Saw Escape Experience - Spiral Route
We were recently invited back to Saw Escape Experience in London to try out their second path through the attraction. The difference between the two is pretty obvious - the Spiral route includes some crawl spaces, whereas the Jigsaw route is undertaken solely upright on foot. Wheelchair users are recommended to call the attraction before booking.
So what other differences are there? Basically the attractions both start the same way with the first three rooms taken as a large group, before a plot device splits the players into 4 separate teams with each group following different tasks. As Saw fans, we felt that the Spiral route had more connection to the movies with the use of the iconic bathroom from the first film, and the crawling section felt more like a genuine Jigsaw trap.
Saying that - we found this route much harder then the previous one as we failed to properly escape the two main rooms, only being released when our time was up as the Billy puppet taunted our failings. But we also liked the co-operative option in the penultimate room where we could elect to help or hinder the other groups in our quest to escape!
Our thoughts on the final room remain as chaotic as before, as we had to shout at the other teams to all work together, and in our list of actions we also had to shout orders at the live actor in the trap in front of us. Sadly for her - we couldn't all work together and our ending was a bit more bleak than last time.
So, if you were to book only one route to play which would we suggest? Obviously if you have any mobility issues, then you should go down the jigsaw route, but if you want something closer to a true Saw experience - then we would definitely recommend Jigsaw all the way!
So what other differences are there? Basically the attractions both start the same way with the first three rooms taken as a large group, before a plot device splits the players into 4 separate teams with each group following different tasks. As Saw fans, we felt that the Spiral route had more connection to the movies with the use of the iconic bathroom from the first film, and the crawling section felt more like a genuine Jigsaw trap.
Saying that - we found this route much harder then the previous one as we failed to properly escape the two main rooms, only being released when our time was up as the Billy puppet taunted our failings. But we also liked the co-operative option in the penultimate room where we could elect to help or hinder the other groups in our quest to escape!
Our thoughts on the final room remain as chaotic as before, as we had to shout at the other teams to all work together, and in our list of actions we also had to shout orders at the live actor in the trap in front of us. Sadly for her - we couldn't all work together and our ending was a bit more bleak than last time.
So, if you were to book only one route to play which would we suggest? Obviously if you have any mobility issues, then you should go down the jigsaw route, but if you want something closer to a true Saw experience - then we would definitely recommend Jigsaw all the way!
Saw Escape Experience
Saw the Experience opened with a big fanfare in 2022, but reviews were quite mixed. It seemed that the blend of scare attraction with escape room elements was a bit confusing for a lot of visitors, and so after just a few months of opening, it was closed down for a refurb and makeover.
We were invited along to play the new version when it reopened this month, and deliberately took along a couple of players who had experienced the original version. Even within the first room, they exclaimed "this is so much better than it was before" with a much clearer story-line and explanation of the scenario we were entering. Obviously anything named after a dirty franchise such as Saw, would involve some gore, gunge and run down scenery, but the transition from corporate office to dingy warehouse is fully explainable. If it wasn't for the franchise name to encourage ticket sales - this could have so cleverly played as something else and then the realisation that we had been captured by Jigsaw being the big surprise!
Once inside, the rooms have more puzzle elements than before, and these ranged in difficulty involving some physical games, as well as some more mental games. In all rooms there is a lot to touch and move, including some very realistic carcasses. Despite the obvious mag locks on doors etc, the rooms and sets all feel quite authentic. There were also several scares along the way - of course it wouldn't be a Saw franchise without some hooded pig characters in the mix!
Unlike a lot of escape experiences - we were surprised at the size of the groups going into the first few rooms and although we kind of ended up tripping over each other to start with, we soon got separated into our groups for the majority of the show, only to join back together for one final confrontation.
Finally, we must just mention this final scene - we really were just randomly pressing buttons and pulling levers when ever instructed. It was never really explained that the three groups all had different locations and switches, so it just felt a randomly chaotic lucky chance we escaped as opposed to skillfully solving a puzzle. This gripe about the puzzle itself was a shame, as the final room was extremely impressive with a great animatronic, a lively performance from an actor and a menacing trap that we needed to rescue them from.
All in we had a great time - the general consensus was that it was far more improved than the opening version and although we didn't always complete every puzzle in time - we had great fun trying!
We were invited along to play the new version when it reopened this month, and deliberately took along a couple of players who had experienced the original version. Even within the first room, they exclaimed "this is so much better than it was before" with a much clearer story-line and explanation of the scenario we were entering. Obviously anything named after a dirty franchise such as Saw, would involve some gore, gunge and run down scenery, but the transition from corporate office to dingy warehouse is fully explainable. If it wasn't for the franchise name to encourage ticket sales - this could have so cleverly played as something else and then the realisation that we had been captured by Jigsaw being the big surprise!
Once inside, the rooms have more puzzle elements than before, and these ranged in difficulty involving some physical games, as well as some more mental games. In all rooms there is a lot to touch and move, including some very realistic carcasses. Despite the obvious mag locks on doors etc, the rooms and sets all feel quite authentic. There were also several scares along the way - of course it wouldn't be a Saw franchise without some hooded pig characters in the mix!
Unlike a lot of escape experiences - we were surprised at the size of the groups going into the first few rooms and although we kind of ended up tripping over each other to start with, we soon got separated into our groups for the majority of the show, only to join back together for one final confrontation.
Finally, we must just mention this final scene - we really were just randomly pressing buttons and pulling levers when ever instructed. It was never really explained that the three groups all had different locations and switches, so it just felt a randomly chaotic lucky chance we escaped as opposed to skillfully solving a puzzle. This gripe about the puzzle itself was a shame, as the final room was extremely impressive with a great animatronic, a lively performance from an actor and a menacing trap that we needed to rescue them from.
All in we had a great time - the general consensus was that it was far more improved than the opening version and although we didn't always complete every puzzle in time - we had great fun trying!
Links:
You Review
Have you also visited this or any other attractions recently? - tell us what you thought here
|
All the latest news, stories, review and gossip can be found on the ScareTOUR social media pages - the hottest presence in the UK for Scare Attractions! |
|
|
|