A HUGE set!
Neil Parker comes from a long line of money and power, but little is known about his family’s origins. The tyrant’s totalitarian regime is very careful with the few details told about his ancestors: great battles, much honor and some betrayal…
Unsubstantiated rumors say that they were part of the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy, and other stories date back to Genghis Khan himself. But the reality is quite different. The Parkers’ origins were humble, and like many stories worth telling, they began in a tavern.
Delve into the story of Neil Ferdinand, the true ancestor of the City tyrant, to discover what began 400 years ago and is still alive in The City Escape Room Barcelona Tavern.
If you’re familiar with the TERPECA awards, then you’ll know that Barcelona has a stellar reputation for having amazing games. At number five on the 2024 TERPECAs was ‘La Taberna’ by The City Escape Room. We’ve classed it as Barcelona but it’s actually located in Terassa which is a little outside of the city.
We had an early morning flight to Barcelona and then rented a car for a few hours just so we could easily get to La Taberna and La Posesion. It actually worked out really well as the rental car was less than £40 and gave us the flexibility we needed to make the timings work.
The City Escape Room was an easy drive from the airport and took around 40 mins. When we arrived we found a parking spot on the street and then took a stroll around the local shopping area where we grabbed a bite to eat to kill time before our game.
We arrived at The City Escape Room bang on time and rang the doorbell. We were then greeted in character, by our host and escorted through the darkened halls where, well I can’t call it a briefing as such, but where we received ‘an introduction’.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
In terms of set design there is no doubt why this game is rated at number five in the world. Expansive is one word for it as the number of spaces we encountered were plentiful and some of them were certainly vast!
We did get an odd sense of deja-vu with what was likely supposed to be the most awe-inspiring set. I don’t know if this set was bought from another venue, or if it was sold to another venue, but the similarities between this particular area of the game, and another we’d played in a different European country were uncanny.
Ignoring the familiarity of some of the set, there’s no denying that a lot of time had been put into the set design. Each new space we encountered was different to the last, and each area served to move the story forward – or I think it did, I’m not that great with story.
There is quite an amount of physicality required in this game, with climbing, steps, crawling, and then a lot more climbing involved. So if accessibility is an issue for you then this may not be the right choice.
Perhaps our main issue with this game was the climactic ending, which we unfortunately struggled to hear in full due to something else that was going on in the room at the time. If they could have found a way to stop this other feature, it would have helped us understand a bit more about what was going on.
PUZZLES
La Taberna’s strength was definitely in the set design, the puzzles however, for us at least, felt a little weaker. We had a couple of moments in the game where we were solving something only for it to trigger before we fully solved it. There was also another point where we were working with something only for the GM to appear and tell us to ignore it because it wasn’t working right. It’s a shame as moments like this have you questioning if the tech is going to work right in other areas.
I’d go so far to say that this wasn’t an overly challenging room, but that’s not a criticism at all, it means you can just have a fun experience and take in everything. This is one of those games that is designed to be completed and enjoyed, regardless of your experience level.
The puzzles we encountered all fit the theme and each one felt like it belonged within the theme of the specific room we were currently in. Searching, observation, teamwork, audio, communication, colours, a little bit of physical manipulation and GM interaction made up the bulk of the puzzles.
Once solved we found that some things triggered tech, while other things released keys or codes for locks.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Although La Taberna was our first game in Barcelona, it really showed us the start of the trend for fully in-character GMs. We were greeted by a character and that character wasn’t broken until our experience was over, the same with any other characters we interacted with throughout our experience.
I didn’t catch the names of the staff who hosted us, but they were great. They made us feel welcomed and immersed from the start, and knew when to chime in with help as/when needed. They also threw in some good humour from time to time and managed to go off script when required.
When we needed clues they generally came in as a disembodied voice, or on special occasions, a character appeared to help us on our journey. There was one part of the game which I think hadn’t been translated into English fully so a GM made an appearance, but it was done seamlessly and didn’t detract from the experience at all.
ANYTHING ELSE
I can see why La Taberna is rated so highly. In terms of sets, it’s one of the biggest we have played and it just seemed to keep going. We had one or two little issues with our game but if you’re in or near Barcelona, this is still a game that is 100% worth playing.
We found that not all escape rooms in Barcelona have toilets available from the start, The City Escape Room was one where they did – good to know.
Success / Failure
Final Rating:
| Operation | |
| Puzzles | |
| Room Design | |
| GM/Clues | |
| Excitement |
Team: 4 players
Address: Carrer del Llobregat, 4B, Local 11, 08223 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain
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