Living in Stoke-On-Trent you get accustomed to the phrase “There’s nothing to do around here.”
The local area it’s safe to say is not exactly bursting with many activities, events or hobbies to participate in.
The local music scene contains the once infamous rock venue The Sugarmill.
A venue which has sadly declined to the point where named bands rarely attend.
Once a venue that hosted the likes of Bowling For Soup, Dragonforce, Coldplay The Libertines and Kasabian can now only draw in cover bands and electric club DJ nights.
If you’re a theatre fan thou however you’re in luck as one of the only standout attractions in Stoke on Trent is the beautiful Regent Theatre and The Victoria Hall.
Both venues frequently showcase touring shows, West End Musicals, ballet and more.
The Regent Theatre is a shining beacon of entertainment in an area that sorely needs it!
Over the last few years though, however, it has to be said that the area has seen an uprising in attractions.
From the incredible virtual reality gaming arena XP-VR in Hanley, a brand new indoor Go-Karting track in Burslem and brand new record-holding slides at Waterworld Stoke.
There are also some new escape rooms if solving puzzles inside a locked room is your attraction of choice.
Venues where you can be locked inside a room for 60 minutes as you solve clues to escape.
We take a look at some of the local escape rooms in Stoke on Trent and rank them best to worst.
Stoke on Trent Escape Rooms
Currently, there are only two escape rooms in Stoke on Trent.
The third is based in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, a town situated just on the outskirts of the Stoke border.
For this article, we have included the Newcastle Under Lyme escape room into this list.
1. Escape Stoke
Based in Hanley in Stoke on Trent lies Escape Stoke.
Escape Stoke is part of a franchise chain of escape rooms.
The Stoke on Trent branch has 7 wonderful rooms for you to try out!
Feeling brave? Step into the world of a serial killer as you track him down before he kills again in Taken.
Feeling Curious? Explore the word of Da Vinci as you go in search of the holy grail.
Feeling lucky? Rob a casino before the time runs out and see if you get away with it in Casino Heist.
The hint system in Escape Stoke is also brilliant with a screen in your room that pops up with hints and riddles to help you find your next clue.
So simple, so effective.
Escape Stoke is a venue we’ve covered heavily in the past.
We’ve reviewed all of their rooms except for their brand new 2020 Robin Hood experience.
The rooms are well detailed, the puzzles are well thought out and the room detailing (especially in the wizard and pirate-themed rooms) are superb.
They’re also constantly evolving with new rooms being added and another room (Superhero themed) is already on its way!
With friendly helpful staff and enough rooms to keep the biggest of parties occupied Escape Stoke is the worthy leader in our Stoke on Trent escape room list.
2. Paralysis Escape Rooms
Since Paralysis opened in 2019 my review over a year ago was pretty on the dot.
The establishment was bare bones, the one room they had was incredibly well themed but not your typical escape room experience.
Phobia was a horror experience, not an escape room and as a result some things within the room would annoy / hinder your diehard escape room enthusiasts.
Certain scenes / things have to play out which add time onto your 60 minutes spent inside the room.
Anything that is hindering your time will annoy enthusiasts who are always chasing the best scores or the quickest escapes.
Fast forward a year and Paralysis Escape Rooms has opened a second room, improved Phobia and even added a lounge and bar.
That’s quite the substantial step up from where the establishment was a year ago and we’ve had a rough 2020 to match.
To not only still be operating but to have actively improved over lockdown is something that has to be applauded.
Paralysis Escape rooms have stepped up the reception area, photo area, added two rooms and a bar and a horror hangout area.
I can’t fault them whatsoever.
The only reason this establishment isn’t number 1 on my list is because I’ve only experienced Phobia and if i’m judging it as an escape room, it’s still not what you’d call a proper escape room.
If I went into my reasons it would spoil your experience so i’ll just leave it at that and you can see and decide for yourselves.
Being the typical escape room experience and with numerous rooms at their disposal Escape Stoke still comes out on top here.
Take nothing away from Paralysis though as Phobia is without a doubt the best themed escape room in Stoke on Trent by a mile.
With two more rooms in the pipeline I have no doubt that if Paralysis can adapt their rooms to be more escape room than horror experience, we’re going to have a new no.1 venue in no time!
3. Breakfree Stoke
Even though this escape room is based in Newcastle-Under-Lyme it’s still named as Stoke (for some reason).
Opening in 2019 after taking over from a previous company Breakfree is breaking free (excuse the pun) from the shackles of its old format and is building better and more professional rooms for the public.
Well that’s what they said, until I went and tried out the rooms.
Poorly detailed rooms, questionable customer service on the times I visited (young unenthusiastic, head in their phone staff members) and just lacking in what every way compared to the other two venues.
I certainly wasn’t impressed.
My standards for escape rooms are low, they have to be.
Escape rooms have to keep the costs low forever replacing items and fixing the rooms, I have to keep expectations low.
I don’t expect to walk into The Savoy and solve a few high-tech puzzles but Breakfree Stoke was poor. Very poor.
The hint system as of 2019 (my last visit) was a guy walking into your room and giving you clues.
When said guy got fed up with giving us clues he’d do the puzzle for us.
This completely ruined the experience for me the second he walked in. Instantly it became a game and not an immersive experience.
People did commend the difficulty of the puzzles within on TripAdvisor and i’ll give them that.
The puzzles are well thought out even if the rooms do look as though they were set-up in a week or two.
It still has a long way to go to achieve the heights of Escape Stoke and Paralysis for that matter.
Whilst Paralysis were my third choice this time last year, they’re improving and building towards a brighter future.
Sadly, I cannot say the same about Breakfree at this moment in time.
Overall
My experience of Paralysis is that it’s certainly more of a horror experience than an escape room.
It’s rather immersive but it’s also basic at the same time.
The creepy building adds to the eerie nature of the horror-themed room and the improvements they desperately needed last year are coming in thick and fast now.
Positive TripAdvisor reviews show that Paralysis has potential
With a change of format in how Phobia is run, the new room Entity, the bar and more rooms on the way, things are on the way up.
My only gripe is that Phobia needs to be an escape room only, not a scare zone. It’s caught in the middle and this is where diehards will cast it aside unless changes are made.
I can’t wait to try out the new room Entity.
I hope a more traditional escape room format is followed because with Phobia’s detailed and the thought-provoking puzzles we could have something special on our hands.
Escape Stoke is certainly the worthy winner of local Stoke on Trent Escape Rooms but it may have some competition real soon.
Whilst even Escape Stoke does have its faults (lack of detail in some rooms, cheap feel in places) it still wipes the floor with those beneath it as an affordable overall escape room experience with plenty of variety in rooms to choose.
