Midgaard Event: Downfall

Because of a certain movie, I kept expecting Downfall to be a WWII theme, but it’s actually set four decades later at the end of the Cold War: the general in control of a Soviet republic has a plan to start a nuclear war, and you are the spies tasked with stopping him.

Midgaard are proud of Downfall: their website explains that it’s a two hour premium escape room, designed with the ambition of creating the best room in Denmark and one of the best in Europe. In fact, I was in Copenhagen on this occasion solely to play it, since the company had invited me and for once the travel logistics worked out; and I was curious to see if it could live up to its billing.

From the start we were led into the game world in character. This is an escape room where actor interaction is a significant part of the gameplay, and I thought that was the most distinctive, novel and interesting part of it. The interactive elements are not simply ‘cut scenes’ that interrupt you for a few minutes before you get back to what you’re doing; rather, they’re an integral part of the experience, and form the basis of several of the most enjoyable puzzles you need to solve.

By all normal standards this is a large and very polished escape room. However, it doesn’t aim to blow you away with the scale of the set or dramatic audio-visual special effects, as some of the TERPECA-level top rooms do – rather, it’s focused on puzzles, story, and interaction. (The setting also means a game that’s well lit for almost all the way through, which for me is definitely a point in its favour!)

Having an NPC involved instantly changed the usual dynamics of an escape room – it allowed different types of puzzle, and different approaches to solving them, in a way that reminded me of some point and click adventure games. It also meant there was more scope for having fun with improvisation and creativity. That won’t suit everyone – if the thought of having an in-character conversation with an actor makes you cringe then this might not be the game for you. But I found it a great deal of fun, and would be very happy to see more games introduce these kinds of elements.

I should add that it’s officially a score-based room – in that you get points based on successfully completing the various stages of the main mission, plus bonus points for collecting certain items as you go, which is mostly a matter of search and observation. I found the score-based angle to be a relatively minor part of the game, though if it helps divert players‘ focus from how quickly they completed the room to how well they did at it, that seems all to the good.

The clever and entertaining use of actor interaction was a big part of what I liked about Downfall, but it was also just a very well executed escape room, in terms of puzzles, set design, narrative flow and handling. Hint delivery was a particular example of that: where we received hints, not only did they provide the exact amount of information needed to help us forward without being heavy-handed, but they also delivered the hints in character, phrased as an off-hand remark not as a hint. Use of audio was another strong point, with subtle but effective music to mark when we’d correctly solved something and were moving forwards.

It’s not often I visit a city solely to play one escape room; with Downfall I was glad I did. Some of Europe’s top markets for escape rooms have tended to make games ever bigger and flashier with more special effects, and while that has produced some amazing games I also really like the somewhat different direction Midgaard have taken here – I hope they create more experiences in a similar vein, and I hope other companies take inspiration from it too.