Climb and crawl through time
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Date Played: May 10, 2019
Team size: 3-7; we recommend 3-5
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: from 75 € per Group for teams of 2 to 154 € per Group for teams of 7
Ticketing: Private
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
As with Insomnia, Big Break Hamburg picked another brilliant theme in Time Travel. By having us traverse a broken space-time continuum, each new space was a completely different place, any of which could have been the setting for an entire escape room. (In fact, each setting in Time Travel was a theme for an escape room that we’ve played elsewhere).
Time Travel’s sets were solid. Its puzzles were strong. It played well from start to finish. This was a truly enjoyable escape room that just needed a memorable moment to pull the plot together and deliver something impactful.
All-in-all, Big Break Hamburg is a company worth visiting if you’re in the region. I suggest playing both Time Travel and Insomnia. If you only have time for one, Time Travel played more cleanly, but Insomnia was a bit more memorable.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Puzzle lovers
- Scenery snobs
- Sci-fi fans
- Any experience level
Why play?
- Diverse settings
- Solid puzzling
Story
Many had attempted time travel, but no one had succeeded until Professor Emmerson did. Initially there were celebrations of the incredible accomplishment, until things started changing.
Emmerson had accidentally made minor changes to the timeline that reverberated throughout history. At first the timeline alterations were small. Then as the chaos spread, the changes to the timeline became catastrophic.
We had to repair the timeline before we all disappeared.
Setting
Time Travel opened up in a steampunk-esque time machine, which we used to travel through space and time. Each subsequent set took us to a different locale. Each location could have been its own escape room.
Gameplay
Big Break Hamburg’s Time Travel was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.
Analysis
➕ The steampunk aesthetic of the first set was a strong opening location. There was a lot going on, but the set never felt red herring-y. Rather, it delivered the appropriate time-travel vibes.
➕ The sets each looked and felt distinct. For the most part, they were detailed and polished. Each was an unexpected and welcome next hop through time.
➖ The final set felt sparse. It was too large for the amount of interaction and not quite refined enough to pull off that look.
➕ We enjoyed a few key props, each in a different scene.
➕ Big Break used the layout of the gamespace to facilitate adventurous movement through space and time.
➕ Big Break Hamburg crafted substantial layered puzzles. These were well clued and fun to solve.
➖ While most of the puzzles worked well, there were a couple where the cluing could have used a touch of refinement.
➕ Time Travel didn’t take itself too seriously. In the last scene, we got a laugh out of the goofy and political pop culture jokes.
➖ The “save the world” premise felt bolted onto a set-hopping puzzle game. Time Travel had a story, but it wasn’t a narrative-driven adventure. Although this worked from a gameplay standpoint, we felt it didn’t quite deliver on its ambitions.
➕ Big Break Hamburg hid Easter eggs in the escape room. Ask about these at the end of your play-through!
Tips For Visiting
- This game involves some crawling and a little climbing.
Book your hour with Big Break Hamburg’s Time Travel, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Big Break Hamburg comped our tickets for this game.
