I can’t remember…
Location: San Jose, CA
Date Played: November 5, 2021
Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: from $40 per player for 2 players down to $30 per player for 6 players
Ticketing: Private
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
Cubicescape’s Memento was an intimate, narrative-centric escape room which made me feel things.
I volunteered to represent the main character, and my teammates became my subconscious. While this distinction only affected a few small moments of the game, these moments had a strong framing effect on the rest of the experience. As the game progressed, I was impressed by how Memento told a vivid story through a first-person perspective — somewhat of a rarity amongst escape rooms.
As the room progressed, fragments of my forgotten memories pieced together into something bigger, ending with a sense of nostalgic — yet somewhat hopeful — gloom. Whereas most escape rooms end in jubilant victory, I actually found it refreshing to end feeling something I hadn’t fully expected when the room started. While I found some narrative details of this ending didn’t fully culturally translate, the underlying emotions still came through strongly.
Memento is not for everyone. If you’re allergic to reading in escape rooms, you might want to skip this one. But for those looking for an escape room strong on narrative, strong on emotions, and which will lead to an interesting, educational, and potentially polarizing post-game debrief, I recommend giving Memento a play.
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