Kidnapped

Urban Escapade (Sydney, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: Under 14 requires adult supervision

Player limit: 2-7

Difficulty: 4/5

Date visited: April 2026

We're always excited to hear a new escape room company opening up in Sydney, and the city's latest addition is Urban Escapade, located inside The Cannery in Rosebery. Even though their first room, Kidnapped, has been available since the start of the year, we decided to wait a few months for them to iron out the kinks. Here are my thoughts:

• Kidnapped was a very solid first game for a brand new escape room venture, one that fills me with hope for their second and third rooms, both scheduled for release by the end of the year.

• The theming was the most impressive aspect of the room. Centred around a gorgeous Chinatown set, every prop oozed professional quality and came together with the lighting and effects to shape the game's immersive atmosphere. I would say it's definitely close to being on the same level as some of the most polished we've seen in Sydney.

• The overall size was decent; the gameplay and flow resembled that of a traditional escape room, with several different spaces and an assortment of linear lock and tech puzzles. Even though the story revolved around a kidnapping, we didn't really feel a huge sense of life-and-death urgency other than the 60-minute time limit.

• We had heard from people who played the game when it was first released that the puzzles had needed some fine tuning. I am assuming that there have been a few tweaks since, as we found that most of the puzzles had adequate signposting and could be linked back to the clues, even if tenuously at times.

• That said, I still think there is room for improvement. An important prop we used in this game was a small notebook that referenced numerous puzzles, though it was not always clear if they were actually relevant to solving the puzzles or in some cases relevant at all. We actually found it more confusing than helpful, especially as this was a game where we had to backtrack to spaces we had already traversed.

• We ended up finishing with the second fastest time to date despite not feeling like we had a full grasp of all the puzzles. We needed a "hint" early on despite looking repeatedly in the right place but not being able to see something because it was too small and faint. However, we had the advantage of being able to read Chinese characters, which made it easier to solve a couple of the puzzles. We also fluked one puzzle and partially guessed another when we had narrowed it down to a handful of possibilities.

• On the whole, the theming and design of Kidnapped left us satisfied with the experience and excited for what is to come from Urban Escapade . Our GM told us they are in the process of testing the next game, Turbulence, and we can't wait to play it some time later this year.

Escape time: 44 minutes and 50 seconds

Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun
A	B+	B-	B	B+

Verdict: A gorgeously themed room with strong immersion, lighting, and effects. The puzzles could still do with some more tweaking but it's already a very solid room and a great start for Urban Escapade.

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
B+	B	B+	B