Room Escape Artist

PLAN52 is one of the best escape rooms in London, England. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms in London.

Beware the double agent

Location: London, England

Date Played: July 5, 2023

Team Size: 2-6 per copy of the game (they have 4 copies); we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: £30-40 per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: None

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

During my visit to clueQuest in July 2023, they were celebrating their 10th (!!!) anniversary, making their earliest game, PLAN52, somewhat of a relic.

While many escape room companies half this age would have already cycled out their oldest creation, clueQuest instead has opted to upgrade elements of PLAN52, including replacing all the combo locks with colorful custom 3D-printed interfaces. Even with these updates, the gameplay still felt somewhat dated, with a strong focus on searching and lots of puzzles concentrated within furniture along the peripheries of the room. Yet, I suspect PLAN52 was well ahead of its time when it first opened, and it still presented a creative, fresh take on this more “classic” style of escape room design.

I have so much respect for this approach. In tourist-driven markets, many escape room companies could benefit from upgrading rather than retiring their older rooms, whether that means replacing locks with tech, adding in some better lighting and sound, or even just upping the thoroughness of their maintenance. Small changes can go a long way.

Is PLAN52 the flashiest escape room out there? Nope, but it’s still a ton of fun. If you are short on time, I recommend checking out clueQuest’s newer experiences ORIGENES and Revenge of the Sheep first. But if you have the time, PLAN52 offers an enjoyable hour and a peek into clueQuest’s origins.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Any experience level

Why play?

• Creative puzzles
• Nifty custom interfaces
• A classic escape room experience

Story

One of clueQuest’s secret safe houses had been compromised. We entered the premises to investigate what had happened and find out who had betrayed Mr Q.

Setting

PLAN52 took place in a secret agent safehouse. Decorated with many of the expected trappings — riveted metal paneling, large wooden desks, flashing LEDs, and the like — this environment also included a number of artistic set pieces that reflected clueQuest’s signature style, iconography, and characters.

Gameplay

clueQuest’s PLAN52 was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, making connections, and puzzling.

Analysis

❓/➕ PLAN52 was clueQuest’s earliest escape room, and you could tell… and yet, it still held up quite well. The gameplay included some fun twists on a classic escape room style, with a focus on creative tactile elements.

➖ The first room of PLAN52 especially showed its age, with minimal set design and stacks of locked drawers.

➕ Over the pandemic, clueQuest upgraded this lock-heavy room to include custom 3D-printed interfaces in place of standard combination locks. These new answer inputs still functioned as combo locks, but they looked way cooler and fit the clueQuest style well.

➖ PLAN52 included some genuinely tricky unclued searching. These hiding spots were cleverly concealed; I just wish they’d been integrated into the gameplay rather than left for us to randomly discover (or require hints to discover) on our own.

Tips For Visiting

• Take public transportation to King’s Cross.

Book your hour with clueQuest’s PLAN52, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: clueQuest comped our tickets for this game.