Frightening, fast, and fun.
Location: played at the Chicago Room Escape Conference, but available in Toronto, Canada
Date played: August 13, 2016
Team size: 1
Price: Free at the conference, pricing TBD by hosting facility
Story & setting
Played via the HTC Vive, Geist Manor was a one-player virtual horror escape room experience. I played the 7-minute demo (of a 10-minute game) that was available at the Escape Games Canada booth at the Chicago Room Escape Conference.
This is a game that Escape Games Canada created in partnership with a EscapeVR. The game will be available for players to experience in Escape Games Canada’s facility, as well as a number of other escape room facilities that have purchased the rights to use the game.
Set in a haunted house, the game was dark, creepy, and a little bit freaky. Everything from the staging to the lighting to the sound pushed me deeper into the experience.
In a beautiful way, I felt like I was in a horror movie.
Puzzles
The puzzles were your basic seek, observe, and input interactions that I’ve encountered in my previous Vive escape room experience.
Standouts
Escape Games Canada likes to toy with their players’ minds and this game was no exception.
It looked great and sounded even better.
Escape Games Canada did a masterful job of throwing off my equilibrium and playing with my senses.
The setting truly enhanced the experience. Lisa was a bit rattled by the horror; during her playthrough she had more trouble focusing on the tasks at hand.
The hinting was heavy handed, but well executed; it was clearly designed to keep the player moving.
Shortcomings
There were some physics problems, both those within the game and those inherent to the Vive.
It wasn’t particularly puzzley.
If you don’t like horror, then that’s going to be a deal-breaker.
Should I play Escape Games Canada’s Geist Manor?
Escape Games Canada put me in an experience that I knew wasn’t real and managed to make it feel intimidating.
This is only for folks who are open to a horror adventure and don’t get motion sick in a VR environment.
If you’re down for an excellent immersive experience that is light on puzzles and heavy on brain-tricking interactions, then this is your game.
It’s brief even at full length, which makes it a great add-on to a room escape outing at Escape Games Canada’s Toronto facility.
Contact Escape Games Canada to book your session with Geist Manor, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
