Room Escape Artist

Harbor Hotel is one of Belgium’s best escape rooms. Here are our other escape room recommendations in the area.

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Location:  Ranst, Belgium

Date Played: June 21, 2024

Team Size: 3-6; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 90 minutes

Price: €219.50 for 2, 3 or 4 players. €19.50 per additional player.

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  Players must be able to crawl; at least one player must be able to climb a short flight of stairs

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Harbor Hotel was an adrenaline-driven game with a polished, immersive set and a compelling, sinister storyline. The experience was well paced with a strong introduction and smooth puzzle flow, intermixed with well-timed actor interactions that ultimately brought the story to a satisfying conclusion.

Gameplay featured several enjoyable puzzles, including one unexpected larger-scale interaction, along with a moment that my team found particularly hilarious. These balanced out a couple of game elements that became tedious and clunky.

Harbor Hotel was a physical game that required a lot of movement throughout the space, including a fair amount of crawling. I found the repeated crawling difficult as the game went on, and I would have greatly appreciated having a bypass option.

I would describe Harbor Hotel as an approachable horror game. There were definitely moments that made us jump, and the overall vibe was eerie and suspenseful, but the horror elements weren’t overbearing and they greatly added to the story. Players who strongly dislike horror of any kind may feel differently.

Overall, Harbor Hotel was a great game and it’s definitely one to add to your list if you’re a fan of spooky mystery stories.

Who is this for?

• Horror fans
• Mystery lovers
• Adventure seekers
• Story seekers
• Scenery snobs
• Players who enjoy (or don’t mind) playing with actors
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• Excellent set design and immersion
• Compelling storyline
• Well-paced, adrenaline-filled adventure

Story

After the untimely death of his mother, a young man has assumed the role of running the peculiar Harbor Hotel, where a dark secret lives. Following in the footsteps of this young man, our team had to uncover the hotel’s mysteries and discover the truth about what had really taken place within its walls.

Setting

TheStart did an excellent job achieving the aesthetic of a creepy old hotel. The gamespace was well-designed from floor to ceiling and took us to some interesting places as the game went on.

Gameplay

TheStart’s Harbor Hotel was a standard horror-themed escape room with a moderate level of difficulty (potentially exacerbated by a player’s comfort level with eerie surroundings).

Core gameplay revolved around exploring the detailed gamespace, making connections, solving puzzles (ranging from simple to more layered) and interacting with/ avoiding the game’s actor.

Analysis

➕ The set design was outstanding from start to finish and was polished at every corner. It was fun to interact with and really brought the storyline to life.

➕ The storyline was simple, clear and compelling, and was well supported by strong acting (particularly at the conclusion).

➕ The puzzle flow was strong, with an approachable on-ramp and good progression of difficulty.

➕ The solution to one of the puzzles was pretty funny and it gave us a moment of comic relief amid the suspense of the game.

➖ One of the layered puzzles had a lot of steps and became tedious by the end. Since it didn’t give us any feedback as we were solving it, it was difficult to know if we were on the right track or would ultimately need to start the whole thing over again.

➕/➖ One piece of the set was unexpected and a lot of fun to solve. The mechanism we used to solve it was a bit finicky.

➕/➖ At the beginning of the game, we were provided with an item that would come into play later in the experience. While I greatly enjoyed this item on the occasions we used it, it was a bit bulky and clunky to carry throughout the game.

❓ Harbor Hotel has a strong horror element to it, and a player’s opinion on scary experiences will likely influence their enjoyment of this game. I happen to love horror games, and I thought it was great. I recommend having a mix of people on your team who enjoy some of the scarier interactions to balance out team members that would prefer not to engage.

❓ There was a lot of crawling in this game. It’s not really my thing, and I wish there would have been a bypass door, but it comes down to personal preference.

Tips For Visiting

• Parking is available on site and in nearby parking lots. Locations are listed on TheStart’s website. The drive out to Ranst was truly picturesque.
• Public transportation options are available.
• There are a few restaurants nearby along with a grocery store.

Book your game with TheStart’s Harbor Hotel, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.