Room Escape Artist

The Possession is one of the best escape rooms near Barcelona. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms near Barcelona, Spain.

Stay in the light

Location:  Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Spain (outside of Barcelona)

Date Played: April 23, 2024

Team size: 2-6; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 80-100 minutes

Price: from €92 per team for teams of 2 to €156 per team for teams of 6

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  The game includes crawling, getting in an enclosed space, flashing lights, and loud noises.

Mess Meter:  🧹 (out of 5)

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock (we think)

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

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

REA Reaction

Throughout our trip to Spain, gamemasters kept asking us if The Possession was on our itinerary. The question was immediately followed up by a statement along the lines of: “It has the best intro.”

I can hereby confirm that it has a strong intro… although it would have probably been a bit better for players who weren’t traveling with all of their belongings.

Beyond an iconic intro, The Possession was essentially a giant fetch quest within a haunted house. We found the bulk of the gameplay paper thin and repetitive. We found the experience of traversing The Possession repetitive.

Additionally, that traversal came with a hazard: there were too many objects on the floor in the key movement paths. Too many cabinet doors could be opened into the walkway. Form needs to follow function and when a game involves large amounts of movement in low light, then the space should be designed to do so safely. The Possession fell short in this regard.

In the end, we found ourselves trying to evaluate the question: If we loved the first few minutes of a game, is that enough? I’m certain that for some, maybe even many, the answer is “yes.” For me, I look back on The Possession and there is a massive amount of time that homogenized into a blob of repetition. By the time we reached our hotel later that night, I truly could not chart the flow of the game because it was that repetitive… But I will remember that intro… and that’s going to have to be enough.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Scenery snobs
• Horror fans
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• A very strong intro
• Great lighting

Story

We really weren’t sure what the story was in The Possession, but we do know that it had a fairly extensive story, at least on paper. It was difficult to follow, and reconciling it with the story on Arcanum Escape Rooms’ website added more confusion for us.

The important part was that a house was haunted, and we were hired to do something about it.

Setting

The Possession was extremely dark. Arcanum Escape Rooms used light in very specific ways to control the flow of play.

We were in an old home. The rooms were lightly furnished, with minimal, spooky decor, and not a lot of character to anchor us to a time or place. The darkness made it difficult to fully appreciate the level of detail that was or wasn’t present in any given portion of The Possession.

Gameplay

Arcanum Escape Rooms’ The Possession was a horror escape room.

It had a low level of difficulty. The game guided us to exactly where we needed to be and what we needed to solve. That said, if you’re too scared to solve, it won’t feel easy.

Core gameplay was a series of fetch quests woven together by light puzzle solving. We traversed the space a lot.

Analysis

➕/➖ The introduction was dramatic and the acting was phenomenal. It was a cold start. We stepped out of bright sunlight into a dark set and immediately met a character who needed our help. (We struggled to fully appreciate the introduction because we had heavy backpacks to stow away and not enough room to maneuver, which was exacerbated by the darkness, but this was on us. Spanish players come prepared for this type of opener.)

➕ The rules of play were clear: stick together and follow the light. We always knew what to do, and where to go, even if we were apprehensive about doing so. Arcanum Escape Rooms did a great job of maintaining their own rules.

➕ The Possession used lighting and sound well to guide us.

➖ That said, the sound levels were off. The game was generally too loud, but the introduction scene was too quiet, especially considering the background noise.

➕ The performers in The Possession were physically adept, and used their talents well.

➖ The space traversal was sometimes gratuitous. We’d go back and forth to pick up objects… and be jump scared, of course, but not in a novel way.

➖ It was too easy to get hurt as we were chased through tight spaces and narrow hallways. We were constantly closing drawers and cabinets – anything that we might later bump into – but still one player got cut pretty badly on a sharp, unprotected maglock.

➕ The puzzles were pretty basic, but they solved cleanly. They weren’t the point.

➖ Many of the puzzles resolved to 4-digit numbers. We would have appreciated spotlighting on the locks, especially considering how dark the set was.

➖ One device had very specific printed instructions for use. We wished this had been a bit more intuitive, as reading how to work it pulled us out of the gameworld right as the game was approaching the finale.

➕ While The Possession mostly kept us together, it shined in the solo moments: one telegraphed early and one a surprising reveal, enhanced by excellent misdirection. (A note to the more cautious players: You can’t choose who goes solo in The Possession. The game chooses you.)

➖ We never really understood the plot and we weren’t sure who the characters were. It wasn’t clear how they related to one another or why they were taking the actions that they were.

Tips For Visiting

• There is street parking nearby, but leave time to find a spot.
• The game is available in Spanish, Catalan, and English (with prior notice).

Book your session with Arcanum Escape Rooms’ The Possession, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.