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Launch

2 days ago
2 min read

Narrow Escape Rooms (Penrith, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: None

Player limit: 2-6

Difficulty: Medium (60% success rate)

Date visited: January 2026

The first time we made the drive to Penrith to play Narrow Escape was in January 2025. On that trip, we had a great time in Undetected and especially The Inheritance, and vowed to return to play Launch (their other available game at the time) once their new room (which would turn out to be The Hidden Temple) was completed.

Nearly a whole year later, we returned to Narrow Escape with high expectations for The Hidden Temple but modest expectations for Launch, their supposedly "easiest" and lowest rated game. How was it?

Launch surprised me in a good way and I'm glad we ended up playing it after initially skipping it a year ago. While it was relatively low on "wow" factor, it was a very solid experience worthy of your time and money. It turned out to be much more than merely an appetiser to the main course that was The Hidden Temple.
I enjoyed the Aussie alien attack theme of Launch. As a member of the special forces, we were tasked with stopping an impending alien attack by getting Australia's missile systems back online. As such, the room was set in a military office, which unfortunately made it quite hard for the theming to impress.
That said, the room had a very clean, polished, and sturdy feel that reminded me a little of the first section of The Artefact at Next Level Escape. We could interact with everything in the room, and it were no immersion-breaking stickers or signs in sight.
Where Launch did impress me was its well-designed puzzle flow. There were props and objects scattered throughout the room, but we always felt in control and knew what we had to do next thanks to the clear signposting, some of which was explicit and some of which was subtle — but all were logical.
The varied puzzles, which featured a mixture of hunt and seek, padlocks, and tech, flowed seamlessly from one to the next, allowing us to generate momentum while working on different puzzles at some points and converging when required.
There was only one puzzle that we got stuck on because it was slightly finicky (and because J wouldn't let anyone else try it), and another where the signposting didn't lead directly to the puzzle, though we should have figured it out sooner because it was the final puzzle of the game and there was nothing else left.
I suppose with the alien theme, some players might expect something more high tech and flashy. If you are one of those players, you might find Launch a little lacking. But if you're after a solid escape room with puzzles that make sense and flow fluidly, this is a great option to consider.