I was really looking forward to try Escape Room games. It’s a game wherein players are lock in a room and can only break out by solving series of puzzles and riddles using clues and hints. I have a second thought at first since it’s costly and I found out that I will not gain anything, even I solved the mystery. LOL!
But there is no harm in trying, right? So when a friend asks if we like to try it, I said: “Go!” without further hesitation. Take chances. Be Crazy. You only live once! Haha!
THE PLANNING
The funny thing is that we planned this activity 3 months before our actual breakout. That’s how strong our planning skills are! Haha! Kidding aside, we planned ahead to blocked off the schedule as we need to consider some of us works on a week end. We decided to try the BreakOut Philippines Escape Room Game by OutBreak Manila. I am already a fan of OutBreak since I have joined their Run For Your Life-Zombie Escape last 2015. Still waiting and hoping for the next outbreak, though. Going back, we choose the Corpse Bride Room which has the most eerie and creepy story plot. Also we considered the fact that the room is available in Greenbelt Branch, as we are all either working or living in the vicinity of Makati.
So after choosing our room, we booked our preferred schedule online using the credit card of my colleague who willingly let us after I put a knife behind her back. Haha! Just another bad joke.
Above image is courtesy of BreakOutPH.
GAME TIME
Day of escape came, and I can feel excitement in the air, to the point we missed where the Breakout Branch location is. But luckily we are truly detectives-at-heart and found it at last. The staff are pretty cool and friendly. They advise us to make our wiwi break first before we were briefed. It is our first time so the staff jokingly ask us if we know what we are entering, maybe to start the mood of the game. After briefing, they let us put our bags in a wooden coffin-like box which before I opened, I ask if there is a hidden corpse.
We were blindfolded as a staff guide us to the game room. As we remove our blindfolds, we are already inside the room. After giving us last piece of advise, the staff left us as the story plot of the Corpse Bride begin to show in a LCD television. Since I have already read this on the site when I booked reservation, I let my eyes wander through the room. It’s like an old abandoned room with mannequins and paintings that makes it more eerie. But I was a bit disappointed when I look above since the room has no ceiling. I can see the pipes - aircon pipes I thinks? The room becomes a bit unrealistic because of it.
After showing the story plot, the LCD television showed the 45 minutes countdown. We need to solved the mystery and breakout before the time expires or will be trapped forever. There were no hint on what should with do first. We start to rummaged the room, trying to find something we do not have any idea. There are some weird scribbles and scratches on the walls and cabinets. Locks can be seen from different side of the rooms. It’s not that there are no clues, there are too many clues, and it’s too overwhelming we don’t know where to start. Haha!
We are already panicking since time was ticking. We have already wasted too much time but still cannot find a hint on how the game works, how to solve the clues. We already yelling for someone to give us clue. We do not have any plan and strategies. Mindlessly searching and trying to unlock a hint without solving it. Then an angel came down from heaven and give us an answer - just kidding. A staff entered the room and give us a hint for the first clue so we can move on. Maybe they’ve seen from the CCTV installed in the room how pitiful our attempts to solve clues. While my other friends works on the hint provided by the staff, I continued to focus on the puzzle I was trying to solve before the staff entered. Success! I’ve solved the puzzle. But seeing it only produce another mind-bugling puzzle made me a bit frustrated. Slowly we move forward in solving puzzle by puzzle and unlocked the hints. From then, I think we got a better grip on how to play the game. But as we desperately solved each clues we find, the end of the game time is fast approaching. As I look on the remaining time, I already accepted our fate. Nevertheless, we never gave up and solved as much as we can until we heard the signal that time’s up. The staff entered the room to formalized our defeat. He provided the answer on the last hint we were working on. And we just like “aaahh” and “ooohh”. After that, we bid good bye to the room as the staff lead us outside. We lost but atleast not trapped on the room forever. Haha!
AFTERMATH
So above is the saddest picture we’ve taken after the game. Yes, it’s the saddest already. Haha! We found out that the Corpse Bride room has 4 out of 5 difficulty level. Well, for me, I think we have done a good job in solving the puzzles and riddles. We might have wasted too much time before we found the first clue and move on, but unlocking 6 clues is already an achievement considering the level of difficulty and our first time to try. I feel a bit disheartened because we lost. Even so, I still enjoyed playing detective and solving as much puzzle as I could. Definitely, we will come back for another experience. Maybe the next time, we will beat the game and bring home victory.
