LOCATION: Winterthur, Switzerland
Photo above is property of Geheimgang 188
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: Ministry of Mystery
📅 DATE PLAYED: May 30, 2024
🎬 GENRE: Mystery
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 3 ppl): 7.5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-6 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 75 Mins.
💰 PRICE: CHF 40-60
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes [68:40]
📖 THE STORY
Enter the secret world of the "Ministry of Mystery", a covert organization dedicated to protecting humanity from supernatural threats. Here, the secrets of our world are managed with bureaucratic precision. Your first day of work in the esteemed Ghost Control Department is imminent. However, as soon as you step into the majestic building, fate seems to conspire against you. A disturbing break-in throws the ministry into chaos. Now is your chance to prove your worth.
🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
Geheimgang 188 is crafting its own paranormal universe, which could be described as a blend between Harry Potter and The Umbrella Academy. This currently includes two real-life escape rooms, with a third one recently beginning construction, and a point-and-click online game called The Crystals of Hope. While there's no required order to play these games, players will enjoy the subtle plot points and connections that weave the entire narrative together.
Geheimgang 188 is located in a now-abandoned underground emergency WW2 hospital. Many of the site's original features, such as large industrial-sized equipment, turbines, and generators, remain intact today. These elements seamlessly integrate with the company’s aesthetic and game theming, enhancing the immersive experience of their escape rooms, including this one.
The game space is much larger than we had expected and contained numerous rooms that you would expect to find in such a building; the supervisor’s office, a training room, engineering, and others (no spoilers). It was great to see that the Ministry’s hallways look just like they did on the online game, a nice attention to detail moment.
Each room was also thematically decorated, simplistic, but evocative of what you would expect to find. The integration of some of the larger industrial pieces of equipment from the building’s previous life was impressive and worked thematically.
We liked the video components, led by the game’s villain, which added further context and immersion to the story. I’m sure we’ll see more of her in their next game.
The puzzles were interactive and engaging. We always seemed to be building, fixing, or moving in order to complete things; often under time pressure, which gave the game an extra dimension. The highlight for us was the number of cooperative elements; there were at least four different challenges which required all three of us to complete them, which is quite unusual to have so many.
The ending was well presented with a conclusive puzzle and video element that proposes a sort of cliff hanger moment. Not all escape rooms manage to pull of a fulfilling climax, so this was appreciated.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
We encountered an issue with the logic of one particular puzzle, requiring multiple hints before we could complete it. The game master confirmed that this challenge is commonly misunderstood. While the logic he explained is correct, it doesn't align with the situation players find themselves in. The puzzle has the potential to be really interesting, but it needs to be restructured somehow.
We compared our feedback on this particular puzzle with a couple other escape room teams who had also completed it, and they felt the same way.
The Supervisor’s office, our first stop, was really underwhelming. The sparse décor didn’t fit the game’s theme and there were very noticeable large black marks all over the bright yellow walls, which was disappointing considering that the game isn’t that old.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
This is a brilliant room for players who like to remain active throughout and the 75-minute time limit is just right. Although the story isn’t a key component to the game, the puzzles tie nicely to it and it is supported by their newest in-person escape room ‘The Alchemist’s Legacy’ and their online escape room. We would suggest playing in teams of 3 or 4 because of how many cooperative puzzles there are.
ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
There is a car park opposite the escape room which has to be paid for.
There is a lobby area with comfortable seating and drinks available for purchase. They also sell some EXIT games.
Photos above are 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 Geheimgang 188 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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