Phobos-17 has landed – Mostly Harmless Games

Mostly Harmless Games returns with a new game Phobos-17 which is the sequel to their The Lifeboat escape room.

Phobos-17 is an abandoned Russian vessel which can be found hidden within the Artworks in Elephant & Castle.

The rumour has it that there is some high grade uranium on board Phobos-17 but the shipping container is full of radiation so brave hunters will only have 60 minutes to retrieve it or risk getting radiation sickness.

Mostly Harmless

Mostly Harmless was created by a bunch of actors, designers and games nerds who met at Crystal Maze experience.

Their first project was The Lifeboat which set sail earlier on this year at the Vaults Festival with it being a sell out towards the end of it’s run and bagging an award for Innovation along the way.

Phobos-17 is a continuation of that journey all packed with thrills in a twelve metre long shipping container!

The game is designed for 2 to 4 players.

You’ll have just sixty minutes to get in, get the job done and get the hell out but try not to blow up the ship whilst on our mission.

Failure is not an option

We was invited down on a complimentary basis by Harmless Games to take on a mission like no other to find some highly prized uranium.

Greeted by an enthusiastic games master who looked like he had just come back from an Hawaiian holiday with his tropical bright shirt on.  Perhaps it would have been more fitting if he was in a space suit for this game.  However he was very nice and he set the stage for the game giving us an induction of Phobos-17 in a cramped space at the back of the container.  Before entering we was told that we had just 60 minutes to find the uranium otherwise we will be infected by radioactive waste.  With this in mind we were then handed Ted a penguin timer to keep us on track of time.

Now one giant leap for Love Pop Ups London community!  As a few of us was on a mission. So one small step into this ancient Russian rust bucket accompanied by Ted our trustworthy penguin timer the mission was on as somewhere there was a score of a lifetime of highly prized uranium.

Thankfully this was not a linear game so we all could crack various puzzles whilst others worked on other challenges.  The container was impressive with it’s fake metal interior making it feel as though we were actually inside a genuine section of an abandoned spaceship.

The puzzles are varied and logical with some puzzles that we have never come across before in any other escape room. I was particularly impressed by the physical mechanisms that they used to give a more hands-on feeling to the whole game. This however isn’t the sort of game where you have to hunt low and high for clues it’s more about being observant and inquisitive.

The finale to the game was exciting as we felt like that we had entered into a lab where people are placed in cryogenic sleep.  With the decaying skeletons within their sleeping chambers there was much excitement and adrenaline running through our veins. However we got stumped on the main critical puzzle which we was getting quite frustrated about “Okay, Houston, we have a problem” but we did eventually solve it with help from the game master giving us a clue to the right solution.

Thankfully we managed to find the uranium and escape within 56 mins & 38 secs before being radiated.

Curiosity is the essence of our existence

Phobos-17 is a thrilling endearing retro sci-fi game with a very sci-tastic set and fun solid puzzles.  With it’s accessible puzzles and enthusiastic games master it is perfect for newbies and enthusiasts.

The only negative about this game was we found it hard to hear the communication over the speakers and the game master at times which then led him having to enter the room to tell us face to face any clues we may off needed but other that that this escape game is out of this world.

We played as a group of four which was definitely more than enough but two could easily do this room.  This certainly is a game you should not rush, take it easy and take in the atmosphere.

Book

NOW CLOSED DOWN

Question is will you live? will you die? or will you be turned into a radioactive mush?

Note: this venue is temporary

Thanks to Mostly Harmless for letting me and some others from Love Pop Ups London come down to step inside Phobos-17. The experience was complimentary but all views are my own honest opinion.

Click below to read the reviews from the other community members whom joined me on the night. All their views are of their own honest opinion

Mostly Harmless