[异能觉醒]诺亚 [Powers Awakening: Noah]

The scale and spectacle contained in Mr. X’s ‘Noah’ are breathtaking. It offers seamless transitions between cinematic moments of acting and narrative, and the puzzling and exploration of an abandoned medical facility. The experience never loses sight of its story, allowing players to move through a structured journey that blends actor interactions with video game–inspired boss fights. While the opening scene and, in particular, the epilogue stand out as some of the most magnificent moments of narrative delivery I have witnessed to date in an escape room, the stumbling block for ‘Noah’ is the puzzles. Some are built on stronger ties to the narrative, but others felt as if they were included simply for the sake of having a puzzle, to create space between moments of enthralling immersive theatre. For an experience that is so impressive across every other domain, the puzzles did feel like an afterthought at times. That said, ‘Noah’ was unlike anything else I’ve experienced—it felt like a masterclass in integrating immersive theatre and narration with the escape room medium. The game has stayed in my mind ever since, and I hope to see other designers take inspiration from Mr. X’s incredible work. This game, at the time of writing, is only available in Mandarin.

More immersive theater than true escape room, high production value, group required (didn’t allow private bookings), Chinese required