Locked In Escape Rooms - Nova: Mission to Mars Review (Melbourne)

 

Hi all

Back in February 2023, my usual team of 4 took a kid-free trip down to Melbourne over a long weekend.  First up on our Melb weekend away was Locked In Escape Rooms in Morningong. 

The second room that we played there was Nova: Mission to Mars.  It was our 218^th room to date.  The summary of the room is as follows:

You’ve been working on Mars as part of the first human expedition to settle a new planet – Nova: Mission to Mars. Your crew suddenly finds themselves stranded and must avoid an incoming asteroid strike! Will you be able to get the last remaining spaceship in the repair dock running again and launch before time runs out?

Here is what I thought of Nova: Mission to Mars:

·         the room was a heap of fun!  The difficulty level was definitely a step up from The Wizard’s Lair! 

·         I would describe the room as non-linear, but with moments where players are required players to converge.  We spent a lot of the time breaking out into teams of 2 and dividing and conquering;

·         there was a huge variety of puzzles in the space – and the space was jam-packed full of them. I really liked the mix of hunt and seek fun together with some really fun dexterity puzzles, as well as some more brain-burners;

·         the theming was nicely done and the actual space is enormous.  Whilst I think all rooms are best suited to 4 players, this space was so big that I think 5 or 6 would be able to play very comfortably; and

·         the props were all well considered throughout the experience.  As with The Wizard’s Lair, there is a lot of well-concealed technology in this room.  We even saw a puzzle mechanic that we had never seen used before, which was awesome.

After our experience, Carolyn very kindly walked us through the room and went through all of the puzzles and the details behind the game design.  Nova: Mission to Mars was our favourite room at Locked In Escape Rooms.  I think the reason is probably that it was their hardest room (and so we found it more challenging), but also the puzzles were so varied and fun.

We also broke the record for this room, which was nice.  Did our Sydney-based escape room friends subsequently head to Mornington, beat our record and then rub it in our collective faces? Yes they did.  But between us, I secretly love seeing their posts online letting everyone know the rooms where they have beat our times (almost as much as I like their (many) posts when they strangely stay silent on that front) ;-)  

Where:                       Locked In Escape Rooms

Duration:                   60 minutes

Themes:                     5 rooms

Cost:                           $175 per team of 4

Overall Rating:           A challenging (and fun) space mission!

More details:              https://lockedinescaperooms.com.au/