Unreal: District 111 (Barcelona)

TAGLINE

After that cataclysm, humanity was never the same again. The population fell into collective paranoia and wars began for control of provisions and energy supplies. The earth has become a mess and there is no safe place. Staying alive for another day has become the main goal of people.

After the great disaster, the federation gained power over part of the city, managing to take advantage of the situation to have power in exchange for the safety of the population. However, the Fireflies, a rebel group, have managed to control some districts of the city, thus creating their own rules and plunging them into an anarchic system that only seeks destruction.

Will you be able to survive in one of its districts and complete the mission assigned to you?

District 111 was one of those games that was instantly on our must-play list for our trip to Barcelona. Like many of the games we were playing, I didn’t know much about it – I gather it was a mash-up of perhaps Fallout and The Last of Us, but that for sure got my attention. Obviously it’s TERPECA ranking of #86 in 2024 also didn’t go unnoticed. Oddly, it debuted in the TERPECAs in 2022 at #56, before dropping to #96 in 2023, and then actually improving its position in 2024. That seemed odd as generally you’d think that games would continue to decrease, rather than fluctuate – a good sign.

We arrived at the venue early into what felt like a residential area, and started to question if we were in the right place. Fortunately our GM arrived soon after we did, and opened the shutters revealing the Unreal branding.

After a little time for him to get everything ready inside the room, the door eerily opened by itself and suddenly we were in a different world. We weren’t greeted by a GM, but by a video. This video gave us the backstory to what had happened, and where we were. Once the video was over, it was time to explore this rather cosy space we found ourselves in.

Oh and this venue does have a toilet, just don’t don’t ‘unlock’ it until later in the game (the toilet is also not a puzzle).

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

District 111 was beautiful. Ok, it seems odd to call a post-apocalyptic world ‘beautiful’, but in terms of set design, it was. Each space we encountered had carefully been thought about in terms of how we would intersect with it and also why it was there. I think when we first got into the ‘main’ area, we spent a little time just ogling everything.

Despite being atmospheric, lighting was never an issue, and I don’t recall ever struggling to see anything. The sounds, and even the smells also felt genuine and added to the immersion that we experienced here.

This game is very much not accessible, that was pretty clear to us. There was climbing, crawling, stepping over things, stepping under things, and generally just things all over the place.

PUZZLES

Finding the venue was a puzzle in itself as it was round the back of a large building – fortunately they did give us a good map to help us locate it. Inside the game you will be challenged in many ways; searching, observation, dexterity, teamwork, pattern recognition, logical reasoning and doing things that you really think you shouldn’t be doing, but you do it anyway because that’s what you’re supposed to do even if it feels wrong to do it.

Some of the puzzles do involve colours, not enough for us to find it caused issues for our resident colour blind player, but colours nonetheless.

The puzzles were satisfying to solve and used some cool mechanics and tech. Once solved, something either triggered by magic (tech) or we received a code for a padlock. But padlocks generally appeared in logical places.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Something the Spanish in general seem to be fond of is a cold start to an escape room, throwing you straight into the world with no preamble. As such, we didn’t actually physically meet our GM until after the experience ended, and this actually added to our experience. Despite not meeting him, he was ever present and there when we needed him to be.

I honestly can’t remember if clues were delivered via a walkie-talkie or via a speaker, but our GM would chime in, in character as and when needed. Sometimes it was simply to progress the story – or to tell us that yes, we really did need to do what we were thinking we should do.

After the game, we got to meet the man behind the voice and take our team photos with some cool post-apocalyptic weapons!

ANYTHING ELSE

If you’re a fan of Fallout or The Last of Us, then this game should be a must play. If you’re not a fan, then still play it – it’s great!

A bit dusty and dirty in places, and perhaps a puzzle or two we didn’t fully get on with, but nothing that could really ruin the experience for us.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players

Address: Bac de roda 186, local bajos 1ª – 08020, Barcelona

Website: https://unrealroomescape.es