Hamburg, Feb 2025
This was a game that I booked primarily for logistical reasons, looking for something that I could squeeze into a small afternoon gap in a tight schedule of games. So I didn’t have particularly high hopes for it, particularly since Team Escape is a multi-city chain, which experience has taught me often means less impressive games. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable and stylish this room was.
The setup is that you’re making a routine visit to a power station, one that’s controlled by an AI with an ominously friendly female voice (which you might recognise from somewhere…). Naturally, nothing will go wrong while you’re there…
As you’d expect from a nuclear power station, technology plays a leading role in this game, with plenty of screens and electronics. In many games that would devolve into too much of an instructional style, where you’re just following the steps that something is telling you to take, but Apokalypse mostly avoids that pitfall, and sometimes even deliberately subverts it. You don’t reuse items, but the game does re-use puzzle ideas – but putting a different spin on them each time.
It’s a tense type of setup anyhow, but the game amps that up in various ways, including an ongoing challenge that helps keep larger groups busy, or ensures that you’ll be kept on your toes throughout. In most respects I’d recommend a smaller group for this one though – even with three, there were moments where it was tricky to have more than two people involved at once.
The humour, the tension and some good hosting all helped elevate this experience; and much of that came via the AI persona, who was both an excellently themed source of hints and also a constant source of entertainment.
In Hamburg there is a wealth of good games to play, but I had no regrets about including this one; it’s fast-paced and funny, and will appeal particularly to anyone who likes tech and toys. 
