Room Escape Artist

For the Love of the Craft

Location: Cornwall, England

Date Played: April 6, 2026

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 90 minutes

Price: £25-42.50 per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: Some players must climb stairs and crawl

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Fear of the Unknown was a stupendously detailed tribute to the works and worlds of H.P. Lovecraft.

I’ll admit that I’m not the most well versed in Lovecraftian lore. Apart from a visit to The Key of Dreams in South Wales, The Miskatonic University Game (an overnight road rally-esque puzzle hunt) back in 2019, and a smattering of other Lovecraft-themed escape rooms, I have yet to really immerse myself in the original source material. My teammates were able to fill in some gaps, excitedly calling out various Easter eggs as we encountered them. But, I was delighted to find that Enigma Escape Cornwall had ensured that the story in Fear of the Unknown really stood on its own, regardless of how much or how little background context you bring with you.

If I had to describe Fear of the Unknown in one word, it would be “thoughtful.” The care and creativity that went into both the gameplay and the story was palpable throughout, all housed within an alluring environment. Fear of the Unknown presented a rather unusual gameplay structure: each scene was a chapter of the story, framed by appropriately literary voiceovers. We were tasked with collecting a number of brass medallions, silver medallions which could be traded for useful items, and artifacts. The story and central gameplay progressed regardless of whether we’d completely all of the largely nonlinear puzzles in each act, and it was possible to reach the end without solving all the puzzles or discovering all secret areas… yet with multiple possible endings, we received a complete narrative experience regardless. Our final score was a function of how many of each of these items we’d recovered.

As many narrative-centric escape rooms are increasingly shying away from any concept of “failure” and integrating fancier hint systems to push players along, I appreciated how Fear of the Unknown took this somewhat bold alternate approach, enabling players to earn their victory while still keeping the experience fully within the narrative frame regardless of the outcome.

Without a doubt, Fear of the Unknown is one of the top escape rooms in the UK. While it’s rather remote, or at least much further from London than many international players may be used to venturing, it’s worth going out of your way to visit… and the Cornwall and Devon region is increasingly an escape room destination, with a wealth of quality games, unique formats, and innovative puzzling. Fear of the Unknown boldly puts Enigma Escape Cornwall on the escape room map, and we can’t wait to see what they concoct next.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Story seekers
• Fans of H.P. Lovecraft, Call of Cthulhu, and Arkham Horror
• Any experience level
• Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

• You’ve always wanted to be a character in a Lovecraft story
• A unique semi-nonlinear gameplay structure with lots of secrets to discover
• A bounty of tactile puzzles

Story

As investigators for Miskatonic University, we paid a visit to a creepy old house in Arkham to recover a collection of powerful old relics that had been stolen.

Setting

Fear of the Unknown opened in a mildly foreboding yet stately sitting room with yellowish beige wallpaper. A plush armchair was positioned between a coat rack and an old record player. Macabre paintings lined the walls, and a wooden clock reminded us of what time we still had left.

Gameplay

Enigma Escape Cornwall’s Fear of the Unknown was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles, communicating, and making connections. There was a high density of puzzles and secrets to discover, and it was possible to make it to the end without seeing 100% of the content, but all teams reach an ending to the story.

Analysis

➕ Fear of the Unknown had an exceptional balance of puzzles and narrative, with each supporting rather than competing with the other. This was largely accomplished through a clear chapter structure, presented through professionally-produced audio narration during breakpoints in the gameplay. These weren’t randomly scattered cutscenes; they were an explicit declaration that we were characters in a Lovecraft novel. Furthermore, the story wasn’t just a shallow premise presented before the game began. It evolved as we progressed, offering context for our discoveries and actions through each new scene.

➕ While Fear of the Unknown rewarded existing fans of Lovecraft with a bounty of Easter eggs, the story also fully stood on its own, requiring no outside knowledge to be entertaining or make sense.

➕ The set design was beautiful, detailed, and lovingly handcrafted. While this wasn’t quite a sprawling adventure game, Enigma Escape Cornwall used their space wisely to make the world feel even bigger than it was. Contrasting environments, vivid textures, and subdivided spaces led to a sense constant discovery.

➕ Fear of the Unknown particularly excelled in puzzle design. Individual puzzles were memorable delights, and together they made for a veritable feast of ahas. The gameplay was consistently thematic and clearly signposted. There was a lot to do, but the lock mapping was impeccable, and we experienced a meaningful visual sense of progression throughout segments of largely nonlinear puzzling.

➕/➖ A colorful character offered an intriguing way to obtain useful objects. We enjoyed strategizing to ascertain the correct order of interactions, though the game does not break even if players choose a different order. While this was a fun game mechanic, I wish there had been more depth or flexibility around our interactions with this character.

➕ Fear of the Unknown had a strong potential for replayability, though it was also reasonable for more experienced teams to complete 100% of the content on the first playthrough. (Our team of 3 finished every puzzle with time to spare.)

❓/➕ There was no hint system, which created meaningful stakes around a sort of “failure” that was not overall failure of the game, but rather might just lead to a different ending. As such, all possible decisions, successes, and failures existed within the narrative frame. The puzzles were clearly clued and completely fair… there was just a lot to notice and do. As the story progressed either through the passing of time or hitting gameplay milestones, it was never possible to fail on time, nor were we ever sitting idly by. If there were unsolved puzzles or yet undiscovered areas of the game, these elements would just entice players back for a return visit. While this approach might not be preferential to all players, it was implemented with a high level of thoughtfulness and care.

➖ While the finale showcased a clear narrative resolution and tactile object design, there was an opportunity to make this scene more active and dynamic for players, punctuating our experience with some final “wow” moment.

➕ Fear of the Unknown included all the elements for a top-notch team photo: fun costuming and props, a representative background that doesn’t spoil anything, an organic view of our “scoreboard” behind us, clean lighting, and a photo overlay with both the game and company name. Without doing anything too fancy, this is great organic marketing, and it was an image I was excited to share with my friends.

🐶 To note, while Enigma Escape Cornwall isn’t typically able to accommodate pets, we were extremely grateful that they allowed our friend Frog the Samoyed to get one step closer to being a TERPECA voter (even if he mostly just took a nap in the corner.)

Tips For Visiting

• Limited street parking is available nearby.
• While the title might suggest this to be a scary game, Fear of the Unknown understood that Lovecraftian horror means creeping dread rather than explicit terror. That’s to say, horror-averse players will equally enjoy this experience, unless perhaps they have a case of octophobia.

Book your experience with Enigma Escape Cornwall’s Fear of the Unknown, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.