Disappear Escape Rooms: The Sacrifice

We played The Sacrifice straight after Woman In Black, which I wouldn’t recommend doing despite the two venues being quite close to each other, because there’s considerable overlap in the style of set and scares: they both have supernatural spirits haunting gothic old-fashioned locations.

The world that The Sacrifice creates is even more large-scale, and we rapidly lost any sense of orientation, plunging through one dark and misty scene after another. You’re exploring the cursed village of Torryburn, and they really have created what feels like an entire village. And of course you’re not alone in the village. For us it was a noisier style of horror, with more screaming; as with many of the horror rooms I’ve played, I thought the scares came frequently enough for us to get used to them, and they’d be more effective if used more sparingly. The actors were energetic and alarmingly agile though, and played their part of antagonists effectively.

My impression was that The Sacrifice places less emphasis on the puzzles, using them as tasks that keep the players going in the right direction more than complex logical challenges. But it gives you a succession of obstacles to overcome, and a collection mechanism that helps mark your progress towards the grand finale.

Although less substantial on the puzzles, The Sacrifice is superb for exploration and adventure – it’s among the most impressive physical builds I’ve seen anywhere. Some of the details of the plot may have escaped me, but that barely mattered as we climbed and crawled through one location after another, up to a fittingly cool finish.