A Hard Experience
RELIVE THE DARKEST DAY
In 9/11 Escape Room, we rewind to September 11, 2001. A day marked in the memory of the whole world. The news of the attack on the twin towers in New York crossed borders and left the world stunned and in disbelief at what was happening. The United States of America, the world’s leading power at the time, had been attacked in the heart of its country.
New York was facing what was going to be the darkest day in its history. Every New Yorker has what happened on 9/11, or 9/11, as they call it, engraved in their memories. At Open Mind Room Escape we have dared to remember and recall this fateful day. Stories of heroes and people who, without a doubt, should not be forgotten.
Are you ready to experience this day first-hand?
I want to preface this review by saying that I am American, and while I am from New York State, I am not from New York City, or even the surrounding commuter towns (a very notable difference, especially in this context). Those things are very important to note when reading this review of 11S. My experience as an American on the 11th of September, 2001, was very different to the experiences of the international community, and starkly different again to the experiences of New Yorkers. Even so, that day is one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I was 15 years old, and I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that not one, but two, planes had hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. I remember the absolute terror as a third plane crashed into the Pentagon just over half an hour later, and again as Flight 93 went down, as well as the fear and uncertainty of the days and weeks that followed. I was lucky – my friends and family were safe. But there were so many thousands of others that weren’t, and still aren’t. 9/11 changed not only my country, but also the world, forever – and not for the better.
So, when I discovered that the theme of one of the escape rooms that we would be playing in Barcelona was based on that day, I had… feelings. But I was willing to go into the game with an open mind, especially after being reassured that other reviews were saying that it was a game worth experiencing, and tastefully done.
11S was the first game, of three, on our final day in Barcelona, and unfortunately we got slightly lost on our way there due to a copy/paste fail in Google Maps. So rather than being the requested five minutes early, we were about two minutes late, arriving laden with luggage and slightly out of breath. Perhaps this was the reason for the demeanor of our host, but perhaps that was intended, as it added to the feelings of pressure, panic and uncertainty as we shoved our bags into lockers, and rushed through putting on our required hard hats. With our safety equipment in place, we were handed a walkie talkie to communicate with our fire chief, and made our way into the subway station, with no preamble, other than the fact that we were walking into an unknown disaster – much like what happened to the real first responders at the time.
THE GAME
If you ignore the fact that it is based on the attacks on September 11th, 11S would be an excellent generically themed-disaster themed game; the set is impressive, the puzzles work, and the narrative flows. But it is the focus on this specific event that makes the game feel controversial.
The premise of 11S is that we have arrived on scene as members of the NYFD, and the narrative path of the game does everything it can to reinforce this, and in a way, pays homage to the first responders that lost their lives or were irrevocably changed on 9/11. The initial reveal of the set was both awesome, and horrifying, and I was certainly feeling all the emotions as I was taking it in. The scene, the sounds, the lighting, the atmosphere, and the overwhelming sensation of chaos, made it easy to imagine what it must have been like that day – and how much worse it actually was.
The more physical elements of 11S – the crawling, the climbing, fighting fires, moving broken bits of building out of the way, using the tools available to you to save a life – anything that made the game feel real made the game feel right. The moments where 11S didn’t feel like a game were the moments that made me glad I decided to play, despite how it made me feel while playing. And that, I think, is the reason for this game. To make you feel something. The moments where 11S did feel like an escape room, however, were the moments where I questioned if this was an appropriate theme for an escape room.
The traditionally “escape room” style puzzles – i.e. anything that took me out of “disaster recovery” mode – whether it was something as normal in an escape rooms as searching through the detritus left behind to find a four digit code were the moments where 11S lost me. These tasks felt out of place, and just plain inappropriate for the context and the situation. One major set piece also felt totally wrong. I understand what the creators of 11S were going for at this point, but for me it just fell flat, and it would not have been detrimental to gameplay to leave it out. Any of these things would have been fine in any other game, but these were the moments where I was left questioning why anyone thought this was an appropriate theme for a game.
But they weren’t necessarily wrong. The game is serious, and never feels overly “gamey”. And while I struggled with certain aspects, including getting a team photo at the conclusion of the game, I don’t feel like the game was in poor taste, but certain aspects lacked some sensitivity. Had it ended with anything other than an exit into the darkened memorial room, I might feel differently. But I struggled even with those moments of remembrance and reflection, particularly when I turned around and spotted a case within the room dedicated to the awards that Open Mind has won.
While we didn’t meet the creator of 11S, it is clear that this game was created with respect for the victims, their families, and to honour those who lost their lives that day. But I do struggle with the fact that Open Mind profits off this game, and to my knowledge, does not pass on any of those profits to the victims or any of the various charities that support them, despite the fact that the game does, in fact, reference real people, and use their stories. I understand from our fellow bloggers, Room Escape Artist that Open Mind did get permission from the victims or the families to do so, although I have not confirmed that myself.
ANYTHING ELSE
It doesn’t feel right to give a score to a game based on 9/11. It just doesn’t feel right reducing my feelings on it to an arbitrary number, indicating whether it is a game that should, or should not, be played. This game will not be for everyone. I had trouble playing it – but I’m not upset that I did. Is it a game that should even exist? I’m not sure, but I don’t think it should not exist either.
Success / Failure
Final Rating: Unrated.
Team: 4 participants
Address: Ctra. d’Esplugues, 166 , 08940, Cornellá de Llobregat
Website: https://openmindroomescape.es
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