Room Escape Artist

Extraction is one of the best escape rooms around Melbourne, Australia. Here are our recommendations for great escape rooms in the Melbourne area.

Et tu, ET?

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Date Played: September 8, 2024

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

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $49-69 AUD per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players must crawl and climb stairs

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Curium Experience’s reputation preceded them, largely due to their prevalence on social media. Prior to playing Extraction, I crossed paths with multiple locals, some of whom hadn’t even yet played Extraction themselves yet, who excitedly described memorable snapshots of the game that they’d seen on TikTok or heard about from friends.

In an era where many escape rooms around the world don’t allow phones into their games, this level of quality user-generated content and organic marketing is a massive win in and of itself. Extraction was designed around varied environments and interactions that delivered a series of short, punchy dopamine hits and that looked good on camera. Getting “spoiled” on these sorts of interactions just makes you want to experience them yourself even more. (But don’t worry, I won’t include any such spoilers in this review!)

Extraction was big and bold, with a high level of production quality — especially relative to just about any other game in the Melbourne escape room scene. Built in a large warehouse, they had a lot of space to work with, and they used it well.

Our experience started off strongly in The Curium Society’s alluring wood-paneled clubhouse. The Latin motto on their seal, “custodes cognitionis,” translates to the phrase “guardians of knowledge.” As The Curium Experience opens up more games, this Society framing will continue to serve as a unifying overworld.

The specific mission presented in Extraction was of the extraterrestrial variety. The puzzles were fun and well clued, the transitions included some neat surprises, and the story delivered on its core premise. The game flowed smoothly, and we enjoyed ourselves throughout. And yet, given the space, skills, and resources that The Curium Experience clearly had at their disposal, I wanted even more out Extraction. The framing premise of The Curium Society was compelling, yet it was arguably more interesting than many of this game’s contents. The “guardians of knowledge” ethos didn’t particularly translate into the experience itself; my experience felt exciting but also somewhat hollow. Extraction wowed with its breadth, but some more depth and meaningful emotional stakes could have gone a long way in letting this experience live up to its full potential.

As a high-budget take on a classic escape room formula, The Curium Experience’s Extraction is in a league of its own in Melbourne. This experience is a stellar calling card for the escape room industry, and I would easily recommend it to first-time players and itinerant enthusiasts alike.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Adventure seekers
• Scenery snobs
• Any experience level

Why play?

• A big, exciting environment
• A plethora of puzzles
• Aliens?!?

Story

We snuck into Area 51 to retrieve an item of great value on behalf of The Curium Society.

Setting

Extraction took place in a government research facility in New Mexico. Replete with high-tech labs and patriotic military operations, the environment was sprawling and realistic.

Gameplay

The Curium Experience’s Extraction was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around making connections and solving puzzles.

Analysis

➕ Extraction demonstrated an impressive level of production design throughout. Built within an actual warehouse, this Area 51 hangar used its height and space to its advantage, especially in its transitions.

➕ I loved the lobby of The Curium Experience: a cloak-and-dagger clubroom of “The Curium Society.” Wood-paneled and mysterious, it was a modern and playful take on a classic adventurers’ guild of bygone times.

➕ A magical portal was utterly delightful. It looked great, provided a dynamic show, and prompted an impressive transition.

➖  Our core adventure first took us to a rather mundane office. This transition felt like going in exactly the wrong direction, from sumptuous wonder to the plainly mundane. Consequently, much of the pre-game effort to establish a certain special vibe felt underutilized.

➕/➖ Extraction‘s puzzle design was consistently engaging, fun, and well clued. However, given the scale of the set, some of our interactions felt comparatively small within the space.

➖ As an American player, I found a rough political stereotype to be more embarrassing than amusing, especially in light of recent and ongoing events. Maybe this was realistic, or maybe it felt lower stakes when Extraction first opened in 2022, but it was frankly disappointing and depressing to witness this sort of humor in the context of a high-tech scientific research facility. Conversely, some other small gags and bits of office humor made us laugh, yet they were barely developed past the moments in which they were presented.

➕/➖ We instantly formed a simple, wholesome connection with a character. It was cute and nicely crafted, with some visually alluring features. Yet, lacking a name, an identity, or any deeper interactivity, there was a missed opportunity to turn this character into an unforgettable friend.

➕ The more “instagrammable” moments through Extraction were joyful. They were gimmicks, but they were fun, well-implemented gimmicks.

➕ The experience exited into a cozy lounge and bar area, providing a thematically hospitable space for a post-game debrief.

➕/❓ Extraction took a thoughtful approach to a pipelined game structure, ensuring that all teams hit the high points and reach the end while also increasing The Curium Experience’s overall throughput for this rather sprawling game. My team likely saw the optimal version of the gameplay: even with 3 players, we puzzled fast enough to get to see all possible content. As such, it’s hard to comment on how our experience would have felt had we been skipped over puzzles or pushed ahead while we were still mid-solve, and your mileage may vary.

Tips For Visiting

• We enjoyed lunch at Into Coffee, a 7-minute walk from The Curium Experience.

Book your hour with The Curium Experience’s Extraction, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: The Curium Experience comped our tickets for this game.