Horror Box: Catalepsia (Barcelona)

NOT for the Colour Blind!

You open your eyes, everything is dark, you have trouble breathing, you can barely move.

YOU ARE LOCKED IN A COFFIN

A recreation of what your funeral will be like, the only difference is that you are alive.

Catalepsy (Noun) – a medical condition in which a person’s body becomes stiff and stops moving, as if dead

Catalepsia was a curveball option for us as we knew very little about it, and unusually it was an experience for only two people – no more, no less. It filled a gap in the day nicely so we decided ‘what the hell!’ and got ourselves book in. Guys vs Girls!

First up was the guys (James and Gord) so the ladies went off to find food nearby. We rang the doorbell at the correct time and after a little standing around, our GM finally appeared. She was very much in character so do not expect a warm welcome!

We were escorted down the stairs, around some corners, and then into a small room where we were told to stand against the wall, in coffins… This is where we received the very stern mission briefing and told what we could explicitly do and not do.

At this point we were given eye masks to block our vision and were guided individually through to our own coffins, ready for our funeral to begin.

Interestingly, with Catalepsia we had to do a bit of work when we booked the game. You basically get to plan your funeral, including flowers, cremation/burial, music, and the obituary cards. Our advice, and what we did, have one person sort it and not tell the other – it makes for a fun surprise!

** Despite this review being written by Gord, and his experience of the game (playing with James as a teammate). The ladies were also consulted for their views, and they were taken into consideration for this review.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Fortunately I’ve not been in many coffins in my life, but I must say that if they’re like this one, then they’re very comfortable! I gather that Horror Box actually made the coffin to slightly larger specifications than normal just so there was enough room to do what was needed, and fit slightly larger corpses. That being said, if you were slightly taller, or even shorter, you could find this hampering or making your game a little more challenging than for those who are more of a standard height.

It sounds like this would be a very basic experience, where you just get in a coffin and that’s it. But they very impressively managed to make it immersive and Catalepsia actually surprised us by how immersive it was!

There’s not really much more to say, because at the end of the day, the ‘room’ is basically just a coffin (well two, technically). But they managed to make it more than that, so kudos to them. We really enjoyed personalising the experience, and it got a few laughs from both of our teams, it would have just been nice to see some of that personalisation play a bigger part in the game.

Was it dark? Yes. Could we see what we needed to? Mostly, yes…

PUZZLES

We (James and I) were thoroughly enjoying our experience in the coffins and were blitzing the puzzles, knocking them down in record time, until we weren’t. What we did not realise going into this game was that more than one puzzle relied heavily on colour, and when you have a team member who is colour-blind, there is literally nothing you can do to progress. We pleaded with our GM for help, but it did not come – but more on that in the next section.

Other than colours, the puzzles required; observation and teamwork. Actually, that was pretty much the main of the puzzles – it doesn’t sound like much, but they managed to make a game out of it. Oh and spatial relations too!

We thought because of our ‘colour issues’ that the ladies would blitz our time, but actually they had their own problems with the puzzles. When you’re in a game where you are apart from your team, if you get stuck, it’s frustrating for both sides (coffins) and that’s where a good GM needs to come to your rescue.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Our host was lovely and grumpy when we arrived, as per her character, and she remained in this character until we were resurrected (I assume that’s what it was). Unfortunately, once again, there was a language barrier issue, and we think that she didn’t understand what colour blindness was in English. There are only so many times one can shout/scream “I CAN’T SEE COLORS! I CANNOT DO THIS”, and having the same thing repeated to you before you lose the will to live.

The clues were over a speaker system that each coffin had, one had to listen carefully to hear what was being said.

ANYTHING ELSE

It’s a shame, I wanted to love this game – we all did. Instead we all came out with our own frustrations. Being too tall, being too short, colour blindness, lack of coordination – any of these and your experience is likely to be subpar.  The game has a great premise, and the personalisation, if used correctly, really can add a lot of fun to the experience, but for us, we left feeling demoralised and ready for beer.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 +2 players

Address: Calle Industria, 268 Barcelona

Website: https://www.horrorbox.es/