Plot
Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time is a journey across time set entirely within the workshop of an eccentric inventor. Tasked with finding the key element to complete her newest invention, you will need to navigate the past, solving a range of ingenious and interconnected puzzles, with only an hour on the clock.
Our Mission
The City Adventurers had played all the Enigmaquests games at their original venue near Liverpool Street. We’d loved them so much we’d recommended friends and family to try them and taken along other City Adventurers members to play them.
So when Enigmaquests decided to raise money for a new group of games at a new venue we obviously backed their fund raising appeal and bought our tickets to all three proposed games plus their Arcade Games adventure. Unfortunately, there were set backs and hold ups with the actual construction of these productions and so it was quite a few years later that we were actually able to start trying out the finished products.
So far (2025) we have managed to try two of their new escape room games. Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time was the first.
The New Venue
We decided to meet the team at the venue. It happens to have a big space to wait for your group to arrive, with tables and chairs and a limited selection of board games. There are lockers available near the toilets, but also places to stash your belongings downstairs where the escape rooms are. There is also a licensed bar on site, where we noticed other teams celebrating their victory.
We were hurried down the stairs to the entrance to our game and given a briefing on our mission. Then we were allowed into the room – an inventors laboratory…
The Review
The story goes that this particular inventor has been working on time travel. We were tasked with exploring the lab, solving clues and using the time machine to complete our mission. While in the time machine we would be transported to the lab at another moment in time. Same location – Different time zone.
We’ve seen the idea of a time machine work in other games. This one worked OK although it would have helped to have something to hang on to.
Each version of the lab was beautifully themed but deciding what was a puzzle to be solved proved a little tricky. This game had serious a lack of signposting. We often found ourselves wondering what we were supposed to do next.
This led to us asking for more hints than normal, which was a trial in itself!
I must admit I struggled a lot with this game. It was hard to hear the GM when we asked for hints, as they seemed particularly soft spoken and there was music constantly playing. Consequently I spent a lot of time asking “what did she say”.
I also felt that the game appeared very linear, with not enough for our team of four to do at the same time. So, while three of them seemed to hear the clues and solve the puzzles I felt very left out of the action.
Also, even with hints, some of the puzzles were illogical, so even when the rest of the team heard what to do, they kept muttering “how were we supposed to know that”.
On the plus side, some of the puzzles were good. Some involved some searching, observation and following directions and we didn’t notice any padlocks.
At the end of the game we had a decision to make. This is the second time we have seen that in an escape room. The last time we got to see the consequences of our actions. This time we just had the GM knock on the door and come in saying ‘well done’. No follow up on whether we made the right decision or not. Not the fan-fare we were hoping for at the end of our game. A bit of a let down at the end of the mission.
Conclusion
Did we enjoy the game? Not as much as we had hoped, especially after waiting so long to play it.
The lack of signposting and illogical puzzles made the whole team frustrated. The inability to hear the hints, made the game play especially bad for myself. The lack of a grand finale didn’t help either.
Will their second game be better. Keep reading this blog to find out!
Try this escape room yourself at Enigmaquests