Upside DownEscape Room DarmstadtEscape roomIRLWe played the Upside-Down room at Escape Room Darmstadt today – unfortunately, the experience was quite disappointing. Atmosphere & Design: The room feels old and worn out. The setup is dull, lifeless, and clearly lacking in care or creativity. There’s no immersive atmosphere at all – no tension, no mood, no sense of being in another world. This is especially disappointing considering the clear inspiration from Stranger Things, which offers so much potential. Technology & Game Flow: We faced technical issues right at the start – the game didn’t launch properly. Throughout the experience, the audio was barely audible. Important clues, such as the brief voiceover from “Eleven,” were difficult to understand and only appeared at the very beginning and very end. There was no consistent story or narrative to follow. Puzzles: Some of the puzzles themselves were well thought-out and made sense logically. However, there was no feedback when solving them – no indication if something was correct or not. That made the whole experience confusing and frustrating. It was also unclear what to do next most of the time, and the lack of structure prevented any real team dynamics from developing. Conclusion: This room failed to deliver on almost every level: no atmosphere, no coherent story, weak technical execution, and a lack of immersion. Given the price point – which is comparable to more modern, engaging rooms – this felt like a waste of money. A real shame.
