“What’s this?!”
In Halloween Town, you’ll explore a city inhabited by the strangest characters. The mayor has a very important mission for you. You must save the Halloween holiday. Will you help him?
It felt like a long time since we left home, but in reality I think it had only been two nights, one night in Milan and one in Murcia. Two international flights, a few trains, and numerous Uber journeys and we were finally heading to Cartagena for a game we hadn’t heard much about, but the theme had grabbed my attention – The Nightmare before Christmas.
Our train down from Murcia was smooth and uneventful, and we had just enough time to swing by the hotel to drop off our belongings before a brisk walk to Carthago Escape Rooms. On route to the escape room, we received a WhatsApp message from the Mayor of Halloween town. The message explained why they needed our help, where to go, and what to do before entering.
The venue was easy to find, and we followed the instructions that had been relayed to us. This involved paying the (remaining) entrance fee, and reading a rather long list of rules (in a nut shell, don’t break or sit on anything).
With rules understood and entrance fees paid, the door buzzed open, and we found ourselves outside the entrance to Halloween Town where we could store our possessions, and where we met a strange but helpful character, Viktorr Pumkpin.
Thanks to some modifications by the owner, Raul, this game is playable in English. All you need to know is that ‘años’ means ‘years’. The game is pretty accessible but some crouching/ducking is required to move around.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
I could sum up room design in just one word…WOW. This set was beautiful and felt like stepping right into the movie. I lost count of how many times I said to Liz “this set is amazing”. Considering this game was originally built in 2020, it still looks brand new.
Walking into the game filled me with pure joy, and as we progressed, all the sounds, sights, and characters that we’d hoped/expected to encounter appeared in one way or another. Just going to say it, Oogie Boogie is always my favourite and remains so.
Each space we discovered saw us delving deeper into Halloween Town, and experiencing a space that was uniquely different to the former. Thanks to the puzzles, there was a lot of back and forth between the spaces and plenty of times where I managed to hit my head!
PUZZLES
For me, the star of the show was the set design, but that’s not to say that the puzzles weren’t just as delightful.
Nearly all of the puzzles were a joy to solve. I say ‘nearly’ as one of them just really didn’t click for us and we had to be helped a lot with it. Was it a fair puzzle? Yes. Our issue was that we were fatigued and just couldn’t quite comprehend how to make it work, despite knowing what we needed to do.
Liz is not a fan of ‘collection’ games, and at times with there being so much going on, this felt like one. Hence why I (Gord) am writing this review. This wasn’t a collection game, but it was a bit of a crazy time with things all over the place and a lot to do. As a team of two, we were busy. In a larger team, you’ll likely still be busy.
The first iteration of this game, back in 2020 had to undergo some modifications to the puzzles thanks to a certain global pandemic. But it actually sounds like the changes steered it away from our least favourite puzzle types, so that’s a bonus for us. The remaining/new puzzles were good fun and involved: teamwork, observation, searching, pattern recognition, maths, following instructions, colours, audio, and logic.
Some of the puzzles were easy wins, others were much more layered, but all were fair and well signposted. Thanks to the multiple puzzle paths, we could split up and work independently on things, or move around if something wasn’t clicking, or we didn’t have all the information needed.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Well done to Carhtago for creating a wonderfully immersive clue system. A simple walkie-talkie would have looked out of place, but Viktorr Pumkpin (any relation to David S. Pumpkins I wonder?) was perfectly at home in Halloween City.
Viktorr was our ever present guide and assistant, always on hand to interject with some humour or guidance when needed. Of course behind the scenes was our actual host, Raul.
Raul was not only our host, but also the owner. From speaking with Raul after the game, it was very clear to see that Halloween City is a passion project for him. There were so many little Easter eggs in this game and we probably could have spent the entire evening listening to Raul talk about every little detail of this game – and this game is clearly about the little details.
Obviously there is a set amount of time to save Halloween, but there was a countdown device in the room so we knew how long we had left. Speaking of time, this is unusually a 76 minute game. Why 76 minutes? It’s the exact length of The Nightmare Before Christmas movie. Like I said, little details.
ANYTHING ELSE
If you’re a fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas then you must play this game – it’s beautiful and a true homage to the Tim Burton classic. Be prepared to be kept busy, and definitely don’t play when you’re half asleep!
Thanks to the trains, Cartagena is really easy to get to from Murcia. So if you’re already in Murcia to play Compadre Robbery, and The Cursed Expedition, and fancy a bit of whimsical fun, then why not pop down to Carthago and check out Halloween Town City – a game that debuted in the 2024 TERPECAs at a very respectable position 108.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 2 Players
Address: C. Duque Severiano, 3, 30205 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain
Website: http://www.carthagoescaperoom.es/
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