Real Escape Wien: Claustrophobia review
| An escape room with an unusual and exciting new twist. Have you ever played an escape game while lying down? Now there is a possibility! The big challenge here is the small space. You can expect two big, quite cosy but closed boxes. But have no fear! For your safety there are ventilation systems and also, of course, emergency buttons. Look your fears in the eye, overcome them and be surprised! | |
| 60 minutes | |
| 2 players | |
| Difficulty level not stated | |
| €25 per person | |
| Vienna, Austria | |
| realescape.wien | |
| Played by Paul and Bharath | |
| August 2018 | |
| Escaped with 17 minutes remaining |
Theming
5/10The entrance to the venue is not at all appealing, but things improve once you’re through the door and into the simple lobby. You’re blindfolded and each guided into your own wooden rectangular box. You then need to work together to find your way out of them. It’s a fun and novel idea. The boxes are painted with black and white patterns inside, the black and white signifying a dream state. You need to find colour to awaken you from this dream. It’s all quite basic, but it works.
Paul
7/10The coffin idea is an interesting concept. The box isn’t too small, so there’s a little space to move around. You start off in complete darkness so finding light is important. There is a lot of feeling around. Expect to bang your head. There’s a mattress inside for comfort and music is on in the background. A fan is placed at the end of the coffin to provide a little breeze.
Bharath
Puzzles
6/10Due to the limited space, there aren’t that many puzzles or places to look. What is there is relatively basic escape room fare. They all made perfect sense but weren’t much of a challenge for us who have done a lot of rooms. They are more suited to escape room beginners. We did struggle with one puzzle though, which was entirely our fault, but I managed to find a way to solve it without needing the answer. This shouldn’t be possible, but I doubt many would think the way I did!
Paul
6/10This escape room is more about the experience rather than the number of puzzles. There are only so many they can put in a confined space like a coffin. Communication is key to getting out as things in your box will help your teammate in the other box. You have to work on all the puzzles together. The puzzles were relatively simple. One puzzle we guessed the answer to. Another puzzle was intriguing and something I wouldn’t expect in a coffin.
Bharath
Enjoyment
6/10The novelty of being in pitch black for an escape room will appeal to some. But we’ve done a pitch black room before so weren’t fazed by it. It’s not scary unless you’re claustrophobic or afraid of the dark. There’s a fan blowing in fresh air, but it was a hot day and it got a little uncomfortable in there. Each box is around 1m x 1m x 2.5m in size. You need to be flexible as you have to move around a bit and you can’t be too overweight! Overall it was fun but a bit too simplistic for me and also over too quickly.
Paul
6/10If I had to do the same puzzles in a standard escape room, I would have been bored by the end of it. Being in a confined space made them more interesting due to the restricted movement. If you are looking to be challenged, then it’s probably not the game for you, if you are looking for something different, then it’s worth a try.
Bharath
Value
6/10This costs €25 each which is good value considering it’s for only 2 players and it’s in an expensive city. But on the other hand it’s a pretty simple game which needs minimal floor space and minimal maintenance. Blindfolding you to get into the boxes is a lazy way of getting out of needing to decorate the outside of the boxes and the room itself!
Paul
6/10The room is designed for 2 people and is more about the experience. Even the host before the game kept on mentioning that we should take in the experience rather than race through the puzzles.
Bharath
Overall scores
-
Theming - 6/10
6/10
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Puzzles - 6/10
6/10
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Enjoyment - 6/10
6/10
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Value - 6/10
6/10
