Maximum Escape Andorra: The Avalanche

The Avalanche, previously known as Avalanche of Oblivion, has been on my radar as a game to travel to for over five years now. Originally it was created and operated by the local branch of Claustrophobia, when that company was renowned for standout games across Europe; the venue is now a branch of Maximum Escape. Appropriately for a game in mountainous Andorra, The Avalanche has you trapped in a lodge buried by snow. A realistic start progresses in some unexpected directions, some way beyond the point where I’d first expected the game to finish.

While avoiding details, there’s something about Avalanche that’s almost hallucinogenic, and the tricks it uses to achieve that were some of my favourite moments in it: clever, unexpected and unique. Those were however merely the best of a whole variety of tricks used, first to put you in the story and then to take it in surprising directions.

At the same time, our experience was frustrating. Avalanche follows the Claustrophobia design style: free from anything extraneous, mostly linear, largely free from padlocks, keys and codes. That can work very well, but can also result in a stop-start experience with poor flow, where you’re surrounded by the same items all either used or not yet active, with no idea where to look to find the next usable item. We struggled in that way for much of the first third of the game, not helped by hosting that initially was much too quick to give hints and later fairly unresponsive even when we asked for them.

While game flow got smoother later on, there were still stumbling points such as needing to notice that something had changed in an area that we’d already left. That all left us feeling a little frustrated and soured on the game.

Nonetheless, it was objectively a highly original concept with a number of unusual, cool effects and ideas, that clearly ought to have been a better experience than the one we had. Despite frustrations, I’d still recommend it as well worth playing; at its worst it was still interestingly memorable, and with a smoother playthrough it could easily justify the TERPECA awards it’s won.