Room Escape Artist

A dance with death

Location: Sunnyvale, CA

Date Played: April 26, 2024

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 90 minutes

Price: $50-70 per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players must climb

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Haunting at Haruka High featured an attractive set, memorable effects, and generally satisfying puzzles. It continued Omescape Sunnyvale’s signature style of bold environmental storytelling and high build quality, while leaning more into the spooky than the playful.

The Bay Area has very few horror escape rooms, escape rooms with actors, or immersive horror experiences on the whole. As such, Haunting at Haruka High filled an important niche. It was scary in moments but never terrifying. Some players may find Omescape Sunnyvale’s other horror offering, The Apartment Next Door, to be as or more scary due to its pitch darkness.

On one hand, Haunting at Haruka High offered a compellingly accessible approach to horror. Heightened moments were exciting without being prohibitively intense. There was a focus on narrative and worldbuilding.

On the other hand, it felt as though Omescape Sunnyvale couldn’t quite make up their minds on just how scary they wanted Haunting at Haruka High to be, resulting in a less fully developed and less cohesive experience relative to many of their other recent blockbusters, like Robotopia, Undercooked, Midnight in Hong Kong, and Chaos in the Galleria. The story in Haunting at Haruka High dragged on in parts, our overarching stakes were muddled, and it was unclear whether certain elements were even intended to scare us. In particular, a character in our game alternated between causing mild jump scares and pointing us in the right direction, and we left the game somewhat confused as to whether the spirits were more there to terrify or to assist us.

Haunting at Haruka High would nevertheless be a tremendous standout at nearly any other escape room facility in the country. If you make the pilgrimage to the ever-expanding escape room destination of Omescape Sunnyvale and are looking for something a bit spookier, give Haunting at Haruka High a play.

Who is this for?

• Scenery snobs
• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Story seekers
• Horror fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• A beautiful set
• Spooky effects

Story

We visited the Haruka High School for Girls, which was known to be haunted since the mysterious death of one of its star students. If we could figure out what happened to her, perhaps we could break the curse.

Setting

Haunting at Haruka High took place in an abandoned girls’ high school in Japan. Yellow police tape cautioned us from breaching the rustic wooden entrance. Inside, the building was frozen in time, with students’ possessions, signage, and artwork all in place, ready for the next school day.

Gameplay

Omescape Sunnyvale’s Haunting at Haruka High was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles and communicating.

Analysis

➕ Haunting at Haruka High pushed the adventure and theatrics while pulling back slightly on the puzzling from many of Omescape Sunnyvale’s other experiences. The set design was phenomenally detailed and varied. It just kept on going.

➕/➖ A fairly complex narrative involved multiple characters and dynamic interpersonal relationships. While the setup and ingredients were all there, the story ultimately was bloated and convoluted. Much of the writing dragged on, there was an awkward amount of delay between audio cues in some longer scenes, and a certain character could have been better developed leading into a revelation.

➖ The pre-game briefing room was unevenly designed, with a baffling mix of intricate and makeshift elements. Especially compared to the level of detail and polish throughout the actual set, this unfinished environment set the wrong expectations. Our team also encountered multiple technical issues while watching the intro video which might have dampened our experience more had we not previously established a high level of confidence in Omescape Sunnyvale’s experiences.

➕ We were immediately drawn in by some tiny details that expanded the world in a clever way.

➕ An over-the-top special effect totally rocked. Within the context of Omescape Sunnyvale’s canon, it’s impressive to witness all the methods by which they continue to make their experiences more dynamic and adventurous.

➕ /➖ Wooden doors were satisfyingly heavy and creaky. However, they were also often quite sticky and required some force to open, making us repeatedly question whether they’d actually unlocked.

➕ The gameplay featured multiple thoughtfully designed solo moments which momentarily amped up the intensity and immersion for a single player. Our gamemaster helped to ensure that these moments were spread out across our team. To note, none of these scenes were prohibitively scarier than the rest of the game.

➕ At its best, the gameplay was effortlessly integrated with the environment, with the story, and with elements of Japanese culture. Even simple interactions had the potential to carry great meaning. As the game progressed, the puzzles became increasingly layered, requiring substantial observation and communication.

➖ We wanted much more out of a moving interaction. It lacked intermediate feedback, and while broadly thematic, it set the wrong tone with its specific implementation.

➕ A traditional recreation of a famous internet meme was delightful.

➕/➖ We enjoyed the theming of a unique input, but it was partially unreliable.

➕ Omescape Sunnyvale set up a fantastic post-game photo op, utilizing the most photogenic part of the set and providing thematic costumes.

Tips For Visiting

• Content warnings: suicide, bullying, disturbing imagery
• There is a parking lot.

Book your session with Omescape Sunnyvale’s Haunting at Haruka High, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Omescape Sunnyvale comped our tickets for this game.

Haunting at Haruka High will be featured on our upcoming Escape Immerse Explore Tour to the San Francisco Bay Area in October 2024. Learn more about our escape room tours and buy tickets here.

If you’ve enjoyed this game, check out our interview with creator Sarah Zhang on REPOD: