Bite the Fly - Bites Motel [Review]

Bites Motel is one of the best escape rooms in Madrid, Spain. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms in Madrid.

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Location: Madrid, Spain

Date Played: April 25, 2024

Team size: 2-8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 101 minutes

Price: from €120 per team for teams of 2 or 3 to €208 per team for teams of 8

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: This game includes crawling and stairs.

Mess Meter: 🧹 (out of 5)

Emergency Exit Rating: [F] No Emergency Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

For more on our trip to Spain, here’s our field report.

REA Reaction

Bites Motel presented a novel take on Psycho, telling its own story using the vibe of the classic film (and subsequent remakes).

Even before the game began, Bite the Fly made a big first impression with the motel set, complete with an exterior that was so convincing that it was possible to forget that we were indoors… and it was daytime.

Additionally, Bites Motel had some of the stronger puzzles that we’d seen in Spain. However, we felt that the puzzles were less integrated into the narrative than we were expecting for a game that had such a big focus on story. We also found ourselves wishing that the incredible environment was used more thoroughly in the game’s design.

Finally, we played the less intense version of Bites Motel by accident (because we got confused while booking). Initially we were disappointed, but in the end, we were satisfied with the reduced horror in this particular game. The experience worked and didn’t feel watered down. I cannot say which is the “right” way to play Bites Motel, only that we enjoyed the results of our misunderstanding.

Overall, Bites Motel was a beautiful, worthy game that we thoroughly enjoyed, even if there were times where we wanted just a bit more from it. I highly recommend checking out Bite the Fly if you are visiting Madrid.

Who is this for?

Adventure seekers
Story seekers
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
Psycho fans
Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

An incredible motel set
Compelling actor interactions
Strong puzzle play

Story

A new roadside motel had opened in the town of Bite the Fly. We decided to check it out. The manager seemed a little strange, but that didn’t stop us.

Setting

As we walked up to the motel, we admired the beautiful town of Bite the Fly. The motel looked the part: one floor, with basic doors spaced along the side of the building.

The manager and his mother lived in a home on the property. It was dimly lit, but nicely decorated and felt lived in.

Gameplay

Bite the Fly’s Bites Motel was a horror escape room.

Considering the scare factor, it was a puzzley game. The puzzles required searching, observing, and communication. There were some more complex, layered puzzles.

We accidentally booked this game on the “lesser” horror mode, but the Bites Motel was a substantive enough puzzle game to be wholly satisfying without the threat of a jump scare at every turn. I’m sure the scarier version would have been more challenging, with our concentration split between scares and puzzles.

Analysis

➕ The onboarding was fully in world (in the Spanish tradition of cold starts) and it worked perfectly for the experience. The hotel manager greeted us and we paid (for our motel room) and stored our belongings (in our motel room). Even the delivery of rules fit with the character and the place.

➕ /➖ Some of the scenic design was decadent, especially in the opening moments of the experience. The place really came to life. It was amazing. We were disappointed such construction was almost entirely for world-building rather than gameplay. While the later sets looked pretty good, they didn’t stand up to the opener.

➖ In the later segments, there were opportunities for fit and finish, for example better sanding.

➕ The hotel manager was performed brilliantly. He was the perfect amount creepy and uncomfortable, but not terrifying.

➕ /➖ With multiple layered puzzles, Bites Motel was quite puzzley for a horror game. A number of early puzzles made use of common household technology, much of which was dated, which felt right. Some of the puzzles established the characters who inhabited this space, and revealed their story. Other puzzles were just escape room puzzles.

➕ /➖ Bites Motel took an absurd twist partway through. Rather than spread gossip, I’ll just say, it was hilarious. However, we felt like the game dragged us through the puzzles in this segment, which were under-clued.

➖ The puzzle quality deteriorated in the late-game. One whole scene was devoted to a search puzzle. The next scene just didn’t make any sense… not the scenery and not the puzzle. Plus the sound was either broken or deliberately unbearable.

➕ /➖Bites Motel varied the gameplay with an interactive puzzle where we needed stealth. We loved the premise and the setting, but as good as the actor was, the set up was just a little too obvious to be believable… even if we’d accomplished this well (which we did not.)

➕ Bite the Fly designed a couple of extremely satisfying ahas, born out of the onboarding, the actor, and the general flow of the experience.