D
Dareloth
73 escape rooms
For what this room is trying to achieve, it is generally well done. That said, I would still hesitate to recommend it, as several smaller aspects detract from the overall experience. First of all, the room appears to be a remake of the company’s earlier room “Mystic Temple 1”. Some props seem to have been reused and, compared to others, feel less refined in their execution. The experience begins with a short introductory video, which unfortunately did not quite work for me. Especially with produced video content, I would have hoped for a more polished and higher-quality presentation, as it sets the tone for the entire game. My rather critical rating is mainly due to the game direction and the price-performance ratio. I am fully aware of Swiss pricing standards, which are often associated with high quality and attention to detail. In this case, however, certain mechanics and technical elements (such as winches) are only sparsely decorated, which breaks immersion at times. What makes this more noticeable is that the company has demonstrated a higher standard in other rooms—most notably the excellent “World of Magic: The Tale of the Missing Hat”. Knowing what they are capable of, I feel that this room could and should have reached a higher level.
Gameplay
Gameflow was lacking, after a pretty clear cut start the experience throws you into a room filled with puzzles without a clear direction. One riddle we did right but a certain element had to be fixed in place rather than just holding the proper position. There is no indicator for that. Other than that the clue mechanic is very creative.
Atmosphere
Fair enough, even though some props were visibly worn. Atmospheric music is nice, some lighting effects are included.
Customer service
Staff did not really care about us besides payment, when we finished the room we were left alone in the lobby. GM did not even say goodbye to us.
Particularly interesting or different
No
The difficulty came from the lack of game direction, therefore you were more busy searching how to proceed then how to solve the problems.
Story
Standard temple exploration. Fair enough.
Difficulty
Medium
Puzzles in themselves were fine.
Game tech
Mechanical
Ideal number of players
3
Scary
Not scary
Minimum age
12
Was anything broken?
Yes
Visible wear on some scenery, showing styrofoam.
Live actors
No
Surprisingly bad introduction video.
Physically active
Not at all
One person has to climb a ladder up to a secluded room. Otherwise not at all.
Easy to find location
Yes
Parking
Medium
Swiss town, depending on the day you may have to use a public parking garage
