Open Mind: 11S

Der Raum hat großartig detaillierte Dekorationen. In den engen, realistisch ausgestatteten Passagen entfaltet er seine tolle Intensität. Leider ist er für meinen Geschmack zu klein für die Geschichte die er Erzählt. Das Ende ist sehr schlecht. Hätten sie sich hier weiter auf die Feuerwehrleute konzentriert, wäre es deutlich passender gewesen. Auch der emotionale Impact würde so ins positive kippen.

I debated a while on what I would rate this room because there is no getting around the theme. In my opinion it’s not something that an escape room can do justice.

As a game the flow was clear and had a lot of unique set elements, it was extremely immersive (not necessarily a good thing in this context) and there were some very interesting puzzles involving interacting with the set. The clue system itself however was very frustrating, it was hard to hear and received a lot of interference from nearby buildings I assume. 

It was very clear from early on in the game though that they were not hiding from the theme of the room. There was footage and audio recordings of the attack played throughout sometimes rather distastefully  mixed with puzzles. Whenever we enjoyed a puzzle we felt quite guilty about it because of the context of the room!

Finally and the biggest let down of all was the ending of the game. We were rushed by an actor into a pitch black room before realising that we had entered a memorial section. In my opinion this wasn’t tasteful and was made worse because after we watched this very upsetting video we were congratulated by our GM for our excellent game!

I’m honestly not sure what to think about this room. It’s of course going to be very opinion based. Judging it purely as an escape room, it featured a lot of padlocks, fairly simple puzzles, and some very strong set design, that was well designed and put together, but compared to others we played in Barcelona, in my opinion it was one of the less ‘Wow’ rooms. 

However, the historical aspect is impossible to ignore. The atmosphere felt incredibly real, with actual recordings and unsettling screams. While I understand and appreciate the idea of paying tribute, we found ourselves deeply disturbed by what we were experiencing. Of course, we knew what we were signing up for when booking, and we were already 50/50 about playing it.

The intent behind it is clear, but do I think an escape room is the right medium to convey this? Absolutely not.

As for the ending—it was, in my opinion, a catastrophe in its own right. After some rather questionable ‘dragging’ and being physically banged into a room with a cross, it all felt jarring and left a very odd final impression.

Wow! I was apprehensive when my husband told me he’d booked a room based on this tragedy. I even felt unsure of whether to tell people I’d be doing this room. But I was so wrong. This story is a well thought out tribute to the hero’s and tells the story in a tasteful and thoughtful way. There’s no politics or theories involved, just a story to never forget. There is time at the end to remember why you are there and really puts your mind at ease as to how/why this is a theme to ‘play’. Well done to all involved, this is a room to remember. This is in my top 10 of 230+ rooms and was our second trip to Barcelona. This is a must experience.