Yerevan, Jul 2024
There were several rooms available at Quest Project Isolation; we ruled out the horror games then chose Wednesday because it seemed to be their newest, and was listed as their most challenging. The theme is the Addams Family, following the recent movie, as our host explained expecting us to have seen it; but it wasn’t a problem that we hadn’t. In practice I saw little sign of narrative in the game beyond the broad theming.
Led into the room blindfolded, I found I wasn’t immediately sure where we’d entered from, which helped with the immersion. So too did the jauntily creepy music that played throughout. We had a slow start, with lots to investigate but little progress made until we accepted a hint to point us to the thing we hadn’t found.
The decor was effective and atmospheric, though a bit battered and not very robust – at one point the plastic cover for some wiring toppled off a doorframe. There were multiple sections, and in one of them the decorations went beyond atmospheric to being a bit messy and dirty, in a way that left us reluctant to search throughly.
In most respects Quest Project Isolation seems to be pretty well set up for English-speaking players; there was no problem communicating with our host directly or over the walkie-talkie. There was one puzzle in the game where the clue was in Russian, which might have been a reset mistake; getting past that is just about possible without knowing any of the language, with a little guesswork.
The mostly linear sequence had few problems with puzzle logic, and even some satisfying moments of realisation, though also some bumpy signposting. Overall I enjoyed it, even if I was picking fake cobwebs off my sleeves for some hours afterwards. But there were enough quibbles to hold us back from booking into some of the venue’s other rooms while we were still in Yerevan. 
