The Lost Tomb of Monthu

Xcape Wellington (Lower Hutt, New Zealand)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Player limit: 2-8

Age limit: Under 14s require adult in the room

Difficulty: 6/10

Date visited: December 2025

This was the first of our 5 rooms in one day at Xcape — one of the highest rated escape room establishments in New Zealand — situated in Lower Hutt, about 15 minutes north of Wellington.

Here are my thoughts:

• Like all of Xcape’s rooms, we started off in a small briefing room and had to watch a video with the backstory. It was well-made, but some of the audio was not very clear.

• The set of this room was fantastic. Floor-to-ceiling theming as soon as we walked in, starting off with an underground excavation site before extending deeper and deeper into the tomb.

• This was a relatively large room with multiple sections, each with different design variations and types of puzzles.

• The props were thematic, sturdy, and professionally made. The room was clean and well-maintained.

• The tech and sound design were another highlight. Everything worked smoothly and seamlessly to deliver immersion and smooth game flow.

• The puzzles were a mix of traditional and tech, with the former typically ending in a code for a lock of some sort, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense in an Egyptian tomb. The presence of a digital lock, in particular, was an odd choice and somewhat jarring.

• Xcape utilised a hybrid hint system in which our GM could see and hear us at all times, and there was also a screen inside the room that showed our remaining game time and any hints the GM wanted to deliver.

• We picked a good one to start off with. This was Xcape’s easiest room, and we breezed through it in under 31 minutes.

• Out GM told us that the owners of Xcape purchased the venue next door and are in the process of building a brand new set of rooms that promises to be even bigger and better!

Escape time: 30 minutes and 32 seconds

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

Verdict: A high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, relatively large tomb-themed room with straightforward puzzles, though not all of them made sense in the space. A good choice for a first room at Xcape if you want to work your way up the difficulty ladder.

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
B+	A-	B+	A-