Countdown Live – Krampus Escape Room
“Krampus Escape is a festive and fun escape room with puzzles that build a narrative and further reinforce the evocative atmosphere”
You are hired to investigate a series of child abductions. Your search brings you to an oddly festive doorway, adorned with bright Christmas lights, a “Joy” doormat, and a weathered Krampus mask. The owner of the house will be home in about an hour–well actually, exactly an hour–so you enter with haste. The apartment is dark, illuminated only by an old television screen and the lights of a small Christmas tree, and it smells oddly of holiday cookies. Paintings of Krampus hang on the walls and a large cabinet is chained up with a menacing lock shaped like a large beast. The idea creeps into your head that the owner may be more myth than man. You begin your search, but can you discover what’s been happening to the neighborhood children and escape with your life?
The Krampus Escape Game is a holiday themed escape room by Countdown Live Escape Games that opened last year, but has since been enhanced for the upcoming season. It allows up to six players and boasts a difficult 20% escape rate.
Krampus Escape excels in it’s theme, atmosphere, and immersion. Entering the room transports you to a dark, yet festive apartment–complete with puzzles that fit within the narrative. As one first enters the room, the puzzles and props are playful, almost juvenile. Sitting under the tree is a box, and upon opening it, a fake spider springs towards your face. A whiteboard on a table with a marker, but try using it and the marker will actually shock you. Search the room and find custom Krampus Christmas cards recounting the gifts from “The Twelve Days of Krampus.” Yet, as you progress, the puzzles become darker and more sinister. You will learn what attrocities each kid committed and the ultimate fate of each child. But even after finding the children, it’s not over–a late-game change reveals the true darkness of the room.
The attention to detail is also impressive. The television that displays your remaining time will be interrupted by news reports on the missing children. Furthermore, sounds are played at key points in the room to elicit fear and distract the players. Finally, the room felt cohesive and the narrative was clear as you uncovered more of the room.
Red herrings can be utilized to complicate puzzles and throw off players. And while Krampus Escape utilizes these tactics well, there was an area of the game that seemed to be underutilized. This section garnered a majority of our attention and seemed out of place. Improving this section could further tie the puzzles into the narrative and elevate the theme even further.
Overall, Krampus Escape is a festive and fun escape room with puzzles that build a narrative and further reinforce the evocative atmosphere that the room presents. It is difficult, but not unfair, and made for a thoroughly entertaining evening. Gather five of your bravest friends and prepare to be immersed in sinister holiday cheer!
Click for more information on Countdown Live Escape Games or the Krampus Escape Room.
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