Paradiso Escape Room: Project DCrisis (Madrid)

New underwear, please.

Delta 14 Exploration Team, you have a mission.

You are a rescue team and you have a mission: to locate and find your expedition companions with whom contact has been lost on an unexplored planet.

The latest information we have received from Planet Alpha speaks of all kinds of dangers lurking within an abandoned military complex. You will have to avoid a series of unidentified, terrifying creatures guarding its walls.

Delta 14 Exploration Team, we rely on you to investigate what happened and survive at all costs.

We were last in Madrid in November 2024, and since then a few new games had opened or been made available in English. Projecto DCrisis (or Project DCrisis) was one such game that was open but only in Spanish when we were last in town. But after the last TERPECA awards, when we saw that the number two escape room (Magic Universe) was in Madrid, we decided to book a trip back to Madrid.

For some reason we thought about making this an extreme day trip, but the flights and game times didn’t quite align, so this became a two day – one night trip, not quite as extreme, but still exhausting. The best thing was, this was a trip in April and the weather was forecast to be 28c and sunny – glorious!

Our first game after we landed was Punalada by Friki Escape. This was a game that was an homage to the Scream movies, and it was a nice warm up but really, we wanted dinosaurs. A quick and easy Uber from Friki and we were at the doorstep for Paradiso Escape Room. At our allotted time we pressed the doorbell and a voice came over the intercom telling us to enter.

Once we entered, we found ourselves in a long, thin hallway and were instructed to put our personal items in the locker provided. When that was done, we received further instructions and moved down the hallway, ready to start our mission.

Project DCrisis has two settings for you to choose when you book: Tension-Adventure, and Tension-Terror. They’re pretty self-explanatory but basically ‘Terror’ has more scares and the live-actors play more of a role in the game. We opted for Terror, so this review is based on that, and that is the setting we’d recommend choosing to get the most out of the game.

This game doesn’t seem likely to be accessible at all. There are a few steps to get in the building, and then a number of steps down to the game, which is in the basement. You will also encounter some uneven surfaces, crawling, and more steps in the game. Also running. Like, legitimately running.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

From the moment you arrive at Paradiso Escape Room you are immersed in their world, and what a world it is. The story is set, you know why you’re there, and what you’re supposed to do, and the world you encounter fits that narrative perfectly.

Ok, I’ll admit that I went into this game expecting more dinosaurs than whatever it was we encountered, but that’s fine, it still did come through on that promise. But don’t expect this to be a walk in the Jurassic Park, it very much isn’t. At times, this was more like a run/sprint for survival. Thanks to the size of the game and the length of some of the spaces, I think this game probably holds the record for the fastest I have ever run in an escape room.

I’m not sure on the size of this room, but space was used in a very clever way, and at times it felt a bit labyrinth-like, with clever little holes here and there that we would find at different times, and where I think the scare actors could quickly hide, and more importantly, appear from!

At times this game got very loud with atmospheric noises and music, which ramped up the adrenaline as key times. This made it harder to communicate with teammates, which was probably part of the design, but it also made it harder to hear some of the commands/story that was coming over the speaker system.

This game is also dark, and at times one could argue it was perhaps too dark to see what you needed and it would have been nice to have had some additional lighting, even just to be able to see padlocks or information a little more clearly. Really, the lighting was our only real ‘complaint’ with this game as it slowed down one particular puzzle and made it more frustrating than it should have been.

PUZZLES

Being a split start game, the first puzzle type you’ll encounter is communication and teamwork. Other than that; observation, searching, logic, pattern recognition, directions, teamwork (yes, again) were the main types of puzzles. But I’m going to add a couple more which are there… cardio, and bravery. Yep, they’re now puzzle types (it’s my review, so I make the rules).

As our team has a colour blind member, there is always a concern on split start games that things could go belly up early on. Fortunately, those fears weren’t warranted as all the moments where colours played a part in the game were labelled perfectly so that they didn’t become a problem. Phew.

I really enjoyed and appreciated the start of this game. Yes, we were separated, but the barrier to being reunited was set pretty low and we found ourselves reunited in no-time at all. A good thing for those who are of a nervous disposition and don’t like being alone in a horror themed game.

Solving the puzzles generally resulted in something triggering, and at the same time progressing us though the game with some additional narrative. There were a few padlocks here or there, but this was predominately a tech-heavy game.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

The star of this show is really the actors/GM as the constant fear of their presence was enough to keep us on edge for the entire time. Paradiso tried to strike the balance with giving players enough time for solving puzzles, and scaring the sh*t out of them. The issue here is that if you’re a quick team then the jump scares may feel pretty constant.

One thing that I definitely should talk about in more detail are the scares. This game has given me a moment that I will hopefully never forget. Imagine, if you will, being in a darkened corridor with only sporadic lighting, with your partner at the far end of said corridor. Suddenly a shape appears behind them, the shape of a monster/person. Time freezes, there is no time to react or warn, instead, you mentally prepare the popcorn for the spectacle that is about to unfold. Suddenly, your partner realises they are not alone. And what you witnessed was like a majestic silhouette from a comedy horror movie. Arms flailing in the air and a scream that was as beautifully loud as it was long, then a delayed turn and run. The lesson learnt from this was that those moments we see in horror movies that we say ‘that would never happen in real life’, apparently do…

Anyway, I digress. Clues were over the speaker or through a door by an in-character voice. They were designed in such a way that it was sometimes hard to identify if they were a clue or simply narrative driving us forward.

The GM did a great job of changing into many characters seamlessly, so much so we were questioning how many live-actors there actually were in there with us. Top marks for that, really exceptionally well done and we were on our toes throughout the whole thing.

ANYTHING ELSE

This game had some amazing spectacles and to talk about them would give away too much. But be prepared to be shocked, amazed, and scared sh*tless. Project DCrisis is a true adrenaline rush that will keep you on edge for the entire time you’re there.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 4 Players

Address: C. Jeromín, 15, bajo C, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain

Website: https://paradisoescaperoom.es/