Review - Outbreak Portsmouth
Having visited Outbreak in Jersey last year, we were excited to see how it would transfer to a new venue in Portsmouth. The Jersey experience was a bespoke build in a large empty industrial greenhouse and as such, the team at Secrets Beneath were able to let their imaginations run away with them.
In this new venue, they have had to squeeze the whole experience into an old abandoned nightclub and as such, some of the more elaborate elements from Jersey have had to be reduced. This was none more obvious than in the incredible water room, which has been partly recreated in Portsmouth but without one amazing scare (which to this date remains one of our favourite scares in a room escape – ever!). We've heard that it may still make its appearance here, so we will refrain from spoiling it for our readers!
Unlike most room escapes, Outbreak Portsmouth involves five different rooms that are entered and exited under strict time conditions. When the clock ticks, you move into the holding corridor regardless of whether you have solved the clue or not, and then wait 2 minutes before entering the next room. This concept works well when you are struggling and think you just won't get out, but in one of our rooms, we solved the puzzle almost immediately and had to wait 6 minutes to progress through the attraction.
Upon entering each room, there is the usual mad scramble to try to work out what to do and to find clues. Some of the rooms are occupied, some are not, and the clues and puzzles range from the easy through to the sublimely difficult. Of the first four rooms, we managed to get three out of four of the vials of antidote – meaning that all six of us could escape uninfected. With just one vial per two people – it is imperative that you solve all the clues, or you will end up infected like some of the people trapped inside.
The final scene of Outbreak in Portsmouth is very reminiscent of the Jersey show, and depending on your feelings about being in the pitch dark surrounded by zombies, will depend how you get on. Due to a very slight light leak, we were able to negotiate better than expected and if we can recommend anything to the team, we would say please address the light leaks, to make this room as terrifying as it deserves to be.
Due to the multitude of rooms, and the complexity of some of the puzzles, we were genuinely surprised when we realised that our hour was up and we were chased back to reality. In that hour we had been puzzled, scared, chased, crawled through tunnels and nearly been eaten multiple times. So a normal Saturday night in Portsmouth then!
For those of us in the team who were experiencing this first time – we all enjoyed Outbreak Portsmouth and had an exciting and jumpy time from beginning to end. For those of us who had already done it in Jersey, we couldn’t help compare it to the previous version, which to be honest is doing the Portsmouth venue a big disservice. The theming and attention to detail in the new venue is much more impressive then the temporary build on Jersey, and even without the comparison, it is a very detailed mix of puzzle room and scare attraction. It's certainly very different to most single room escape events out there and therefore definitely one to check out!
In this new venue, they have had to squeeze the whole experience into an old abandoned nightclub and as such, some of the more elaborate elements from Jersey have had to be reduced. This was none more obvious than in the incredible water room, which has been partly recreated in Portsmouth but without one amazing scare (which to this date remains one of our favourite scares in a room escape – ever!). We've heard that it may still make its appearance here, so we will refrain from spoiling it for our readers!
Unlike most room escapes, Outbreak Portsmouth involves five different rooms that are entered and exited under strict time conditions. When the clock ticks, you move into the holding corridor regardless of whether you have solved the clue or not, and then wait 2 minutes before entering the next room. This concept works well when you are struggling and think you just won't get out, but in one of our rooms, we solved the puzzle almost immediately and had to wait 6 minutes to progress through the attraction.
Upon entering each room, there is the usual mad scramble to try to work out what to do and to find clues. Some of the rooms are occupied, some are not, and the clues and puzzles range from the easy through to the sublimely difficult. Of the first four rooms, we managed to get three out of four of the vials of antidote – meaning that all six of us could escape uninfected. With just one vial per two people – it is imperative that you solve all the clues, or you will end up infected like some of the people trapped inside.
The final scene of Outbreak in Portsmouth is very reminiscent of the Jersey show, and depending on your feelings about being in the pitch dark surrounded by zombies, will depend how you get on. Due to a very slight light leak, we were able to negotiate better than expected and if we can recommend anything to the team, we would say please address the light leaks, to make this room as terrifying as it deserves to be.
Due to the multitude of rooms, and the complexity of some of the puzzles, we were genuinely surprised when we realised that our hour was up and we were chased back to reality. In that hour we had been puzzled, scared, chased, crawled through tunnels and nearly been eaten multiple times. So a normal Saturday night in Portsmouth then!
For those of us in the team who were experiencing this first time – we all enjoyed Outbreak Portsmouth and had an exciting and jumpy time from beginning to end. For those of us who had already done it in Jersey, we couldn’t help compare it to the previous version, which to be honest is doing the Portsmouth venue a big disservice. The theming and attention to detail in the new venue is much more impressive then the temporary build on Jersey, and even without the comparison, it is a very detailed mix of puzzle room and scare attraction. It's certainly very different to most single room escape events out there and therefore definitely one to check out!
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