Barcelona, Mar 2022
Second game on our Barcelona itinerary and second for us at Escape Barcelona was Alien. The previous game Akasha had set an extremely high bar, but Alien managed to rise to the same heights.
This of course is based on the Alien(s) sci-fi horror movies. While it’s not a fear game it works hard to build tension and create the feel of a creepy spacecraft, as much as is possible without having actual aliens hunting you down.
Although it’s technically possible to play with fewer, the website strongly recommends a minimum team size of four for this game. I don’t think I’m giving much away to say that that’s because players are separated for a significant section of the time. (This does mean that there will be some parts of the game you don’t see, but it appears that the differences between different paths are minor, if that helps alleviate the FOMO.)
Like Escape Barcelona’s other games, Alien has an active, physical feel to it, though not as much as Akasha, and puts story front and centre. That it’s atmospheric and meticulously decorated goes without saying; the puzzles of the game also follow the story, and at times present you with choices, which do indeed have consequences – if only on which ending you get.
On a trip comprised almost exclusively of world-class Escape rooms, it’s easy to get blasé about the quality level. And Alien had weaknesses, with some points of confusion such as a communication-based puzzle where the tech seemed frustratingly unresponsive. But nonetheless it was a joy to play, a relentlessly immersive dive through a succession of scenes taken straight from the movies. In fact, it was so very packed with different rooms and puzzles and surprises that, while writing up notes in the game afterwards, I realised I’d almost forgotten about something that would have been a proud highlight for many other escape games – which just goes to highlight how impressive it was throughout. 
