Dream Labs: Metropolis 2099

7/10 (fifth out of six in Franconia) 

So Toby's review of this escape room is responsible, to a large extent, for the formation of this entire trip, and of us being dazed and confused in the middle of the Franconia countryside.  He always seems to me very measured in his reviews, but this one had a different quality to it. 

We are also fans of both Blade Runner films. 

One interesting thing about booking this place was that we wanted to do this room first in the morning and then Pirat later, in the evening. 

I thought my colleague might be a bit worse for wear later in the day, and we were looking forward to this room the most, and thought Pirat was maybe a more suitable evening experience. Particularly being set partly in a bar. However in spite of us booking it that way, they changed it, without asking us , so that Pirat was first. 

This obviously is their preference. 

And whilst I'm critiquing their booking system it's maybe also worth mentioning that (at my time of booking) you can't book these rooms , on their website, very far in advance, they claim it's three months, but if you're at the end of a month, it's more like two and a bit. Also weirdly they have no contact details on their website 

So as much as they band about the word "Premium" I'm not sure contacting someone over an Instagram conversation is a particularly "Premium" booking experience. Just saying. 

Anyway to the point - we went into this room with incredibly high expectations, (never a good thing) and especially  after doing the Pirat room, and if I could sum the experience up it would be: "Style over substance"

 I thought the aesthetic of this room was incredible and I love the theme and there is obviously a hell of a lot of tech that has gone into it, it is brain-blowingly impressive in that sense.  

It started very strongly and I thought we were trying to find a missing woman? 

But then it felt like watching a film, but you go to the bog, and miss a crucial juncture. 

There just wasn't the emotional investment, climax, or payoff for us. 

I'm still not sure what happened to that missing woman? 

And so when we were asked if we wanted to save the entirely of humanity and all human accomplishment, (or something similar) we just sort of shrugged. 

I'm willing to accept that this is a great room, and we just didn't appreciate its full magnitude and magnificence 

I just somehow had a lot more fun and more satisfaction larking around in a Pirat bar. 

Auch dieser Raum, wieder eher eine Experience, reiht sich nahtlos in das vollends durchdacht designte Setting des Anbieters „Dream Labs“ ein. Mit allen Sinnen taucht man in die Cyberpunk-Welt ein und trifft im Raum sogar - wenn auch nicht persönlich - auf einen recht bekannten deutschen Schauspieler. Die Raumwechsel innerhalb des Spiels sind sehr flüssig und erzeugen einen sehr guten Story-Flow, auch mit mehr Rätseln als im „Herzlosen Piraten“. Für meinen sehr persönlichen Geschmack verschenkt das Finale etwas an Spannungspotential, da hätte ich mit mehr praktisch erlebbare Folgen unserer letzten Handlung gewünscht, zumal das letzte Rätsel kaum herausfordernd ist. Allerdings ist auch das Klagen auf hohem Niveau und der Raum erhält eine klare Spielempfehlung, nicht zuletzt, weil das Raumdesign und die Immersion auch hier auf absolut hohem Niveau sind.