Escape Barcelona: Cybercity 2049

It's an incredible world in here, albeit slightly terrifying at times, and I'm not entirely sure I understand exactly what happened in there. Is it an escape room? Well... an escape experience perhaps and that is exactly what we were expecting after reading all of the reviews.

The set is incredible and I defy anybody not to be impressed by the sheer scale and attention to detail. The interactions with the GM in role were fantastic and, again, the immersion created by our GM (who, at the end of the game, turned out to be the loveliest, friendliest man) was excellent. Immersion is the name of the game here, as it is basically an RPG; there aren't many puzzles (which is a shame, as that is always our most prized aspect of a game) and the signposting isn't always clear, so we did find ourselves relying on our GM, who was fortunately very good a giving us nudges when we needed.

Go expecting to be a little unnerved, to play an RPG in an incredible set and to forget about the outside world for a bit and you'll have a great time. Personally, we're suckers for a good old padlock and code so this wasn't our usual kind of game but we absolutely appreciate the gameplay and the immersion.

Adams review of this game is exactly how I felt when playing. 

Take this as an experience and you’ll get a lot more out of it.

It seems as though so much time, effort and money went into making this look beautiful that the puzzles were left behind somewhat. I wouldn't consider this an escape room, but a hybrid of immersive theatre meets video game.

It felt like we were walking through a game, we had been told my another GM at Alien to ensure we spend lots of time in the game exploring as much as possible. We got to see & experience all of the extra bits that weren't necessary to the gameplay, this world building was incredible. Though the other players wanted to power through (as you would in any escape room to get a good time), i had to strongly convince them to let us see it all, i was so glad I did. 

The end of the game was a bit of a let down due to the janky props and cheesy nature, albeit fun, it was too much of a contrast to the rest of the game.

Host/actor was great! Loved the interactions.

Also; bring a change of clothes and some wipes. You will get covered in dust/chalk and may have pen you wipe off of your skin.

I was very excited for this game but ended up being quite disappointed. First off, it isn't really an escape room at all, more an immersive experience. It felt like there were so few puzzles in there, especially considering its size, and those we did solve didn't feel very satisfying. The idea is more akin to an RPG game, where you interact with NPCs and explore the world. Had I realised this, I probably would have approached it differently and perhaps enjoyed it a bit more. But I still didn't really rate this aspect of it.

The set is fantastic. It genuinely felt like a dingy blade-runner-esce city and I enjoyed the interactions with characters within it, the GM did a great job here. There was an element of tension that was fairly well done and gave the game a suitably creepy vibe. 

However, the lack of puzzles and terrible signposting left us frustrated and we began noticing things wrong with the set instead of being immersed. We asked the GM for help at many points, only to be left to struggle. A lot of the tech was janky and didn't work well - we attempted to access an optional section but the tech prevented us from doing so. The finale sequence we played (this differs depending on choices made throughout the game) used some really crap props and felt pretty naff. 

It felt like they took an amazing set and devised an interactive element that they hoped players would be engaged enough to spend lots of time with. Frankly, we didn't care for  this and found this aspect a bit crap. They've popped a handful of shit puzzles in there too but not enough to sink our teeth into. Sprinkle in some dodgy tech and you have another disappointment from a highly rated TERPECA game

This game is one of the most immersive experiences I have every played. It is just amazing. The start is really very clever in terms of getting you into the experience, the set is outstanding and despite my general non-love of live actors, the GM who hosted this was superb - he had a lot to do and was just fantastic - could do mildly scary, funny, definitely got you into the role play elements. Not a traditionally puzzle ER game and has some physical aspects. There are some "add on" parts to this game that we missed as not strictly part of the main story but absolutely recommend to take the time to do everything. 

Cannot recommend this ER enough as an experience in BCN - think I'd go back to play it a second time even knowing how it works.