is quite a deliberately sparse and clinical space with a wall of safety deposit boxes and a large cage that houses the main objective of the game. There’s also a computer in the corner of the room that the hackers used to communicate with you; it’s a really clever and well themed method of delivering clues with a nice sequence when you enter the room to introduce you to the hackers.
After a few minutes figuring out what we needed to do, we started the process of gradually breaking into things in the vault. Having played all the games at Escapologic Nottingham, we loved some of the references we found to the other games as we gradually unlocked more and more things within the vault. There was one puzzle along the way that we struggled with a little bit without pen and paper, but we did manage to find our way through it.
We eventually found ourselves conquering the central puzzle in the room when the storyline takes an unexpected turn and we gain some more insight into the failure of the first team that entered the room. It’s a dramatic and fast paced sequence that sent us scrambling for the exit. Along the way, we encountered an incredibly fiddly puzzle that required a sequence of precisely timed actions to progress. It took us quite a few times to get past this.
Once we exited the vault, we found yet another fiddly puzzle that required a series of extremely precise actions. I must have tried to complete the puzzle more than 10 times before I successfully completed it. Another member of the team gave it a go, but we found that my learnings from my previous failed attempts gave me a slight edge so I patiently continued. It took a considerable amount of time to complete this single puzzle. But it was all very much worth it.
Waiting for us beyond this puzzle was yet another plot twist that created a truly epic and audacious ending to the game that required teamwork, patience and steady hands. Again, this exciting twist was firmly tied back to the story of the room, making great use of technology to offer something really unique. We managed to keep our cool and escaped with a small amount of time remaining.
Heistakes is a really impressive game that’s meticulously themed, makes great use of technology and has a strong storyline that continually develops throughout the game. This game sent our adrenaline levels through the roof with the plot twists and action that severely tested our nerves. There are a couple of very fiddly puzzles in this game that burn a lot of time. I can see a lot of teams struggling with these. But all in all, it’s an excellent and dramatic room that all three of us absolutely loved.
Ratings
After a daring bank heist goes incredibly wrong, can you finish the job?
Five very different criminals were brought together to accomplish the impossible, break into the high security vault underneath Scelus Bank and steal whatever is inside. The operation did not go according to plan and the five have found themselves in police custody, on the run or even worse, dead!
show more.... Were they set up by the mysterious leader known as Xander and if so, to what end?
Now is your chance to assemble a crack team of your fellow criminals and take on the most heart stopping heist in history. Will you crack under the intense pressure or will you escape before the police turn up? Heistakes is our seventh room here at Escapologic Nottingham. Using an actual vault as the setting makes Heistakes one of the most realistic and immersive heist themed rooms in the country.
With the help of two anonymous hackers your task is to finish the job before the authorities return, the clock is ticking and you’re running out of time!
...show less
Key Stats
| Room Name | Heistakes |
| Venue | Escapologic |
| Location | Nottingham, UK |
| Date | 08/10/2017 |
| Escape Time | 56:30 |
| Team Size | 3 |
| My Recommended Team Size | 3 |
Review
It’s just under a year since we made the 5 hour round trip down to Nottingham to take on Heistakes at Escapologic. This review has been on my “catch-up” list for a very long time as I’ve focused on reviewing more recent games I’ve played to ensure they’re fresh in my mind. Despite the passing of time, I can still remember this room in great detail as it remains one of our favourites. Given the fact it was nearly a year ago since we played this game, I will caveat the accuracy of the review because the game may have changed since we played it.
Heistakes sends you into a bank vault to complete a failed heist; the original team are dead, on-the-run or jailed. With the help of a team of hackers, you need to find out what went wrong and complete the original heist.
The second we entered the room, we were immediately blown away by the realistic set. You find yourself at a service entrance to the bank and your first task is to break-in. There are a series of tasks to break into the vault. This was really good fun and had a great sense of realism. After completing our tasks, we found ourselves inside the vault.
The vault is quite a deliberately sparse and clinical space with a wall of safety deposit boxes and a large cage that houses the main objective of the game. There’s also a computer in the corner of the room that the hackers used to communicate with you; it’s a really clever and well themed method of delivering clues with a nice sequence when you enter the room to introduce you to the hackers.
After a few minutes figuring out what we needed to do, we started the process of gradually breaking into things in the vault. Having played all the games at Escapologic Nottingham, we loved some of the references we found to the other games as we gradually unlocked more and more things within the vault. There was one puzzle along the way that we struggled with a little bit without pen and paper, but we did manage to find our way through it.
We eventually found ourselves conquering the central puzzle in the room when the storyline takes an unexpected turn and we gain some more insight into the failure of the first team that entered the room. It’s a dramatic and fast paced sequence that sent us scrambling for the exit. Along the way, we encountered an incredibly fiddly puzzle that required a sequence of precisely timed actions to progress. It took us quite a few times to get past this.
Once we exited the vault, we found yet another fiddly puzzle that required a series of extremely precise actions. I must have tried to complete the puzzle more than 10 times before I successfully completed it. Another member of the team gave it a go, but we found that my learnings from my previous failed attempts gave me a slight edge so I patiently continued. It took a considerable amount of time to complete this single puzzle. But it was all very much worth it.
Waiting for us beyond this puzzle was yet another plot twist that created a truly epic and audacious ending to the game that required teamwork, patience and steady hands. Again, this exciting twist was firmly tied back to the story of the room, making great use of technology to offer something really unique. We managed to keep our cool and escaped with a small amount of time remaining.
Heistakes is a really impressive game that’s meticulously themed, makes great use of technology and has a strong storyline that continually develops throughout the game. This game sent our adrenaline levels through the roof with the plot twists and action that severely tested our nerves. There are a couple of very fiddly puzzles in this game that burn a lot of time. I can see a lot of teams struggling with these. But all in all, it’s an excellent and dramatic room that all three of us absolutely loved.
 |
| The team were Beth, Daniel and Becky. |
Ratings
| Overall |  | A dramatic and theatrical game with clever technology, great theming and an engaging storyline. A really excellent game. |
| Difficulty |  | It’s a very logical game that flows well, but there are a couple of frustrating puzzles that ramp up the difficulty. |
| Fun | | The pure theatrics of this game make it extremely fun. From the surprising start to the fast paced and challenging ending, it’s an exciting game. |
| Puzzles |  | There’s a real variety of puzzles in this game with some excellent uses of technology. There are a couple of fiddly puzzles that took up a significant portion of our time. |
| Immersion | | It’s one of the most immersive games we’ve played due to the exceptional storytelling and theming. |
| Surprises | | There are a number of surprises in this game, with a massive climatic surprise at the end of the game. |