Your PC may die
The drug slowly loses its effect. Your eyes slowly adjust to the dark. Minutes later, you discover that you are trapped in a stony cell. Your instincts realize fast: you have to escape as quickly as possible. The most important thing is that you are not alone: there is another victim locked in another grimy cell. Both have various reasons to think that the dungeon in which you are imprisoned hides sinister secrets. Better find out as soon as possible and escape from this hole….
Often when we do an online escape room we choose it because it has been recommended by someone else. Diabolic Escape by Sinapsis was a complete shot in the dark as we knew nothing about the company or the game. For only $4 we decided to give it a try, plus it was our first foray into a game from South America.
This game piqued our attention as it promised to be another game that relied on two people (or teams) working together using their communication skills, much like Alone Together and Together Apart. Those games were good fun, so we hoped for more of the same.
As you may have guessed by the name, this game has a demonic feel about it and everything is a little dark and edgy, although really there is nothing in the game that would be above a PG rating.
We entered the URL into our machines, read the instructions, and then chose our starting positions. I was Player One, Liz was Player Two. Liz’s screen loaded pretty quickly but for some reason mine took around five minutes or so, it is very resource heavy so be prepared for your machine to struggle.
CONCEPT/EXECUTION
Once my screen finally loaded it was clear to see that this game was very different to any other online escape game that we’d played so far, essentially it was a video game. If you don’t like video games that use controls like W,A,S and D to move around, then this will not be the game for you.
Liz and I both played on MacBooks and found the interface a bit fiddly at times. This could be because we were on Macs but having no cursor visible made it a bit more awkward to interact with the game. It’s also worth noting that this game nearly killed my MacBook. I use a decent spec MacBook Pro and the fans were readying for take off and the battery was draining faster than it could charge, so factor that in when you decide to play.
Overall, the game was playable once you learned how to interact with it, but it did take a little time to understand. I’m not sure I would class it as a pure online escape game but it did have elements you’d expect to see in one, it was just wrapped in a video game wrapper.
PUZZLES
The biggest puzzle with this game was communication. As each person played a different part you need to work together to help each other progress, but the trick is knowing what information you already have and what you need.
One puzzle in particular stumped us for a while, at least on Player Two’s screen. In hindsight if we had communicated better we’d have probably been ok, but we didn’t realise something was important.
The other puzzles involved deciphering, some logic and deduction and observation. For the most part the puzzles were quite simple, but add in the communication aspect and it made things much trickier.
Whatever you do though, try and make sure you progress through your rooms at the same pace, and do not allow one player to race ahead and finish the game until the other player knows what they need to do. The two game sessions run separately so it is possible to have one player finish before the other, depending on how much information you’ve been sharing.
CLUE SYSTEM
The clue system for Diabolic Escape was contained on a webpage that was separate from the actual game. It was pretty basic but for the most part would give you enough information to keep you moving in the game.
The clues were broken down for Player One and Player Two, and then broken down by room and puzzle. It offered a gradual hint system but at times also gave the solution.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was possibly more video game than escape room, and very nearly killed our computers. If you’re looking for different, this is certainly that!
TOOLS REQUIRED
- Computer /Laptop (probably powerful)
- Implements for note taking
Final Rating:
Puzzles | |
Concept/Execution | |
Clue System | |
Value for Money | |
Enjoyment |
Team: 2 players
Time Taken: 53:49 minutes
Website: https://www.escapesinapsis.com/en/sala/diabolic-escape
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