Frank & Stein

I do love a room based on a literary classic, and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein has been immortalised by many escape rooms over the years. I love to see what unique spin the designers give to the story to make it their own. So I was intrigued to read that Questrooms have split the eponymous character into two, and I was eager to see how this would work.

We arrived at a rather gothic looking door and the sounds of a storm could be heard overhead, giving the scene a foreboding feel. We were briefed that we needed to gain entry to the house, and this would require some persuasion. This turned out to be much easier than I expected, but I think I just blinded the character with with alittle too much science!

We progressed well through the room, as the introductory puzzles are well signposted and designed to quickly immerse you into the world of Frank & Stein. The whole area is beautifully dressed in the gothic style and has lots of steampunk vibes, just what you expect from a eccentric scientists lab. The space is well utilised which gives the game a sense of being larger than it actually is.

We quickly got on with the main tasks and all enjoyed the interactivity and excellently themed puzzles. At one point we missed something being revealed and we were skillfully guided back to that area with subtle sound prompts. So subtle that we didnt realise we has been guided until the debrief.

The puzzles were prefectly themed and progressed the narrative well. Gameplay is very open and there is a good variety of tasks and puzzles, with lots of team co-operation required and even a little stealth at times. The puzzles arent too laborious or difficult which helped with gameflow. With each solution we had a clear sense of achievement and progression, and the final tasks brought the story to a clear end.

What did I love so much about this adventure? Well, firstly Questrooms have given this well known tale a new lease of life (sorry, I couldnt resist!) with a familiar, yet new, narrative. This allowed us to discover the story organically without knowing what the outcome was going to be. But it is a little thing that really impressed me and that was the cleverly thought out detail of using perspective to further enhance the big reveal. It is a tiny detail really, but it did make a huge difference to each players transition into the a new room. Its not often that our whole team each make a loud ‘Ooohhhh’ of surprise and delight when moving into a new area. I can now appreciate why Frank & Stein got Terpeca nominations in 2023 despite only being open a few months and it was my highlight of all the games we played at this company.