Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein is an award-winning immersive experience located in the historic town of Bath, UK. This unique venue features a whole host of activities, including an interactive museum, multiple escape rooms, tabletop murder mystery experiences and even a bar! It is located on Gay Street, also home to a great board game cafe, Thirsty Meeples and The Jane Austen Centre.
Lenka, Georgina, Tomi and I – The Escape Puzzlers – were delighted to be invited to visit the House of Frankenstein and play some escape rooms. We have all spent a fair amount of time in Bath but this was our first time at the venue and we were thrilled to be trying out something new. Despite not paying for the experience, the following is a true representation of the day. I hope you find it helpful.
Arrival
We were greeted on the doorstep by the rather mysterious Dr. Wilder. Dressed in a blood-stained lab coat, he sported a stethoscope and goggles. We were blown away by the decor as we were taken through to the reception. Body parts and jars filled with weird and wonderful creations were dotted around the reception/gift shop. The sort of items you might expect to find in a gift shop were present, some of them with sinister twists. As tempted as I was to purchase a keyring with a bloody toe hanging off of it, I played it safe and opted for a Mary Shelley enamel pin instead!
Once checked in, we were asked to lock our bags and phones in a cupboard, before setting off to tackle…
The Shallows
Our first escape room of the day was the ominously titled The Shallows. It’s located in the basement of the historic four-storey building, which was suitably dark and dank. Dr. Cleaver led us into the room where he set the scene before leaving us to fend for ourselves. We were tasked with working together to prevent a biological weapon from being released into the air. No pressure!
To begin we had to crawl through a confined space to access the main room. This featured some impressive theming that ramped up the feeling of unease. Once on the other side, we tackled the first of two math-based puzzles, which didn’t play to all of our strengths but was fun. The dim lighting in the room did make it difficult to see at times, especially as we only had one torch between the four of us! However, this is an easy problem to solve by adding a second torch.
Unfortunately, our initial breakthrough was followed by a technical issue that hindered the rest of our game. Technical issues do happen, but what made it more frustrating was that there wasn’t a mechanism to summon the Game Master (GM). Rather than a more traditional hint system, the GM just drops by every 15 minutes or so to see how you are doing. As he had just left when we solved the first puzzle, we had to wait a long time for him to come back. Once the technical issue was cleared up, we were able to get back to playing the game. Sadly, we had lost too much time to make it out and ended up locked in!
I did write up some extensive feedback after our visit, which has been passed on to the owner. The team were very apologetic and are looking at ways to prevent this from happening in future. The rest of our day was much more positive…
The Body in the Suitcase
In addition to the more traditional escape room offerings, House of Frankenstein features some really fun tabletop murder mystery games. These are suitable for 2-6 players and last up to 45 minutes. Of the two games on offer, we chose to play The Body in the Suitcase.
This was a very different experience to The Shallows. Firstly, it is set in the brilliantly-themed Bloody Mary bar area. It is adorned with glass tables with actual legs for legs, atmospheric red lighting and creepy pictures on the walls. Although it operates as a bar for private functions and some night-time special events, it isn’t generally open for drinks throughout the day.
The GM gave a dramatic speech, informing us that a locked suitcase had been found in the basement of the building. It was our job to get inside and identify the suspected human remains, as well as discover who killed the victim and why!
Our first task was to crack the code for the padlock, which we managed to do very quickly. At that point, we were able to remove the contents and share the puzzles between us. The fact that the game is non-linear makes it great for splitting off into smaller groups! We got into pairs and used the two tables in the room that had helpfully been set up with pencils and paper. Puzzles included maths, logic and some jigsaw-like elements.
We managed to whizz through this game in just over 20 minutes, which placed us at the top of the leaderboard. One thing we were surprised about was the lack of deduction required for a murder mystery. Given that we finished the game so quickly, we definitely feel like there was room to add more deductive elements. Despite the relatively short playtime, we had a lot of fun playing this game. Hopefully, we can come back and play The Gift at a later date. There is great scope for other games in this style!
Victor’s Lair
After a break for lunch, we returned to tackle Victor’s Lair – a more traditional escape room based in the attic. We were taken up to the room by Dr. Wilder, who seemed beyond delighted to be inviting us into his domain. In fact, I rather think he was hoping we wouldn’t escape so that he could harvest our organs…
Perhaps because we had had a less than favourable experience with The Shallows, our expectations were lower for this one. As it turned out, we needn’t have worried as it was our favourite experience of the day!
The theming in this room was brilliantly atmospheric and immersive. This was also boosted by the fantastic GM, who fully embodied his character – we were laughing one minute and terrified the next. The centrepiece of the room is a realistic-looking torso with missing limbs that we had to find and reassemble. It screamed Frankenstein and looked incredibly creepy…
The room itself was spacious with plenty of puzzles to keep us busy. You can expect some hidden rooms, a variety of lock types and a mix of puzzles involving maths, observation and logic. We were hampered in our attempts to solve one puzzle by a rather frustrating red herring that I wasted a little too much time on. I don’t really appreciate these in escape rooms, because they just cause needless confusion. It didn’t ruin the game overall though.
The hint system worked much better for us than The Shallows. The GM informed us that we could knock on the door to request a hint, but that we were only allowed a maximum of three. He did make it clear that he might be persuaded to offer up more if needed, but we only needed one in the end. This hint was actually offered up to us when the GM saw we were struggling and was slipped under the door on a piece of paper. This small cryptic nudge pointed us in the right direction, and we managed to escape shortly afterwards with time to spare. We were offered a team photo, which we of course accepted to mark the occasion!
The Museum
To cap off our day, we explored the immersive museum which is spread out across multiple floors. I have to say that it was unlike any museum we’d visited before. It’s a real tribute to both Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, including fun interactive elements and a wealth of interesting facts. You can tell that a lot of love has gone into curating the museum, which features an impressive collection of Frankenstein memorabilia. It is worth noting that entry to the museum is included in the price of some of the escape room experiences (this is clearly indicated when you book).
What we weren’t expecting to find in the bowels of the building was a mini scare maze. This might be something to avoid if you are particularly jumpy, but we faced our fears and walked through. Tomi was targeted due to his loud screams, much to the amusement of the rest of us. It certainly was a unique experience to cap off the day.
Special Event
The Big Lock-In (May 2025)
“It’s the ultimate games night at The House of Frankenstein! Grab your teammates and immerse yourself in a thrilling party atmosphere of puzzle-solving as you attempt to conquer our devilish Escape Rooms & Murder Mystery games in the company of our rather fiendish character hosts. 2FOR1 signature cocktails and fiery shots are served in our Gothically-inspired bar, Bloody Mary’s. The museum will also be open for guests to explore during the evening’s activities.
Final Words
We had a fantastic time at Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein overall. It is certainly unlike anywhere that we’ve visited before and we are excited to see how it evolves in future. Although we did experience some issues during our visit, the owner was very receptive to feedback; which I made sure to provide. A lot of love for Mary Shelley and her creations has clearly been pumped into this unique and atmospheric venue, which is well worth a visit.
Special Offer: 15% off Escape Rooms & Escape Games at Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein.
Simply use the code PUZZLE15 at the Checkout when prompted to get 15% off the total cost of your game. This offer is valid Sunday – Friday until the 22nd July 2025. To book please use this link: https://bookings.houseoffrankenstein.com/book
Exclusions: This offer is not valid on Saturdays, Bank Holidays or for special events.
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