Krematorium: Malum (Barcelona)

So Close

Abandon all hope, all who enter here. An ancient evil dwells behind these doors. If it is your decision to continue along this path, may God have mercy on your souls, for the darkness will have no mercy on you.

Always remember that it deceives you!

Conveniently located only 15 minutes from the airport by taxi (or car, if you’re so inclined to drive yourself), we decided to book Malum as our final escape room in Barcelona. We made the mistake of walking from Outline, and while it wasn’t especially far, we did cut it close with our arrival time. But thanks to a WhatsApp message the night before, with clear instructions, we spotted the nondescript blue door with ease, and found ourselves outside the entrance to Malum.

It’s worth noting when booking Malum that the game is available in three modes: Mystery (No Special Effects, No Live Actors, and Specific Moments of Darkness), Thriller (Special Effects, No Live Actors, Total Darkness in Specific moments), and Horror (Live Actors, Special Effects, and Total Darkness in Specific moments). While I’m not a lover of live-actor horror games, where I actively seek them out, I do feel that the live actor element adds a little something extra, and the fear adds to the difficulty of what might otherwise be a relatively simple task. And since I always enjoy them once I’m out of them, we booked Horror, of course.

However, due to a breakdown in communication somewhere between booking on WhatsApp (as you have to for English games) and our arrival outside the entrance to the game (and even once more once we were in game), we didn’t end up playing the version of the game we had booked. I think we ended up with Thriller mode, but I’m not 100% certain, and it may very well have been Mystery, or even a blend of the two. But it definitely wasn’t Horror.

But we didn’t know that at the time, and once we had deposited our luggage in the lockers, and assembled outside the entrance to Malum, we were feeling a little uneasy, when the creepiest voice invited us in and the doors swung open. We approached the long, darkened corridor with trepidation, jumping  a little when the door clicked closed behind us.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Regardless of which version you play, Malum has atmosphere in spades. Granted, we thought we would be in there with some sort of “demonic” presence, and the power of suggestion is a real thing, as we waited for something to appear from every darkened corner, but even without the full horror mode, the tension created by the combination of the set, sound design, and lighting (not to mention the disturbing, disembodied voice that occasionally came floating through the air) was palpable.

In Horror mode, the sheer scale of the space would be daunting, as there is no shortage of distance to cover as you make your way back and forth, wondering what might be lurking behind any corner. Eventually, we realised that we probably wouldn’t be getting spooped anytime soon, and this became less of a challenge, as the lights guided us where we needed to be, forcing the game to unfold with a linear structure as we followed the somewhat sparse narrative.

I expect the adrenaline of playing in Horror-mode would negate this, but Malum in non-horror mode seemed to lose momentum halfway through, with the pace slowing and game play becoming somewhat more disjointed, and what should have been a dramatic finish with a bit of a twist, was actually rather anticlimactic.

PUZZLES

Malum follows the pattern of many horror escape rooms: In Mystery or Thriller mode, the puzzles are definitely on the easier side, with many classic escape room tropes that experienced players will have likely spotted once or twice before. However, in full Horror mode, I can see these puzzles being much more difficult to complete, forcing the team to separate and brave the demonic presence within the space.

Part of the reason the puzzles didn’t feel especially challenging was due to the fact that they were exceptionally well telegraphed, and quite logical in their execution, at least, once you had all of the pieces you needed. But despite the excellent signposts, at times we found ourselves focussing on things that seemed to take up a great deal of real-estate, only to find out later that they were actually broken, or in one case, possibly a puzzle in Spanish, which had been replaced by something else for our English game.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

The creepy, disembodied, child-like voice, like something straight out of my worst porcelain-doll fuelled nightmares erupted out of the darkness whenever it looked like we were floundering, or sometimes, just to have a little bit of a chat. Little nudges, reminding us to look at something again, or indicating that perhaps we might need to go back to somewhere we had already been were usually the only prompts we needed.

We didn’t meet our GM until after the game finished, and it’s clear he enjoys his job – although he does seem to prefer the fun of running a full horror experience (Who wouldn’t, right?) But without it, he had a relatively easy job of just nudging us back on track, or having fun with the “voice,” but was also careful not to over clue. Once the curtain (so to speak) was lifted, he was apologetic for the mix-up with the booking and the mode we had intended to play, and even showed us a few of the effects we missed (which made us miss them more).

ANYTHING ELSE

Although the version of Malum we played wasn’t the version of Malum that we booked, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the set is expansive, and impressively built. If you book Mystery or Thriller, you’re in for a decent puzzle game, loaded with atmosphere. If you book Horror, well, you should get all that, and a few more surprises on top.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players

Address: Ctra. del Mig, 92, 08907 L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona

Website: https://krematoriumescaperoom.es/