LOCATION: Schöftland, Switzerland
Photo above is property of GAME OVER Escape Rooms
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: Pirates of the Caribbean
📅 DATE PLAYED: December 6, 2024
🎬 GENRE: Adventure, Pirate
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-6 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: 92 - 180 CHF
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes [30:04]
📖 THE STORY
You find yourselves aboard Blackbeard’s pirate ship, and have made your way inside his private quarters. You are close to finding his booty, but can you get to it before he returns?
Video above is property of GAME OVER Escape Rooms
🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
Similar to "Chocolate Factory" and perhaps also "Phantazma", this is a good starter room for less experienced players, or even for those who have never played in an escape room before. The room design is simple, focusing only on props which have a use in the game; reducing the amount of items which may mislead or confuse newer teams. And these props are also all thematically relevant to the pirate theme, helping to create a level of immersion into the pirating world.
GAME OVER has developed a clue system which is aimed at helping newer teams too. The system is fully automated and allows players to ask for up to two hints on a particular puzzle - don’t worry, since the game is linear it knows which puzzle you are on at all times.
Although the core element to most of the puzzles is fundamentally the same - place an object in a certain spot - they are still designed well enough that they feel different and engaging. The adventure included searching, map work, decoding, and logic puzzles.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
On the surface the room looks thematic, but GAME OVER could have achieved much more with such a large space. The use of more authentic materials, such as real wooden planks on the walls, instead of just painting them to look like planks, could have deepened the level of immersion and created a far more interesting landscape.
The ending was anticlimactic and lacked any real ‘wow’ factor. After having opened Blackbeard’s huge wooden chest, we discovered only a small number of gold coins, this was not the type or volume of treasure I was expecting to find.
We found the lighting levels to be too low. Whilst Game Over were obviously trying to achieve some level of atmosphere in the game, the lighting was too dim for our liking and made reading and searching frustrating. Perhaps the addition of portable lamps would help overcome this issue.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
Our team consisted of myself, with over 750 escape rooms played, and my colleague, who is new to the industry, and has still played less than ten. And interestingly enough, this created two differing opinions of the experience.
For me; this was just an ‘ok’ game when compared to other pirate themed rooms. The lack of special effects, interesting reveals, and more in-depth puzzles prevents Pirates of the Caribbean from creating a lasting impression
For my colleague; he thought the room was enjoyable and appreciated being able to be hands on with many of the puzzles. He enjoyed the exploration of the ship and found the experience to be quite challenging.
ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
There is ample free parking on site
There is a lobby area with some seating and lockers
Adjacent to the escape rooms is an American-themed diner, a cinema, a go-kart race track, which are all owned by the same person
Photos above are property of GAME OVER Escape Rooms
Check out our interview with the owner to learn more about GAME OVER + an exclusive tour of their headquarters in Athens, Greece:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank GAME OVER Escape Rooms (Schoftland) for providing a media discount on the tickets for this game. Although discounted admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion of the review whatsoever.
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