Update 10/25/22: If you enjoy Eliza’s Heart we hope you’ll check out our interview with creator Alexander Gierholz on The Reality Escape Pod.
Eliza’s Heart is one of the best escape rooms in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms in Amsterdam.
Blurred reality.
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Date played: May 7, 2017
Team size: 2-7; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 63 minutes
Price: €19,50 – 39,50 per person depending upon team size
Story & setting
The descendants of Elizabeth van Leeuwenhart, the renowned 19th century Dutch world adventurer, have opened her private study up to the public for 63 minutes at a time. Could we be the first to find her unimaginably valuable gold necklace, the “Lionheart?”
Logic Locks created a creepy atmosphere that felt strangely believable. From the character of Elizabeth van Leeuwenhart, to the Willy Wonka-esque gamemaster, to the set itself, the scenario felt bizarrely real.
Puzzles
Puzzle-driven, Eliza’s Heart felt like a traditional escape room. What made these puzzles stand out was Logic Locks’ prop selection. Everything felt like it belonged in this strange escape room.
Standouts
Logic Locks went to great lengths to make their character and story feel real. Going in, I knew that the experience was fiction, but I could feel my brain desperately wanting to accept everything I saw as truth.
The puzzling in Eliza’s Heart was strong and satisfying.
Logic Locks made brilliant use of Amsterdam’s most abundant resource: used bicycle chains.
Our creepy Willy Wonka-esque gamemaster took his time and sold the fiction. It was tough to tell if he was acting or was truly this strange individual.
Shortcomings
Some of the antique furniture and props were heavily worn. In one instance, we spent a long time failing to open an antique lock with the correct key because the mechanism was in rough shape.
While the puzzles were enjoyable, Eliza’s Heart would have been all the more impressive if each and every puzzle carried a little more narrative.
There was a puzzle that required outside knowledge. It left us wondering whether the knowledge that we needed to apply was from the current era or Elizabeth van Leeuwenhart’s era.
Should I play Logic Locks’ Eliza’s Heart?
Eliza’s Heart was a beautiful execution of the traditional escape room format. It was an analog puzzle game in an elegant set. The story was so compelling that I wanted to believe that it was true, even when I knew that it was fiction.
If you discovered escape rooms because you love adventure puzzling, then you will likely love Eliza’s Heart.
Beginners can play Eliza’s Heart, but they are going to have to communicate well, as this was not the most simple of escape rooms.
Experienced players will likely enjoy all of the detail, love, and careful attention to experience that Logic Locks poured into Eliza’s Heart.
Book your hour with Logic Locks’ Eliza’s Heart, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Logic Locks comped our tickets for this game.
