Escape Barcelona: CyberCity 2049 (Barcelona)

Blue Pill, or Red?

Cyber City 2049: Inspired by a CyberPunk style and based on movies like The Matrix, Blade Runner and Terminator.

Immerse yourself in a decadent, corrupted and unscrupulous world.

Just look at that intro; The Matrix, Blade Runner, Terminator! A game based on those movies was instantly a no-brainer for us when booking our escape room trip to Barcelona, and that was before factoring in that it was ranked number 29 in the world in the 2024 TERPECAs (#5 in 2021).

We arrived outside the very nondescript entrance at our allotted time, and rang the doorbell. The door opened and we were ‘greeted’ by our host, who’s name I didn’t catch, and escorted into a very dark and narrow corridor.

Our host, who remained in character until the very end of our experience, gave us a briefing, well kind of a briefing. Then we made a choice and entered the rabbit hole…

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

First things first, this game is not accessible in the slightest. Perhaps there are work-arounds so it’s worth checking with the venue if that is an issue for you, but from what I could see with the climbing and ‘stepping’, it would be difficult to get around if you struggle with mobility. Oh and there was one area that felt pretty tight – if you’re not a fan of tight spaces.

If the accessibility issues aren’t a problem for you then you’re in for a real treat! This set was beautiful, and to call this just an escape room would be doing it a disservice. So if you can make it work, do it.

The spaces we moved between were distinct and each one helped to push the narrative of the mission we were on. Although there were also some ‘areas’ that were simply there for a bit of extra fun and story, but were totally optional (we did it by accident). In hindsight, I wish we had perhaps slowed down a bit in CyberCity as I would have loved to have spent more time just looking at everything that was around us.

The quality of the set was second to none. Everything worked, everything looked legit, and everything was beautiful. There was one set in particular that really did look like it had stepped straight off the set for Blade Runner. And then there was the ending; oh, what an ending!

PUZZLES

It feels a bit cliche to say that the puzzles in CyberCity took backstage to the set design, but it’s true. Despite the puzzles being very much on theme, and fun to solve, the set really stole the show. I’m trying to remember if there were any padlocks in this game, and I think there may have been a couple here or there, but mostly this game was very heavily tech driven.

We played CyberCity as a team of four and there was plenty to keep us going, and a few parts where we were able to split up and work on different things. Saying that, as you would expect from any heavily narrative driven game, we did find that it played out in a mostly linear fashion.

It actually feels a bit odd to say CyberCity had puzzles, as really they felt like tasks. Tasks we had to complete to finish our mission. Tasks that were diegetic in their surroundings and completing them felt almost natural. If I was pushed to classify the ‘puzzles’ in this game, I would say they generally could be classed as; observation, teamwork, basic maths, roleplay, reactions (is that a puzzle type? It is now), and many others that I can’t really classify.

I’d love to write so much more about this game, as the more I think about it, the more I remember, but I should probably stop talking about puzzles now as I don’t want to spoil anything – but there is surely something for everything in this game (especially if you’re into very immersive experiences).

If anyone in your team struggles with colours, then there could be a couple of occasions in this game where they may struggle. There was one item in the game that needed to be interacted with and for a certain team member (me), this was impossible.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

As I mentioned, we didn’t get the name of our GM, but he did a great job in any/all roles that he may/may not have played. Obviously the GM was there to help us get through the game, and he certainly did that (clues came via a voice over), but his role was so much bigger than that. The character interaction in CyberCity was a key part of the game and added an extra element of fun/suspense that I think we weren’t perhaps expecting.

There was one point in the game where I think I could say we basically took a ‘wrong turn’, but this gave us some unexpected interactions with our GM and gave one team-member a lovely little memento of the game.

ANYTHING ELSE

CyberCity was one of the games I was most looking forward to in Barcelona. Did it live up to the hype? Yes? I think so. It’s hard to say really. We had a great time, and the puzzles and set were fun, but I think I needed more neon. Is it worth playing? 100% yes.

One thing I nearly forgot to mention: the ending! Oh my, what an ending! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in CyberCity, but just when we thought we’d done the bulk of what we needed to, we had an incredibly fun and quite unique ending. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players

Address: CALLE FRANCESC MORAGAS 18 LOCAL, 08922 Santa Coloma de Gramenet

Website: https://www.escapebarcelona.com/en/