I am back! And abroad! Yes, after a long period of withdrawal I am back on an escape room trip. Not only is it another escape room trip, but a return to the Netherlands no less!

This time around I am with my regular crew: Errol, his sister Lizette, our friend Margaux and special guest Myra, who we met during the pandemic and became a regular part of our online escape crew! It is great meeting her in person! The whole trip started because Lizette was going to be hanging around Europe for 2 weeks, so we figured, why not plan escapes around it?

Canadian Bumpkin Status- 65%

Okay, this time around I at least have a base of knowledge since I have been to the Netherlands before. AND the transit system I am used to does use a tap system that can occasionally enable credit cards. That didn’t stop us from randomly tapping our cards in a confused manner between buses and trains. In Toronto typically once you are in a station that’s that. In Amsterdam you may have to tap on and off just to change platforms! Still, it’s lovely being back in a European transit system. The trains come so often!

I got a Wise card this time around which I can load Euros onto for a cheaper exchange rate! I feel so smart!

Food portions in the Netherlands seem to be enormous!!! Like…American sized portions. It has been too much to handle for almost every meal. I don’t know if it’s American influence or just a Netherlands thing.

We were all very much exclaiming loudly with joy how cute the town we were in was. I am sure the locals hate us, or at least I would not blame them.

Frizz Factor

Once again I was unable to find a travel size hair mousse product. I have hairspray, but it’s not the same. And Amsterdam’s weather forecast is rainy and humid all week.

So…the hair is not expected to last long. It is very much uncontrollable in this damp, hair productless environment.

The Escapes!

But enough about all that! What about the escapes?!

Down the Hatch: Molly’s Game

First up on our escape trip was Down the Hatch’s Molly’s Game, which was a Terpeca winner (most our rooms were picked off the Terpeca list). A spooky venture that involved venturing into a creepy house as Dr. Dan, a man who needs to solve a mystery and get some answers. But of course it involves a sinister game.

Molly’s Game set the bar high for our escape room adventure. The host, Benito, was extremely welcoming and friendly and willing to watch one of our phones when we learned we could not bring them into the room. From start to finish, top notch GM’ing!

The room itself was extremely impressive set wise. Not just in the actual set dressing, which was appropriately decrepit and convincing, but also in how players can interact with the set. It also had some of the best reveals I have seen in an escape room, some of which we were all still debating hours after the fact “how did they do that?”.

I also really appreciated the debrief at the end where Benito explained some of the narrative details we might have missed. This was a great example of the players not necessarily knowing the reason for a gameplay choice, but the designers at least do and while it is fun to know, it does not affect the gameplay. There was a big reveal in the game which I wrote off as being in the escape room as looking cool, only to learn afterward was a direct narrative result of a puzzle we had done earlier. It made complete sense when explained to us, and was a really fun way to re-examine the room.

The tone was appropriately creepy, the puzzles never overstayed their welcome, and of course my teammates were hilarious to play with. Overall, a fantastic start to our trip!

DarkPark: If Walls Could Whisper

After Molly’s Game, we transited over to one of DarkPark’s locations to continue our day of horror games. After all five of us foolishly failed to observe the doorbell to get the host’s attention, they kindly let us in.

Boy oh boy…my nerves are a bit frayed.

First up was If Walls Could Whisper. In this game you come upon an old orphanage where children have been known to disappear. I obviously won’t spoil the rest of the plot, but if you know any horror escape room involving children…well, it’s obviously not good. I forgot the host’s name, alas! But she did a great job. EDIT: her name was Esmee! Hurray!

DarkPark appears to adopt a tradition I remember seeing a lot the last time I visited the Netherlands: really clear sign posting. Their use of lighting to guide players not just to where to look for a puzzle but where to go for the next part of the game was such a relief. There was rarely a moment when we didn’t know where to go or what areas WEREN’T important anymore.

There were scares aplenty, many of them causes amongst each other when one of us would scream….okay, it was mostly Leezet screaming. Seriously. That lady can scream. But the room itself was still pretty darned creepy despite quickly establishing the pattern of when scares would happen. That means they were quality scares in my book.

For me, oddly, the best and worst part of the game was the music. Right near the beginning, this beautiful music plays in time with the opening sequence, and while it does set up a spooky time, it’s also very…melancholic…and….it got my hopes up. I thought “oh, this is a horror game but perhaps there’s something more tragic about what happened here. Maybe we need to find out who these children are, find out what really went on”. The music set up an expectation that was never fulfilled as the plot ended up being pretty standard escape room fare. Which isn’t a bad thing! It just got me thinking of what the room could have been…

Later the music then changed for a sequence that made me suddenly think I was in a heist film and it kind of pulled me out. That’s a nitpick though. Overall it was a really solid experience. Especially one aspect I will discuss below. We got out with one second to spare which is always such an adrenaline rush.

DarkPark- The End

Right after The Orphanage, we jumped into The End, which involved a mysterious casket store where maybe there was more going on than just simple casket sales. Our game host, Jade, was wonderful and went along with our various bonkers personalities

This was our first room of the trip with an actor, and boy did Errol have fun exploiting that. For those that don’t know….Errol is a BIT of a troll to his friends. The actor did a commendable job not reacting to it, and for making us all uncomfortable enough to keep us on edge. Honestly, he was extremely pro and made me feel like I was in a movie at some points. I sadly forgot to get the name of the actor, but he deserves an award just for dealing with us. EDIT: His name is Wouter! Thanks to DarkPark for letting me know!

The End certainly had some interesting elements. For me, it had more of a narrative throughline but was ultimately less “scary” than the orphanage. It was a different type of horror though, one that loves building on tension, and I am a sucker for that.

Another interesting aspect of the game was that the set of the game was not limited to the game space itself, adding another level of immersion I appreciated. Those who have played will know what I am talking about.

I loved the “cinematic” moments in The End. I felt like I was with a character on his journey, and that I myself was a character in this story.

There was one aspect of the game, though, that just made no sense to be there. We were all talking about it after, wondering “why? Why put that there? It tied to nothing”. I am SO curious to the point of actually thinking of contacting the owner because…it was just…so weird…

We still had a lot of fun though. DarkPark is a wonderfully spooky choice if you like horror.

Netherlands Trends

One thing that carried over from my last trip and has, so far at least, been really present in this one: Netherlands designers want you to be able to finish their games. Whether you do so through how they designed the game, or if you get more pushes, or if you are handheld through the experience, the hosts’ jobs are to get you to the end of the experience and experience an ending, one way or another.

I cannot stress how satisfying this is. We got a full arc. We left satisfied with that ending, even if it was simple. And the endings to all the rooms? So satisfying. The final puzzles were simple, which flow wise ties so nicely to a denouement/falling action. The final moments? Epic, cinematic. I can’t even necessarily remember the details of what happened, but I do remember how I felt: relief, a bit of sadness, a surge of adrenaline, and then relief again. Every single game gave us closure on the story we had embarked on. They weren’t complicated stories. They didn’t need to be. But they did have a full and satisfying arc.

I think of the endings I liked The End’s the most. It felt like it involved the players the most, and closed out the plot in a really satisfying way.

As mentioned above, I also really feel that the Netherlands does sign posting better than North America. Especially when it comes to its use of lighting and easing things up for players. Though dim lighting and tiny writing continue to be a terrible combination.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the rooms we do fare. And what other trends emerge. Based on the 3 I played today I think the Netherlands hates children? Time will tell…

Tomorrow we go to Sherlocked and Catacombs! I wonder what my teammates will think of the games I have already played, which changed my life five years ago but who knows how they will be received today…

Okay, jet lag has caught up. There are probably tons of mistakes in this. But sleep is now. Till tomorrow!