Criogenic Escape Room: Criogenic (Madrid)

A cool game!

Would you like to live in a better future?
Would you like to wake up in a few hundred years surrounded by your loved ones?

Until now, cryogenics techniques were only within the reach of a few, but finally, a low-cost cryogenics system suitable for all budgets is coming to our country. Our staff will guide you throughout the entire cryopreservation process, the subsequent resuscitation and your integration into society. Don’t wait any longer and reserve your hibernation capsule today!

Criogenic, a perfect life within everyone’s reach.

We had already had a full day of escaping from some of the best games in Madrid, starting with The Saint, and followed by a visit to Bite the Fly, where we spent some time at the Tao Massage Parlour and stayed at The Bites Motel, but we had one more game lined up for the day, and it was perhaps the one that our group was most looking forward to, thanks to the sci-fi theme.

Criogenic was easy to spot, with subtle, but clear signage, and we arrived at the facility just a few before our allotted time, having stopped off at a delightful bakery not far from the venue. After all, we would need sustenance for the cryogenic freezing process. Exactly at our appointment time, the door cracked open, and our host peered out at us, taking care to verify that we were there for our cryogenic freezing, before ushering us into the building, where we were to learn all about the process, and our host shared her hopes and dreams for the future.

With our bags safely stowed away for the duration of our freezing process, and without much further ado, it was time. We entered our cryogenic pods and prepared to wake up in the utopian future we were promised.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Of course, Cryogenic is an escape game, so you can probably guess that the future wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. But when we emerged from our pods, things were the same, and at the same time…not. Now, it’s the little things that can make or break immersion in a game for me, and our host certainly had an eye for them, ensuring that even the minutest of details was exactly as it should be to keep us fully immersed in the world that they’ve created. And what a world it is. What I thought would be a rather sterile, lab based game turned out to be so much more. The stark white walls of the initial room and our cryogenic pods were quickly forgotten once we woke up in the future.

The main thing I feel I should point out about Criogenic is that it was fun. There’s really just no other way to describe it. With plenty of humour from our host, geeky pop culture references, and a surprising amount of physicality, the pace of the game was outstanding as the adventure flowed from challenge to challenge, with the highs and and lows that come with any well-told story, culminating, in an unexpected, albeit cheesy, but hilarious and highly entertaining finale.

PUZZLES

The puzzles we encountered throughout Criogenic were, quite simply, delightful. Interesting, fair, and contextual, they sat perfectly within the narrative, blending together with the story to take us on an adventure to save humanity. The game itself unfolded in an open fashion, with the inevitable choke points. However, despite the open structure, the puzzles were multi-layered, and often complex, requiring input from more than one member of the team, and we found ourselves solving together more often than not, or sometimes working independently from one another to achieve a common goal.

With a a range of challenges that tested our team work, observation, critical thinking skills (just to name a few), as well as some rather physical and tactile challenges, there was so much variety, that the solving of challenges never became monotonous, and there were plenty of tasks to get on with, ensuring that the game never slowed, and kept an almost frantic pace, straight to the end.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

I’m sorry to say we never actually got our GM’s name, primarily because she was an absolute delight, and a shining star in an already exceptional game, and I would love to be able to credit her by name. Her sense of humour, her character and acting skills (not to mention her attention to detail) and most notably, her hosting skills, were absolutely superb.

I would like to keep some secrets for those who have yet to play here, but the clue system was another little gem hidden within Criogenic. Perfectly in keeping with the theme, and chiming in with help where needed, humour when appropriate, and exposition at the perfect moments, the system in place here is my definition of a perfect clue delivery method. Not only that, but our host knew just when to trigger those clues if we needed them.

ANYTHING ELSE

Criogenic is funny, clever, and an adventure from start to finish.  It is a superb game, adding a bit of whimsy to a city (and country), where horror experiences seem to abound.  Criogenic was my favourite game we played in Madrid, and the fact that it is not a horror experience is the only reason I can think of as to why this game has fallen out of the Top 100 Games in the TERPECA rankings for 2024, while others in Madrid have remained.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players

Address: C. de Martín de los Heros, 75, Moncloa – Aravaca, 28008 Madrid, Spain

Website: http://www.criogenicescaperoom.com/