The Terrible Bambell Affair (available in English)
Location: Le Cannet, France
Date Played: September 30, 2018
Team size: 2-6; we recommend 3-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: 24-30 € per person depending on team size
Ticketing: Private
REA Reaction
I keep telling people about La Terrible Affaire Bambell.
Heyou Escape’s horror thriller was one of the most interesting escape rooms we’ve encountered in our travels.
All about story and fear, La Terrible Affaire Bambell relied on traditional escape room gameplay to facilitate the narrative and the feelings it created in players.
This escape room worked because of creativity, hard work, and commitment.
La Terrible Affaire Bambell wasn’t a good or a bad escape room. It was theatrical. It was terrifying. It was a weak puzzle game… hell, it was barely a puzzle game. It was an intense and interesting experience.
If you’re looking for traditional, puzzle-driven, non-threatening escape room gameplay, do not play La Terrible Affaire Bambell. If you’re in the south of France and you seek something unique that might shift your perspective on what an escape room can be, then Heyou Escape’s first outing is a must-play.
Who is this for?
- Horror fiends
- Adventure seekers
- Story seekers
- Players with at least some experience
Why play?
- Frights
- Worldbuilding
- Thought-provoking conclusion
Story
We were new police recruits on a risky first assignment. Our sergeant had tasked us with investigating the apartment of a suspected serial killer.
This man had been monitored by police for some time; they were confident that this was the guy. We need to inspect his residence to determine if he was the killer and how many people he had murdered.
There were two catches:
- He had a photographic memory. We had to put everything back exactly as we had found it. Because…
- He could return to his home while we were investigating. If he returned, we had to hide.
Given the dangers, our sergeant would be on the radio supporting us the entire time.
Setting
Heyou Escape led us to an apartment in a real apartment building. En route, he improvisationally melded the real life environment with the game world.
Once our sergeant had “picked the lock” to the apartment, he left us in a dark, creepy living room lit only by a few flashlights (that were chained to the wall).
Gameplay
Heyou Escape’s La Terrible Affaire Bambell was an unusual theatrical horror escape room with a higher level of difficulty (more on that in the analysis).
Core gameplay revolved around searching, making connections, and enduring the tension.
Analysis
➕ La Terrible Affaire Bambell was unique. Its story, rules, and approach to gameplay were unlike anything we’d encountered in more than 650 escape rooms.
➕ Heyou Escape established their story and world by integrating the real world into the experience. This was brilliant and immersive.
❓ La Terrible Affaire Bambell was scary. This was the first game that we had ever played where one of our teammates quit in the middle of the game (and no, that wasn’t Lisa!). Heyou Escape told us that 30% of teams have at least one player abandon due to fear. Whether this is amazing or terrible is up to you.
➕ Heyou Escape introduced a game mechanic that I spent more than half of the game thinking was stupid… until it turned into my favorite aspect of the game. I cannot say more without ruining it.
➕/➖ The mediocre puzzles only worked because of the heavy gamemaster involvement (which was well integrated into the game). That being said, the puzzles were never the reason to play La Terrible Affaire Bambell.
➕/➖ The set was creepy. It established the right tone, but it didn’t look incredible. It also lacked believable hiding places (which really were critical to this narrative).
➕/➖ The hiding from the serial killer was intense even if I couldn’t believe that we were effectively hiding ourselves from the killer.
➕ The actor/ gamemastering was fantastic. It made this world feel real, even when we could see the seams. We further commend Heyou Escape for delivering all the dialogue in English. (We later received a behind the scenes glimpse that demonstrated just how hard the staff had to work to make this crazy experience work.)
➖ The ending came too late… or the climax came a little too early. By the time that La Terrible Affaire Bambell had come to a conclusion, the story had begun to unravel.
➕ Heyou Escape left us with an interesting question about the game… and the more I thought about it that evening over dinner and wine… the more I appreciated the uniqueness of La Terrible Affaire Bambell.
Tips For Visiting
- This is truly a horror game. Be prepared to be scared.
- Players need to be fairly mobile.
Book your hour with Heyou Escape’s La Terrible Affaire Bambell, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
