FOR puzzle lovers and mystery solvers, escape rooms are a good challenge and fun activity to do with friends over the weekend. A couple of weekends ago, the BUZZ team tested out two different types of escape rooms to test our wits and bravery.
The first escape room we went to was Breakout in NU Sentral. With franchises all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Myanmar, the Breakout in NU Sentral features seven differently-themed escape rooms with varying levels of difficulty. Of course, we chose the easiest one, called War for Rembrandt.
Made for beginners, War for Rembrandt is set in 1942, amidst a war that breaks out between the Nuevo Union and the Hetzel Republic, separating the world into two regions.
The Nuevo Union fights for the preservation of art and literary materials while the latter regards them as propaganda to usurp world nations. That’s why the Hetzel Republic decided to confiscate and store away thousands of artefacts in a secret underground station known as the Train Graveyard.
As part of the Nuevo Union, we played a group of rebels who believed in the importance of art and literature preservation and decided to infiltrate the secret train station and transport the artefacts out.
Before we were ushered into our rooms to escape, we were given a briefing about how Breakout worked. Players are given different roles and have to be selected before entering the room to enhance gameplay strategy among players.
Each character comes with their own superpower that can be used to help the group to win and complete the game. As we were a group of four, we had to choose between the Lightbringer, the LockMaster, the Oracle, and the Time Bender.
The Lightbringer possesses a torchlight, as no electronic devices can be brought into the room. In the dimly-lit place, a source of light is therefore important. The LockMaster receives a passcode for a specific lock in the room, while the Oracle is given a series of pictures (about 10) to memorise in order to unlock each door to the next room. And lastly, the Time Bender can request for additional five minutes towards the alloted 45 minutes of gameplay.
And just like Ariel who swapped her voice for legs, with each ‘superpower’, you’re allowed to give them up in exchange for a hint.
When you have five to eight players, there are four additional characters, which are the Scholar, the Healer, the Assassin, and the Gemini.
The Scholar is given the ability to look into the room and find out the level of difficulty and physical requirement of the puzzles given to this player, including the total number of puzzles to be solved. The Assassin is given the ability to ‘kill’ a teammate (the ‘killed’ teammate will be handcuffed at the entrance of the game room for eight minutes) to obtain an answer to the current puzzle, while the Healer is given the ability to revive the character that has been killed. Lastly, the Gemini is given the ability to duplicate all the characters except the Assassin and Lockmaster.
In our game, fter the Oracle was given some time to look at the photos, we were directed to our lockers to put our stuff and headed into the room. The room is designed for up to eight people, but even though there were only the four of us, I couldn’t imagine adding any more of us because it would be quite a squeeze, not to mention the fact that it was quite stuffy inside.
In the ‘rooms’ within the room, there are numbers with the Breakout logo to signify the puzzle number. We were advised to go through them accordingly without skipping and got stuck at puzzle number 6. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get what puzzle 6 meant and had a hard time figuring it out. Even when we gave up our superpower for the hint, we couldn’t crack the code, and time ran out while we were almost at the finishing line. After that, the gamemaster came in to explain what we should’ve done, and that was it for escape room number 1.
Even though it was made for beginners, the puzzles were quite nerve-racking, but finding the solutions for each puzzle would send waves of euphoria in our brains as we inch closer to the finishing line. Teamwork is definitely needed, so that everyone is helping out, instead of guessing and screaming distracting red herrings for each puzzle. The answer is never at face value and a bit of thinking and logic is required to pass the rounds.
The price for the room ranges from RM36 to RM50 per person depending on how many friends you bring, but personally, I think having three players would be perfect for this specific escape room.
Besides NU Sentral, Breakout is also available in KLCC’s Avenue K and The Shore, Melaka. In total, they have 16 different themed rooms with different storylines for you to try out.
Each escape room is designed with different levels of difficulty, with some rooms requiring a bit more physical agility, for example, climbing up to a mezzanine floor. There are also some family-friendly rooms that are suitable for kids, and they even tell you the level of scariness of each room.
They also tell you the success rate for each room, and if you finish their room quickly, your team name will be featured on their Wall of Fame, displayed alongside the time in which your team manages to finish.
If you’re not the brainy type and would like to test your courage instead, Breakout also features Hauntu, an immersive haunted house which was launched in 2018.
Located at The LINC KL (Level 2), Hauntu is an interactive haunted house that combines live theatre performance, role play, and storytelling to create an experience unlike anything else that has ever been offered or produced in Kuala Lumpur.
Hauntu is much more than just a typical ‘haunted house’ attraction, as it features live actors, audience participation, complicated mazes, and interrelated tales that revolve around a colonial hotel steeped in mystery and the supernatural.
When we got to Hauntu, we were escorted to what appeared to be an abandoned hotel cafe for a briefing about the game. One man dressed in full baju Melayu attire approached us and handed us a file containing a mission-related paper.
He then told us that at Hauntu, we are able to interact with the actors, and there are multiple endings to the game, so we must be attentive to every detail delivered by the actors in order to get the desired outcome.
Indeed, there are many things that make it different from just a typical haunted house. Once the game started, we experienced a ‘horrifying’ 60-minute scream-worthy adventure that began with the unravelling of a very compelling plot.
We began by imagining that we were also characters in this intricate horror story set in this haunted hotel named Colle Eastern Hotel. Despite having only an hour to solve the various horrific tales and rituals, we managed to spend time with some of the actors at certain checkpoints and got to interact with them.
The experience is more than just the players watching a thrilling live performance from the actors themselves, as it is also our own actions that determines our ending. So we all got into character and played along with the outstanding cast in this 1960s Malaysian ghost story come to life.
Hauntu is an interconnected series of episodes that unlocks the horror mystery behind the haunted Colle Eastern Hotel, with new episodes featured every few months on rotation. When we came to play, the story was already in Episode 3, which was titled The Investigator.
This episode set us up as a team of paranormal investigators led by a youthful leader who is determined to uncover the strange events at the Colle Eastern Hotel. The crew intends to study the areas of the hotel that are rumoured to be the most sinister, in an attempt to uncover evidence of paranormal activity.
As the night progressed and we slowly went through the rooms, it became evident that none of us was prepared for what The Colle Eastern had in store for us.
It is no wonder that Hauntu received the title of the ‘First Immersive Horror Experience in Asia’, and it is really worthwhile to come here and have fun with a group of up to 10 players at one time.
Hauntu costs RM58 per player, and children from eight to 14 years old must be accompanied by an adult to experience the game. Take note that children under seven years old are not permitted to enter. Breakout is open every day from 10am-9pm, while Hauntu is available from 2pm-1pm on weekdays and 11am-11pm on weekends.
You can check out more info about these activities on their social media @breakoutmy, and make your bookings on their webpage at www.breakout.com.my
The Malaysia-made brand Breakout was founded in 2014 by five young Malaysians, and started with two outlets in Avenue K and NU Sentral Shopping Mall. Since then, they have expanded all over the world and even debuted their first Live Online Escape Experience where customers can play escape room from the comforts of their home during the pandemic. A new Breakout outlet is set to open in The Curve in October.
Breakout is also launching a new game concept called Spy Game, which will be available in Melaka. In Spy Game, players can bring out their inner Totally Spies character or James Bond to infiltrate a secured room by sneaking, stealth, and slipping.
