Room Escape Artist

Pray is one of the best escape rooms in The Netherlands. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms in The Netherlands.

Funeral Rearrangements ⚰️

Location:  Katwijk, Netherlands

Date Played: February 26, 2024

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

Duration: 80 minutes

Price: €189.95 per team

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players must climb and crawl

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Escape Room Katwijk’s Pray concocted an exquisite world around a quirky premise. On the surface, this experience included many classic religious horror tropes, yet it took them in a wildly unexpected direction.

Like many great escape rooms, Pray was markedly greater than the sum of its parts. It stood out not for any individual puzzle, but for the transportive world that it smoothly guided us through. Pray had an impressive dynamic range. Many parts were intimidating or grim, but others were enchanting, funny, absurd, and even punny.

At the center of the narrative, a character dealt with a self-induced medical condition that provided an odd yet believable justification for their murderous tendencies. My team appreciated the clear character motivations and the unique story. However, this also seemed like a somewhat strange choice in post-COVID times, and the premise may land differently for players of different backgrounds.

While Pray has overwhelmingly become the standout at Escape Room Katwijk, it built directly on the strengths of their two older games — Bella Ciao and Here I Am — which are each regional standouts in their own right and should not be overlooked. Each paid tribute to a different TV show: Bella Ciao to Money Heist, and Here I Am to Locked Up. Both games featured a high density of creative puzzles and some unforgettable transitions. I was especially impressed by Here I Am for presenting a compellingly nostalgic and adventurous take on a prison escape, a theme that I usually find anywhere from boring to offensive.

Across their 3 experiences, Escape Room Katwijk has leveled up in almost all dimensions, crafting increasingly detailed and atmospheric environments, polishing their special effects, and pushing the theatrics to grand new levels. With Pray, Escape Room Katwijk broke from their previous mold and embraced a wholly original story, though there was an opportunity to better match the “why” in some of the gameplay. Nevertheless, Pray was bold, impressive, and polished. This is a special experience worth traveling to play.

Who is this for?

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

Why play?

• An awe-inspiring world to explore
• Smooth gameplay
• A unique place to pray

Story

We visited a funeral home to attend a private memorial service for a family member.

Setting

Pray opened in a solemn funeral parlor, starkly decorated with a surplus of wooden crosses. Beyond this, Escape Room Katwijk built a detailed and unexpected world.

Gameplay

Escape Room Katwijk’s Pray was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around making connections, solving puzzles, and praying.

Analysis

➕ Amidst the high density of religious horror in the Netherlands, Pray stood out for a story that was absurd yet also internally consistent. Escape Room Katwijk committed to their unusual premise and built a robust world around it.

➕ Escape Room Katwijk welcomed us into the world of Pray with a compelling cold start. Before the experience began, they also offered self-serve refreshments and a restroom in a lobby with a separate entrance, striking a nice balance between hospitality and immersion.

➕ The set design was stunning and sprawling, enhanced by dynamic lighting and sound design. Furthermore, our navigation of the space was positively disorienting, and a central transition gave me goosebumps.

➕ An over-the-top reveal established high expectations for what was to come…. and Pray more than delivered in the following acts.

➕ The gameplay in Pray flowed well, with some satisfying, layered puzzles in the mix. The puzzles served as a vehicle for exploration and discovery.

➖ Not all puzzles were made equal, and one puzzle in particular counted for less than the rest. While it was effective in gatekeeping us from a new area and provided space and time for an important scene to play out, it didn’t make sense either in mechanic or physical placement.

➕ A creatively situated communication puzzle put a unique spin on a classic game.

➖ While emerging from a scene in an enclosed space, an unlocked door required more force than expected to open.

➕/❓ Pray found a way to make the story personal without overly antagonizing any individual player. That said, the intensity — both in scare level and subject matter — may vary from actor to actor and team to team.

➖ Partly due to a one-off technical malfunction, the finale didn’t fully land for us. On paper, it was a reasonable ending to the story. In practice, it felt abrupt, showed too much, and removed us from the center of the action. One effect seemed flashy for no apparent reason.

➕ Many action-oriented escape rooms end on the climax, not providing time to process what just happened before breaking the immersion. Pray largely sidestepped this problem by adding on a clever moment of re-exploration and comedic relief. We appreciated the small ways in which the experience reinforced its tonal range and never took itself too seriously.

Tips For Visiting

• There was a parking lot.
• Escape Room Katwijk offers self-service refreshments in their lobbies.
• Review our tips for playing escape rooms with actors. The actor is a core part of the experience in Pray. However, if this would prevent you from playing altogether, Escape Room Katwijk notes that if you would like to play without an actor, you can email them in advance.

Book your hour with Escape Room Katwijk’s Pray, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.