LOCATION: Rome, Italy
Photo above has been provided by Lucifer Escape Room
Date Played: July 19, 2019
Price: $22/pp
Length of Time: 60 Minutes
Total # of Players: 4-10 PPL
Difficulty Level: 6/10
Public/Private: Private
Escaped? Yes
Hint: Combine shapes to see the light...
As we left “The Ring” and “Samara”, we were quite proud of ourselves as we headed to our next escape room destination. This one was a bit of a trip as we had to take the train and then transfer for a bus for what it felt like an even more rural area. As we got off the bus, we were just one minute away from the location. You can’t miss it as it looks like a huge castle just appears from out of nowhere. There’s an entrance that will lead you to the back where you’ll see a restaurant on the right side. This is where you turn left and there will be a small black door that lead down a small set of stairs. Don’t be afraid... knock.
This has to be the coolest lobby we’ve ever seen. You don’t even need any décor as you’re pretty much inside of a castle. Lucifer Escape Room is in the basement of this castle that formally was used for wine production by the locals. When we took a tour after the game with the owners, the original wine “storage” units and production mechanisms were still intact at some places. I thought I was ready for anything after the previous experience, but I was not expecting this. Once again, my heart beat involuntarily started to speed up.
“The New Nightmare”, which is currently their only room at this location, is the largest in Rome (at over 1800+ sq. ft). Normally the minimum to book this space would be four people but it’s just the two of us once again on this journey to the unknown. By the way (just so you know), the less people that you have, the more intense your experience will be as you’ll likely get an “individual treatment” and it’s much scarier than if you are with someone. We were eager to get into the room as the more you wait there, the more antsy it gets. Also, we were playing this room around 9pm at night so the walk back home later was not quite pleasant as I kept thinking that we were being followed.
The storyline is that we were being sent into a psychiatric ward as undercover agents and we needed to hypnotize ourselves and go into a different world to save someone. This room not only has actors, but also made us become actors as well. We’ve never had to interact with actors in order to successfully solve a puzzle, so this is was a brand-new experience for us. The set design was beautifully done. The sound, light, and electronics were executed at the exact right time to create the intensity of the “scare” and the storyline. There was a time where I literally froze and could not take the next step forward. The fear of the unknown is implemented really well and the actors were all great. Depending on the day, you may even have the owners playing different characters, but you never know who you’ll get as they all switch up and play different roles each time. This is not a puzzle-based room and we wish that they can add in a bit more puzzles for escape room enthusiasts as we felt a little empty without the sound of an un-clicking lock.
By this time, we kind of sensed Rome’s escape room culture as it’s quite different from the US side. They are not puzzle heavy, noncompetitive (a lot of the rooms would give more than 60 minutes just so the players can have a full experience), most are horror related themes with actors and crazy movie-like set designs. This is a “must experience” if you are ever in Rome even if you are a puzzle-based enthusiast as you will not get this experience anywhere else. If a scaredy-cat like me can do it, you will have nothing to worry about (the actors do not touch you). You will not regret it! Or will you…. muhahah…
(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 Lucifer Escape Room for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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