Haunting at Haruka High

This is one of the most immersive and impressive rooms we've done -both the level of tech and the way it was used were really cool. It was basically like being in a Japanese horror story. I don't do scary experiences as a rule (no haunted houses, no horror themed escape rooms with actors) but as a fan of Japanese horror I decided to try this anyway. I almost bailed a dozen times and I spent most of the time with my back against whatever solid wall I could find but it was worth it. Our GM was amazing - she was patient, she communicated with us regularly so I'd be more comfortable going into new spaces, she gave just the right amount of hinting & she did it without breaking the immersion. I put some additional details about the nature of the scares and the amount that the actor does/doesn't control the level of horror in the detailed notes. I put them there so anyone who would find it helpful can look but anyone who would consider it a spoiler can skip it.

Really great theming. Can’t decide if I would prefer a clock in the room or not.

Haruka High is one of the most accessibly scary rooms for a group. The theming contains spooks, jumpscares, or other potential horror moments that get your blood pumping, but never over the line. I was impressed with the engineering to make these spooks happen. I was concerned that the theming may have contained triggering content, but was pleasantly surprised to see how considerate they were in not letting those sensitive to trauma be triggered. The setting was incredibly immersive, with props and parts all throughout weaved super well — consistent with Omescape’s high quality of props and aesthetics. However, I felt a little off-put when one segment heavily used AI-generated artwork. The puzzles occasionally had clunky activation mechanisms that were exacerbated by steeling oneself into the horror mindset. I found this OK in the end but found our team tunnel visioning a lot more than usual. Some content was obviously cut but remained in the room. I appreciated our GM’s special attention to spooking the scaredy-cats in our group. Shout-outs to Jose!

Some things that are truly impressive about this room—the level of immersion, the care of the design, technicals details, the attempt to craft a meaningful narrative. However, some shortcomings prevent the love rating. A couple of clever exceptions, but on the whole the puzzles are fairly simple, with some feeling more like by-the-motions tasks to trigger the next effect or narrative development. Speaking of narrative, it’s lovely they crafted a full story with an array of recurring characters, but as a story it’s not all that interesting, and there’s a lottttt of it in the game, amounting to whole segments of passive listening or observation that do add up over time. Those caveats aside, a really fun game with some top-notch elements.

When you are investigating a haunt or a mysterious death, you know that you can expect the room to be very lore heavy and very story driven; however, this room in particular spends a lot of time developing the story. As such, your opinion of the pacing of the room (and especially the puzzles) can very much depend on how you take it all in. While I enjoyed how cohesive the storyline was, I found myself getting a little frustrated from it. There are long periods of storytelling performances that are delivered through audio. Even before the room, the GM warned us that some of the voice lines cannot be replayed and will contain important information, so we needed to pay attention. As someone who is hearing impaired, I would have really struggled if I didn't have a reliable partner to help summarize things for me, and it meant that there were long periods throughout the room where I simply didn't feel like I could do anything, when all we were doing was listening to a story that I couldn't hear. Even for others who do not struggle with hearing impairment, the pacing may leave heavy puzzlers wanting. This is all to say that I feel as though this room relied a little too much on audio and could have been placed a bit better. In general, I think plenty of people will enjoy the story, but YMMV. Please see the rating breakdown for my thoughts on the scariness of the room, but overall I did not think it was too scary, although it is quite spooky.

Haunting at Haruka High is a whodunnit wrapped in the story of a young school girl who, years ago, unexpectedly died. Along the way, you will discover why and how, in a game that expands over multiple rooms with impressive technical feats and numerous wow moments. The game has a few jump scares and even some opportunities for personalization. By the time it’s done, you’ve come to know and care for the game’s central character, and even empathize with what happened. It’s a game that’s impressive on a narrative, puzzle, immersion, and technical level and rivals Robotopia for my favorite game at Omescape.

This room has the most jump scares… really fun an a story driven room…

Johnny was so fun, loved the progression of the story, beautiful sets, and spooky fun! Definitely need a big group. Kudos to the performer!

I absolutely loved this experience, one of my favorite horror games due to the immersive experience that our Game Master provided to us. Shoutout to Alan for making this extra special for us! I think they're able to accommodate as many people as you'd like for this. But of course, the more intimate, the more scary.