Continuuum: Personality (Poznan)

The Doctor will see you now

 A series of extremely brutal murders took place in the city. The police investigation has come to a standstill and the only lead leads to a well-known but eccentric doctor Hoffman, famous for his unusual therapy methods. You are hired by the investigators to get incognito to the doctor’s office and find out as much as possible about the case. But remember! The action is highly secretive and the doctor may return at any time…

When we planned our mini tour of Polish escape rooms, we decided to keep it quite sedate, with no games booked on travel days. So when we boarded the train from Bydgoszcz to Poznań, we didn’t have any escape rooms booked for the day. But by the time we were off the train, we had booked two for later that afternoon.

Our first bonus game of the trip (or I suppose the second bonus game, if you count Superheroom from Mr Lock in Bydgoszcz) was Funeral Home, by Fun4Brain, but after that warm up game, we made our way back into town for something to eat, a bit of a wander, and our booking for Personality.

Continuum are housed in the same building as DreamScape, and both companies have several games located in the same building across multiple floors, so we studied our booking confirmation carefully to ensure we were in the correct location (and also get an idea of where to go the following day for Strangers and Dead Man’s Revenge).

At 5:15 on the dot, after climbing several flights of stairs, we rang the bell for our appointment with Dr. Hoffman, and the experience began. Of course, there was a bit more to it than that, but after receiving a few details regarding our mission over the intercom, we were buzzed into reception, where we filled out a waiver for our visit, and then made our way to the Doctor’s Office.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Office themes and murder mysteries are a common enough theme, but it’s what you do with them that keeps it interesting. And going into an office under the guise of actually attending a therapy appointment certainly helps with the immersion – especially when you get to actually meet the doctor. The addition of the character led introduction helped to elevate Personality from a simple office mystery to something far more engaging.

Once we were left to our own devices, we were always just that little bit apprehensive, wondering if we would have to return to our seats and pretend like we hadn’t been rifling through the good doctor’s drawers. The sense of never knowing when that might happen gave the game a sense of urgency as we solved our way through the puzzles.

The narrative was simple, but present, providing some context to the puzzles, and helping to drive the action forward, particularly as the game progressed. Once we began solving in earnest, we found the Personality to have a somewhat open game structure, allowing us to split up, but also to step away from something that we just weren’t getting and come back to it later (more on that in a bit). Eventually, we found a rhythm, and the pace picked up, driving the game forward, with a sense of urgency that was aided by the insecurity of how long it would be before the doctor returned.

The set and lighting design were just right, making Personality atmospheric and ensuring we were immersed in our surroundings, but never frustrated by lack of light. Combining these elements with the live actor and the narrative reveals made the game feel as though it was building towards something, as we solved the final puzzle and achieved the satisfying conclusion.

PUZZLES

The usual escape room sort of tropes were present here, with plenty of tasks requiring a keen eye for detail, a healthy dose of team work, pattern recognition, logical deduction, as well as some more tactile/skill based tasks. But these puzzles were telegraphed well, and once we were on a roll, we found ourselves flowing from one puzzle to another, but then we’d hit a wall, and be at a loss for where to go next.

I rarely say this, partly because it’s very subjective, but Personality felt challenging. Fair, but challenging. Don’t get me wrong; I actually quite enjoyed the majority of the puzzles, even the challenging ones,  but I can definitely see some teams easily becoming frustrated by a couple of things right at the start and losing momentum. In fact, one such puzzle actually stumped us for so long that we ended up asking for a clue, despite my usual persistence with heavy logic problems.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Being incognito investigators, it’s only logical that any additional intelligence or information pertaining to our mission would come from the police headquarters, and the only logical way in which to transmit that information is through the phone. If we needed help, we could always pick it up (and we did), but equally, if it looked like we were struggling, it wasn’t too long before it would ring as our host was keeping a close eye on our progress. Usually the hints were just enough to get us back on track, although one puzzle required a bit more help than we would have liked.

What sets Personality apart from other games in a similar genre, is the interaction. Dr Hoffman was engaging, entertaining, but also slightly unsettling. The character interactions throughout the game were never too much, and didn’t go overboard, but were just enough to set Personality apart, and make it just that little bit more fun. And yes, while this is an actor-led experience with a darker theme, it is by no means a horror experience.

ANYTHING ELSE

Personality was a challenging game, interspersed with an oddly charming juxtaposition of silliness and the macabre. The start of the game is what elevates this game from good to great, resulting in a thoroughly enjoyable game.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 Players

Address: Święty Marcin 43/2p, 61-803 Poznań, Poland

Website: http://www.continuumpoznan.pl/