Polish title: Czarny-motylek
Location: Wroclaw, Poland
Date played: October 27, 2017
Team size: 2-5; we recommend 3-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: 140 złoty per group (approximately $40)
Black Butterfly is only available in Polish. Critical puzzles required fluent Polish.
Story & setting
Locked up in a little girl’s nightmare, we had to escape before… bad things happened.
Black Butterfly was a dark, creepy horror escape room filled with nightmares. The set was detailed, unnerving, and a little bit dirty. It was scary, but never truly horrifying.
Puzzles
Black Butterfly was a challenging puzzle game. That’s not just because I couldn’t read some of the puzzles. Fox O’clock combined fear with intricate puzzles, which produced a difficult escape room for more advanced players.
Standouts
Black Butterfly had a wonderfully dark and messed up vibe.
I generally loved the puzzles. This was traditional escape room puzzling at its best.
Fox O’clock had a cat (in the lobby, not the escape room). While I’m allergic to cats, it was so cute and charming to see it prowling around in search of affection.
Shortcomings
One early puzzle had a strange and unclued twist. When we asked for a hint, the solution made us all groan. While the solution made sense, it was also kind of silly.
There was a dirty crawlspace that desperately needed vacuuming.
Throughout the experience, the dim lights made puzzling unnecessarily difficult. A little more strategic lighting around puzzles would improve Black Butterfly.
Should I play Fox O’Clock’s Black Butterfly?
I loved this dark and twisted escape room. Black Butterfly had great puzzles and an original and creatively messed up environment. I’ve seen many escape rooms that are fancier than this one, but a lot less fun.
For English-speaking tourists, you will need a fluent Polish reader on your team as there are written puzzles that rely on linguistic nuance.
Black Butterfly will be especially challenging for newbies and anyone who struggles to see in low light. Everyone else should go play this escape room. It’s a ton of fun.
Book your hour with Fox O’Clock’s Black Butterfly, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
