Exit19: Asylum (Wroclaw)

Bring a reliable team-mate!

It has been over 40 years now since events that shocked the whole Auntville. The suburban asylum got suddenly closed with no explanation. The state police ordered all personnel and patients to be immediately moved out and, on the same day, commanded every window and entrance to be walled up. The chief of staff was never found, and neither was 20 years old Emily Jones – his daughter and long-time patient, locked up for years in closed psych ward. At that time it was no secret in the town that people tend to disappear in the institution and the most difficult cases receive treatments which are anything but conventional. Nobody entered the building since then. The locals believe the chief of staff is still there. Some even claim they can hear mysterious noises coming from the sanitarium. After forty-five years you decide to enter the Auntville asylum and unveil its greatest secret…

The day before we had booked in an extra game at Exit19; Dragon Island, but this day was the main day for the Wroclaw leg of our Poland trip. First up was Asylum, swiftly followed by King Arthur’s Dungeon and then the biggie, Abandoned Hotel.

Unlike our previous visit, this time we went to ‘Gate A’ and descended into a different, and perhaps more subtly decorated basement.  I couldn’t see an elevator so I think you’ll need to be comfortable with stairs, but then again the game itself wasn’t really accessible either.

As we arrived at the reception we were greeted by two staff members, and then after a few minutes, when the ‘briefing area’ was clear, we relocated to that room. After a few more minutes, one of our hosts appeared, and asked us a few questions, then gave us the briefings.

With our mission clear, we were separated, one of us blindfolded, and then led to the room where one of us was restrained. One thing I’ve noticed with Exit19, they love a blindfolded entrance!

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Whatever you may or may not think of the gameplay at Exit19, one thing is clear, they have great set design. Asylum performed well in previous TERPECA years, and it’s easy to see why as it really is a set that is designed to impress.

Asylum is designed to keep you on edge at all times, but despite the theme, I really wouldn’t class this as a horror game. Creepy, yes. Unsettling, yes. But with no live actors, it’s really just a dark theme and a dark game.

Talking about darkness, yes it was dark but strangely lighting was never an issue. One player in particular needed additional lighting, and they received it. So no difficulty by darkness in this game!

The layout of the game was enjoyable and space was used well. Just when you have an idea of where you may go next, you go elsewhere! This game can clearly handle more players, but there was an oddly unsettling feeling to playing it as a team of two.

PUZZLES

Another thing we noticed at Exit19 is that they’ve managed to create games that are language agnostic. That is to say they can pretty much be played in any language, normally with just one or two changes on the reset, it’s quite clever really.

With a split start to the game it’ll be no surprise to know that you’ll need some good communication skills with your teammates. Actually, I think this game was probably the most split we’ve been in a split start game that I can think of.

Other than heavy communication; searching, observation, pattern recognition, audio, and teamwork make up the main of the puzzles. In terms of difficulty, I wouldn’t say this game was particularly challenging, but if your team isn’t great at communication then you’ll probably struggle.

The majority of the puzzles seemed to result in acquiring keys for various locks, but there were some padlocks here and there, and some other tech inputs and triggers.

We struggled in two places in this game, both pretty much for search fails. One because we couldn’t see a padlock, and another because we couldn’t find where to use a key – a bit annoying. There was also another puzzle that has the opportunity to be very frustrating, but they were kind the day they designed it, and it was made very fairly.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

I’m not sure who was our actual GM for this game as we seemed to have three and I have a feeling they may have been monitoring other games simultaneously, but I can’t be sure. We went in with one GM, then had clues from another, so it’s a mystery.

The clue system for Asylum was the classic: walkie-talkies. Not my favourite, but they work. When we needed help we simply had to ask and it came through pretty quickly.

ANYTHING ELSE

Asylum is a decent horror-lite experience. I imagine it will be a challenge for many teams because of the split-start aspect, but the puzzles are fair and not overly challenging.

Asylum was recognised for many years by the TERPECAs, and I can see why. It’s perhaps not at the same level as the current top 100 games, but if you’re in town for Abandoned Hotel anyway, you may as well add this one on.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 Players

Address: Wrocław, ul. Ofiar Oświęcimskich 19

Website: https://exit19.pl/en/