“A vision into the future of what I want escape rooms to be.”

After 1,200 escape rooms, it certainly takes something remarkable to capture the #1 spot on David Spira’s list of favorite games. As he tells us in this episode, his favorite game shifts from  moment to moment, but in this particular moment, that game is The Alchemist, created by Francine Boon & Victor van Doorn of Sherlocked Escape Rooms in Amsterdam.

David had this to say about The Alchemist:

“It’s a wonder factory. It is filled with impossible moments and machines, and it made me weep with joy during the finale each time I watched it. I think I saw the finale three times when I came to visit. I just love this game and it feels like a vision into the future of what I want escape rooms to be.”

It’s not the first time that Sherlocked has created a game that has shaped the future of the escape room industry. Victor started playing escape rooms in 2012 when the industry was still in its infancy, and a few years later, he started Sherlocked, along with a few other partners. Sherlocked’s games The Architect and The Vault are noteworthy for the level of immersion they created at the time. They used actors and “cold starts” to truly create the feeling that players were in a movie. 

We can see the influence of Sherlocked throughout much of the escape room scene in The Netherlands today. Many of the games there make use of actors, with immersive onboarding. Additionally, many are set in historical buildings, just liked Sherlocked is. Victor and Francine are creative alchemists in their own right, combining their skillsets to create wondrous, magical games.

This is the season finale for Season 8 of Reality Escape Pod. Season 9 will launch in April. Meanwhile, we are excited to release some off-season content. Plus, keep an ear out for PG’s Playhouse, a new show launching this winter. If you want more content, we have over 100 episodes of the Bonus Aftershow available to Patreon Supporters, as well as our Spoilers Club, which offers in-depth coverage of iconic escape rooms. Thank you so much for supporting our show!

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: Morty App, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Morty

Morty is a free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.

Morty News:

• Morty is rolling out Instant Bookings directly via the app.
• Escape Room Owners can join the Morty Partner Program for in-app bookings.

Special Badge for REPOD listeners:

You can learn more at MortyApp.com/REPOD to sign up and get a special badge for our listeners. (This works for existing users too!)

Buzzshot

Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

COGS

COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:13 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 04:30 Origins
• 07:33 Victor and Francine’s Backgrounds
• 19:25 The Amsterdam Stock Exchange Building

• 22:21 Sponsor Break: Morty App, Discover And Track Escape Rooms
• 25:09 The Ambitious Build of The Alchemist

• 31:29 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
• 34:41 The Alchemist: Attention to Detail & Giving up your Phone
• 42:11 The Lost Cabinet

• 45:40 Collaboration With Ruud Kool of Diorama Games
• 49:02 Free-Climbing Buildings
• 50:57 Superpowers and Skillsets
• 57:39 Bonus Story: The Legendary Tenure of Sam

Leave us a voicemail

Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Sherlocked Escape Room Website 
• Mibo Island Website
• REA Reviews
  • The Vault
  • The Architect
  • The Lost Cabinet
  • The Alchemist
• Diorama Games Website

About Francine Boon & Victor van Doorn

Instagram: @sherlocked

Facebook: @getsherlocked

About Francine

Francine is a sociologist turned Mystery Maker. Ever since she was little, she created experiences for people: for birthdays, to process loss or break-ups, or just because. She never really knew this was a profession until 2019, when she joined Sherlocked to spearhead the company together with Victor. Ever since then, she’s made The Rijksmuseum Escape Game in 2019, guided the creation of multiple online games, city quests and home mysteries, does custom B2B design consulting and facilitation, and created The Alchemist together with Victor.

About Victor

Victor is a founder and the creative director of Sherlocked, which according to David Spira of Room Escape Artist, has been one of the 3 most influential companies from the early days of the European escape room scene.

Support REPOD

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Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission

There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon or Etsy after clicking into the links included in this post or backing us on Patreon.

The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.

The post The Wonder Factory: Francine Boon & Victor van Doorn of Sherlocked (REPOD S8E12) appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

Location: at Sherlocked in Amsterdam

Date Played: February 18, 2024

Team size: 2-4; we recommend 2

Duration: about 2 hours

Price: €249 per team

REA Reaction

In the months before I found escape rooms, I was playing The Room on iOS. All that I wanted was a real-life version of it.

Over the years we have played many escape rooms that were clearly influenced by The Room, but Sherlocked took that inspiration and made it real with The Lost Cabinet.

The Lost Cabinet was, on its own, a work of art. It was beautiful to look at and touch, and that was before we opened it up and started unraveling its secrets and its magic.

While it was played on a table, it was not a traditional tabletop escape room. It was a full, real-life escape room… that just happens to be small.

I don’t know how much money was invested in its creation, but I would bet Sherlocked spent more money developing this game than has been spent on many of the traditional escape rooms we’ve played over the years. That said, The Lost Cabinet was not high tech; it was high detail. In fact, it was an aggressively analog experience. It was tactile. It was real.

The Lost Cabinet is expensive to play and it is not for everyone. The experience is ideal for 2 – maybe 3 – players and it is not easy. If you are looking at these photos, you will know whether it’s singing to you. This was the close-up magic of escape rooms. It was not the grand illusion of The Alchemist. It was intimate, intricate, and impressive, but not bombastic. If you appreciate nuance, this might be your perfect onboarding into The Alchemist.

Who is this for?

• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Craftsmanship appreciators
• Mechanical puzzle solvers & puzzle box lovers
• Fans of The Room video game series
• Players who are gentle with delicate, bespoke objects
• Players with at least some experience

Why play?

• Beautiful, intricate artwork
• Exquisite construction
• An intimate story
• Moments of discovery

Story

With the night’s rare cosmic alignment, Lady Mary Sidney would attempt the ritual of Ascension, and we had a role to play.

Setup

The Lost Cabinet is offered a premium add-on to The Alchemist. The price above is in addition to tickets to The Alchemist. Players will first play The Lost Cabinet, and then transition seamlessly into The Alchemist.

We arrived at Sherlocked and were presented with a wooden box. It was up to us to unravel its secrets.

Gameplay

Sherlocked’s The Lost Cabinet was a “crate” experience. This describes an escape room that is contained in a crate, trunk, chest, or box that is too big to be reasonably shipped, so it isn’t quite a standard tabletop escape game. Similarly to tabletop games, the gameplay emerges from within the container, and is largely experienced upon a table.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, solving puzzles, and maneuvering components of the box.

Analysis

The Lost Cabinet was contained in a beautiful wooden box that unfolded as we solved. The design was intricate. The woodwork and metal work were spectacular.

The character building started before we received the box. Throughout the experience, we became more invested in the character as we learned more about her and her plight. It was light touch, but meaningful.

The painted artwork was exceptional too. These components were on weighty paper that fit the style of the experience.

There was a runbook (which we generally frown upon), but in The Lost Cabinet, we savored it. The art was beautiful and it felt like an artifact that belonged in this box. Given the size and scale of the experience, we could naturally regard a booklet upon the table, alongside the props.

The Lost Cabinet illuminated our way through different props that we uncovered, which then became the keys to impressive reveals.

This may have been a fluke in our game, but the box didn’t provide enough tools. We didn’t have what we needed to engage with one prop (some players surely would, but we did not), and needing to ask for it undermined an otherwise wonderful aha. The finale puzzle would also be quite challenging without a pen and paper. (Lisa did have these items on her, but others will likely be stalled asking for this just as the intensity ramps up.)

/？ This next point could be considered a spoiler. (click to expand)

We love the inclusion of a destructible , and in the case of a box-based experience, designed for connoisseurs of this game design medium, we believe it’s ok that it breaks one of our ground rules for this type of feature in an escape room. The cluing was abundantly clear and the moment landed. However, it is a risk in a game as delicate as this one.

The results of one puzzle were not distinct enough for us to be confident in our solution. We saw a rainbow of choice. It worked conceptually, but not practically.

The highlights of any box-based escape game are the moments of discovery. In The Lost Cabinet we continually experienced these eureka moments as we opened up more of the experience.

In the finale we constructed an impressive mechanical device, from which we derived essential information. The puzzle that relied on this prop was challenging (in a “patting your head and rubbing your belly” way) but satisfying. We felt accomplished when we solved this, and the momentum carried into the seamless transition between The Lost Cabinet and The Alchemist.

Book your experience with Sherlocked’s The Lost Cabinet, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

To book, email lostcabinet@sherlocked.nl and write in your email that you read this review. Seriously. This isn’t an experience you can just book. You need to know to ask for it.

Disclosure: Sherlocked comped our experience.

Reality Escape Pod

Be sure to listen to our conversation with Sherlocked founders, Francine Boon and Victor van Doorn during Season 8, Episode 12 of the Reality Escape Pod.

If you enjoyed this review, read our interview with Barry Meade, founding member of Fireproof Studios and one of the co-creators of The Room.

The post Sherlocked – The Lost Cabinet [Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

Their RECON talk is Building Impossible Machines: Practical lessons for managing contractors through the creation of impractical things.

They are excited to share wisdom gained on their journey building The Alchemist, where they’ve achieved great magic, but only because they learned how to wield their wands.

This talk is about the business side of making creative works.

About Francine

Francine is a sociologist turned Mystery Maker. Ever since she was little, she created experiences for people: for birthdays, to process loss or break-ups, or just because. She never really knew this was a profession until 2019, when she joined Sherlocked to spearhead the company together with Victor. Ever since then, she’s made The Rijksmuseum Escape Game in 2019, guided the creation of multiple online games, city quests and home mysteries, does custom B2B design consulting and facilitation, and created The Alchemist together with Victor.

About Victor

Victor is a founder and the creative director of Sherlocked, which according to David Spira of Room Escape Artist, has been one of the 3 most influential companies from the early days of the European escape room scene.

Having just spent 12% of his life on the creation of their opus The Alchemist together with Francine, Victor is looking forward to “dialing things down from eleven a tad.” However, at the same time, there are rumors of Sherlocked plotting their next adventure already, so by the time RECON hits, we’ll see just how dialed down things really got…

The post RECON 24 Speaker Announcement: Francine Boon & Victor van Doorn of Sherlocked appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

Transcendent

Location:  Amsterdam, Netherlands

Date Played: February 18, 2024

Team size: 4-6; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 90 minutes

Price: from €35 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: The Alchemist takes place on the third floor of a historic, listed building in the heart of Amsterdam. There is no elevator in this wing of the building, so please be advised that you will have to walk up 56 steps of stairs for it. Once inside, there are also stairs as part of the adventure.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

As I stood in the finale of The Alchemist, I came to the realization that this is the embodiment of the escape room I want to experience. My eyes welled up because it was a place that I didn’t want to leave.

The team at Sherlocked spent years designing and building magnificent props and a beautiful world. It came together in an environment that filled us with joy and wonder. After the game, I was chatting with Dan Egnor, and he pointed out that so many of the world’s best escape rooms take place in impressive environments… that nobody actually wants to spend time in. Sherlocked made the unorthodox decision to create a different style of world, one so inviting that you could choose to get married in it.

There’s a dominant aesthetic in the Dutch escape room scene at the moment. It is grim, dark, and impeccably executed. In these games, unbelievable things happen to us as players, and around us. We are powerless until we’ve endured. The Alchemist had some of the finest empowering moments that we’ve encountered in escape rooms. I can’t think of a time where I’ve felt more like the master of the domain in an escape room than I did in this game. And what’s even more magical: everyone in the room feels this strength together.

Sherlocked has been working on this game for a very long time and continues to iterate. We recognize that the experience we’re reviewing today is likely not the exact one you will play in the future. Regardless of any further iterations, The Alchemist is truly worth traveling across an ocean for. We hope to return to replay it, just to spend more time in its world.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Wonder seekers
• Tech aficionados
• Fans of The Room videogame series
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• A gorgeous, welcoming, mystical environment
• To feel like you’ve made magic happen
• A personalized, touching story
• To be awe-struck by the finale

Story

We’d been summoned to an alchemist’s laboratory to help them complete a ritual.

Setting

The Alchemist was set on the third floor of Beurs van Berlage, a historic stock exchange building in central Amsterdam.

The setting was surreal. A beautiful and majestic floor-to-ceiling, arced bookshelf drew our attention to the room’s centerpiece prop. As we played, the rest of the space unfolded in remarkable ways, providing new vantage points, and expanding the scope of the experience.

Gameplay

Sherlocked’s The Alchemist was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

That sentence undersells the experience, but is here to underscore that the gameplay was familiar.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, solving puzzles, and interacting with the props and the set.

Analysis

 The Alchemist was gorgeous. It was both majestic and intimate, all at once.

 The space was magical, and also mechanical. The set-based interactions transformed in the space. David likened The Alchemist to The Room video game in real life, a game that changed the trajectory of his life and had incredible impact on the escape room medium.

 The props responded to our actions, raising them a note. It’s no small feat to have an input mechanism also deliver a response like this; the design landed, elevating the puzzle solve.

 We connected with the story most through a puzzle that was personalized to the composition of our group. It gave our presence purpose, and further illustrated our goals and their meaning. This was one of the more complex puzzle sequences, combining different solutions into one whole. The payoff of this sequence is forever etched into our minds.

 Parts of the set would benefit from polish. Some rough edges showed. One central area, in particular, needed another coat of paint to be up to the design standards of the rest of the set. This set piece also suffered aesthetically from a ghost puzzle (although this did not confuse gameplay.) Additionally, electronics needed housing; we could see the wires.

 There were opportunities for additional scenic painting. Some areas of the set felt less designed.

 Sherlocked minded the details with deliberate lighting and a fitting soundtrack.

 The mechanisms for transporting us through the set were surprising and delightful.

We lost interest in one puzzle that felt more digital than tangible, and was quite challenging. My teammates waited eagerly for the solution, which promised a magical interaction, while I reasoned through the puzzle paths.

 In an experience called The Alchemist, we expected to do alchemy, and the alchemy did not disappoint. It was meaningful and entertaining. It gave great feedback.

 Throughout the second act of the game, we engineered the main components of the finale. These were tangibly satisfying, and also emotionally resonant. This sequence was punctuated by a huge interaction, almost gratuitously huge, except that the moment really landed, so I suppose it was, in fact, justifiable.

 The finale was captivating. It was magical, expansive, beautiful, and meaningful. We felt fulfilled. After our playthrough, we suggested a few minor changes to further elevate the moment this finale begins, but whether or not Sherlock implements these suggestions, it’s one of the most spectacular finales we’ve experienced in more than 1,100 games.

 We’re pretty outspoken about our dislike for escape rooms that ask us to lock up our phones. We feel more comfortable having them on our persons, and we have the self-discipline not to touch them during the escape game. At the start of the The Alchemist, however, we stood in front of a device that blended the historical setting with the modern times. It felt safe and of the experience, plus it offered charging. We surrendered our devices. That says something.

 The beautiful central bookcase was filled with Easter eggs from our community. Allow yourself some time to take in the details.

Reality Escape Pod

Be sure to listen to our conversation with Sherlocked founders, Francine Boon and Victor van Doorn during Season 8, Episode 12 of the Reality Escape Pod.

Tips For Visiting

• This game takes place in a historic building in the city center. It’s a short walk from Central Station and there are many public transit stops nearby.

Book your experience at Sherlocked’s The Alchemist, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Sherlocked comped our tickets for this game.

The post Sherlocked – The Alchemist [Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

Sherlocked offered Mibo Island as part of the Game Hall at RECON (August 22-23, 2021.)

Mibo Island is a 3D point-and-click game created by Sherlocked in Amsterdam.

Format

Style of Play:

• Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
• Play on demand
• 3D point-and-click

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: exactly 4 players

Play Time: about 60 minutes (significantly less for experienced puzzlers, but also, you can stick around in the virtual environment after solving the game)

Price: €25 per team of 4

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

You are little computer avatars that move around in a 3D space. In order to solve the puzzles, you need to move around, click things, and communicate with your teammates.

Hivemind Review Scale

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Matthew Stein’s Reaction

The Mibo platform is brimming with potential, and this is exactly the sort of web-based video chat environment I’ve been excitedly waiting to see enter the market. You enter a fantastical 3D virtual world as a robot avatar, with your live video as your robot’s “face.” You use intuitive mouse and keyboard controls to explore the world, with proximity-based audio (i.e. you can hear only the players close to you) and simple click-based object interactions. Mibo combines the best of 2D platforms like Gather and Topia with the feel of social VR to create a seamless, low-latency, user-friendly experience which I could see one day seriously challenging more commonly used video chat solutions.

Mibo Island brilliantly doubles as a robust tech demo and a beginner-friendly adventure that’ll appeal to both corporate audiences and escape room enthusiasts alike. Lightly puzzly, the game is chock full of “environmental ahas” – invigorating realizations about what actions and transformations are possible in a virtual world which would be impossible in a real-life environment. In this sense, the game makes exceptional use of the medium, smartly leaning into the zany, whimsical, and fantastical. The voice acting was perfect, and I had fun collecting hats.

I’m incredibly eager to see what more puzzly experiences Sherlocked creates using this tech in the hopefully near future, and I’d very highly recommend Mibo Island to any and every escape room and immersive theater enthusiast. Early adopters, pay attention – this is the future.

Joel Smileypeacefun Reaction

We were little computer avatars in a Wild West setting, trying to catch an evil A.I. that wanted to stop us.

At its best, the game turned the players into such fun avatars. Looking at each other was already a blast. It was easy to learn how to move around in the 3D game with the onramp provided. Communication and teamwork were the keys to solving most of the puzzles. Exploring the scenes was super cool, even exiting the game after we finished was great.

At its worst, the game is a bit short and easy. It feels more like a tech demo than a full game. It could be enhanced with more puzzle content.

I’m extremely intrigued to see what they do with this great system that has the potential for amazing puzzle games.

David Spira’s Reaction

This first Mibo Island game was a strong, beginner-friendly puzzle video game – and a wonderful introduction to a new and compelling video-gamified online chat system.

The first thing that struck me about Mibo Island was the design of the player avatars. We looked like old computers given life. The monitors displayed the webcams of each player. I loved the whimsical approach to displaying video.

As I began wandering the Mibo Island’s virtual world, the second thing that struck me was how incredibly well this ran – in a web browser – on my 6-year-old laptop. We never had to install any other software.

From a gameplay standpoint, Mibo Island had a smooth difficulty curve that felt deliberately designed to gently introduce players to an assortment of puzzle and challenge styles. It wasn’t a hard game, but it was fun.

Finally the playfulness of the experience was accentuated by the voice acting that ran through the entire game. For escape room insiders the vocal performance was by Nick Moran (former creative director of Time Run, currently Spectre and Vox).

Disclosure: Sherlocked provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.

The post Sherlocked – Mibo Island [Hivemind Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

Room Escape Artist reviewed the real-life version of this game in May of 2017 and awarded it a 2017 Golden Lock Award. This is a review of the online adaptation.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, mobile device

At least one teammate has to call a European number and use WhatsApp.

Recommended Team Size: 2-5

Play Time: 90 minutes

Price: €149 per team

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

The Vault Online is an adaptation of the real-life game The Vault. It has been substantially changed to fit the online format. In this avatar-led version, the host livestreams the game through Whereby (video conferencing similar to Zoom). You direct the avatar within the set, and also perform some ARG-like solving on the internet, accessing social media and emails, and sending texts.

Hivemind Review Scale

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Cindi S’ Reaction

This was my first virtual escape room from Amsterdam, and I had high hopes for an intriguing heist-themed game. It started off fun, with an unusual interaction that had us laughing right away. In fact, there were several instances of interplay between players and characters that could only be done virtually, enhancing the realism of the experience. One part was right out of a Law & Order episode, and I was slightly shocked and yet strangely amused at the same time. Did I really just see that? It was so real!

The footprint for this game is where it started to pale a bit: some parts too big to search and others difficult to see through the lens of the avatar. Still another section was not at all effective in a virtual game. Ultimately this was a mixed bag for me; it was entertaining immersive theater in a space that would have been much more exciting in person.

Kate Wastl’s Reaction

This was less an escape room and more of an escape experience. It was as close to immersive as I’ve seen in a virtual escape room, stitching together live actors, social engineering, and alternative communication methods into one fantastic 80-minute vault break-in. Completed through the eyes of someone navigating the rooms on your direction, this was sometimes challenging due to the vast space available, the presence of at least one tactile puzzle, and momentary technical difficulties leaving us in the dark for an awkward amount of time. The only aspect that I regret is not being able to visit the physical space, as it would have been fantastic to explore in person.

Joel Smileypeacefun Reaction

As the name of this game suggests, we had to break into a vault and retrieve a powerful device.

At its best, the first part of the game required our group to do some fun improvising. Even though the story didn’t really go anywhere, the idea of it was neat. The location looked like an adventurous old vault building.

At its worst, the game was in desperate need of different puzzles. The few challenges we were presented with felt clunky and unsatisfying to solve. There was also some online ARG puzzle-hunting, which didn’t fit the remote gameplay. The otherwise gorgeous set felt unused and had lots of empty spaces. The pace of the game was slow and it never flowed well. Sometimes the gamemaster needed unnecessarily specific instructions; other times he wasn’t able to nudge us in the right direction when we needed some guidance. The lighting wasn’t always in our favor. The video stream and the audio quality were occasionally quite choppy.

I can see this game being a lot more fun played in person. But as a remote version, I don’t think Sherlocked adapted it well enough to create an enjoyable online experience.

The Lone Puzzler’s Reaction

The Vault had a wonderful big game feel about it with a really big set and very amazing staging. However, the game itself was sadly quite lacking in its adaptation to online play. With a 90-minute gameclock (which our team used almost all of), the game was slow and lacking typical escape room challenges – there was a lot of watching and waiting for things to happen or alternative types of “puzzles” that were just a bit off or were offline so that only one team member was solving while others were waiting. At least one puzzle was just entirely trial and error and as a result just annoying and sad. “External knowledge” seemed to be required to perform some of the tasks provided, which might slow down a team without tech skills. The avatar provided a good performance, but was a bit of a hindrance likely due to the material provided – even to the point where we were begging the avatar to go faster. Toward the end of the game, there was a series of very elaborate puzzles that were really cool, but it seemed we had wandered aimlessly for an hour just to get here and as a player I was almost disinterested by that point. I would be very interested to play this game in real life as I expect some of the drag in the game would have not been as obvious. However, with the amount of actual puzzles to play, it seems like the game might not have lasted more than 30 minutes – even with the fantastic multi-room environment. It could have been a lot more than it was, unfortunately.

David Spira’s Reaction

Having played Sherlocked’s The Vault in real life back in 2017, I can confidently report that the online adaptation was substantially different from the original. There was some overlapping content and structure, but in more than enough ways, this felt like a different telling of the same story. I wasn’t disappointed about playing the virtual version, and I don’t think that one version spoils the other in many meaningful ways.

While I generally enjoyed my time in the The Vault Online, I had one larger issue: the bitrate of the livestream. It was too pixelated to appreciate the majesty of the location. More functionally, it was difficult to see some of the puzzles (especially the late-game ones). This could have been compensated for by the avatar… but our avatar was a bit too lackadaisical when it came to supporting and clarifying these issues. (I’m not sure if he fully appreciated how frustrating it was on our end.)

This is a product with great bones. With a change or two, it’s a must-play.

Disclosure: Sherlocked provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.

The post Sherlocked – The Vault Online [Hivemind Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

He’s not a software architect; he’s a “real architect.”

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Date played: May 7, 2017

Team size: 3-6; we recommend 4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: €119 per team

Story & setting

In the basement of Beurs van Berlage, a commodity exchange turned conference space in Amsterdam, we entered the office of the building’s architect, a member of the famed Society of the Crossed Keys, to uncover the Society’s secrets.

Beurs van Berlage is a beautiful red brick building constructed at the turn of the 20th century. Downstairs, we entered a unassuming room with wood paneling, heavy wooden furniture, and bygone electronics. This was a spacious office.

Puzzles

The puzzles in The Architect interacted with the room and its props. They worked in different, and sometimes unexpected, ways.

Many puzzles relied heavily on observation and communication.

Standouts

We loved a few puzzle mechanics. These were truly memorable escape room moments.

When the narrative took a right turn, the puzzling moved the experience forward. The story and puzzles played off each other to escalate dramatic tension.

Sherlocked created a climactic, exciting conclusion to this adventure.

The puzzling traversed the entire large gamespace in interesting and occasionally unforeseen ways.

Shortcomings

The gamespace was simply too large. The spacious setting and sparse decor dwarfed the scale of the experience.

The setting wasn’t inherently exciting. It was an office.

In a few instances, revised puzzle design could improve the player experience. One puzzle required order preservation, which could easily trip up inquisitive players. Another puzzle could be easily circumvented.

Should I play Sherlocked’s The Architect?

Sherlocked is famous for The Vault, a heist adventure set in the basement of this same building. While not as intense or dramatic, the lesser known The Architect was actually the more complex puzzle experience.

It was also more accessible; you need only to be able to walk downstairs.

The Architect intertwined puzzles, narrative, and a beautiful building. It was not an action movie and the set was less impressive than that of The Vault. Within the puzzles, however, there were still plot twists, cinematic moments, and a puzzle complexity that its more famous brother did not have.

It is a challenging escape room.

If you play escape rooms for the puzzles, at Sherlocked, you may actually enjoy The Architect most. I recommend you book them both and decide for yourself.

Book your hour with Sherlocked’s The Architect, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Reality Escape Pod

Full disclosure: Sherlocked provided media discounted tickets for this game.

The post Sherlocked – The Architect [Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

Platform: iOS & Android

Price: Free

Overview & setup

Created by the famed Sherlocked in Amsterdam, The Vault mobile app was a free iOS & Android game that served as a training/advertisement for real life The Vault escape room.

This short game was a heist-style escape room complete with puzzles and mechanical interactions. Most of these bore no resemblance to puzzles or interactions in the real The Vault escape room.

The game emphasized learning how to operate an antique safe. This set piece did play a role in the real life The Vault escape room where its operation was a serious challenge.

Puzzles

The puzzles were pretty typical digital escape room-style puzzles; they were neither great nor terrible.

Standouts

The Vault was entertaining. It was also free.

While it was not required training for the real life game, it was great for getting in the right mindset and learning how to operate a particularly cumbersome safe.

It may have been an advertisement… but it was a really good one.

Shortcomings

There was no hint system and a few of the interactions were not quite intuitive. When an interaction didn’t click, the game ground to a halt. At that point the only options were to:

• Poke and swipe at every object until something happened.
• Hand the game off to a friend and hope that that particular thing would be a little more intuitive to them.
• Check out a YouTube walkthrough video

Should I play Sherlocked’s The Vault Mobile App?

I’d say so. Here’s my math:

If you’re going to play The Vault in Amsterdam (which I highly recommend), then it is a cute primer for that escape room’s most challenging input mechanism.

If you’re not going to be able to play The Vault in Amsterdam, then it is an interesting innovation for both escape room pre-game care as well as advertising.

It’s fun and it’s free. Why are you still reading this?

Download Sherlocked’s The Vault Mobile App today.

Download iOS

Download Android

The post Sherlocked – The Vault Mobile App [Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.

It’s like a movie.

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Date played: May 7, 2017

Team size: 4-6; we recommend 4

Duration: 90 minutes

Price: €139 per team

Story & setting

The Vault was a cinema-style heist adventure that began in a parking garage and led us through a series of different sets staged within the Beurs van Berlage.

There was some set design, but for the most part, Sherlocked made use of the beautiful building that they call home.

Puzzles

More adventure than puzzle game, The Vault was all about the experience. That isn’t to say that it lacked challenge, as only 8% of teams had escaped as of the date that we played.

The sheer size and scale made it hard to find what was relevant within The Vault. Therein lay the difficulty.

Standouts

It was a brilliant setup to begin the The Vault off-site, creating the illusion of breaking in.

A coherent (and a little over-the-top) narrative permeated the entire 90-minute experience.

The gamemastering fit the story. Calling for hints never disrupted the narrative.

The building was incredible and well-used.

Limited use of an in-game actor heightened the thrill of the adventure.

Shortcomings

There were two or three moments in this room escape that were difficult to start in on because of the size of the space and limited cluing. I would have preferred if these were clued better and there were a couple of extra puzzles to fill the time.

The Vault contained a safe that was nearly a century old. The door was heavy and it seemed to vacuum shut. We had to throw a ton of physical effort into opening that door. I have to imagine that there are non-destructive ways in which Sherlocked could equalize the pressure (maybe even hiding a bottle of seltzer behind a false back for time-released CO2?).

Should I play Sherlocked’s The Vault?

If you are in Amsterdam, have legs, and they work reasonably well… then yes, you should play Sherlocked’s The Vault.

I’m being slightly hyperbolic. The Vault was an incredibly fun game, but there are a few things about it that might be off-putting to some players:

• It’s not puzzley; The Vault is about the experience and adventure.
• It has an actor. The role is limited, but important. If you hate actors in your escape rooms, this might be a deal breaker. I can promise, however, that the role doesn’t feature prominently throughout most of the escape room.
• You need to have a base level of movement and fitness to play The Vault. It’s not a physically taxing game, but there are stairs, and at least one player on the team will have to crawl.
• At least one player on the team will need a cell phone that can receive text messages in The Netherlands.

Of the many heists I’ve played, none of them has captured that Hollywood-heist feel like Sherlocked’s The Vault did. If that appeals to you even a little bit, then this is a must-play game.

Book your hour with Sherlocked’s The Vault, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Reality Escape Pod

Full disclosure: Sherlocked provided media discounted tickets for this game.

The post Sherlocked – The Vault [Review] appeared first on Room Escape Artist.