Stranger Things: Face the Dark

I was really excited to visit Netflix House Dallas and experience Stranger Things: Face the Dark, formerly titled Escape the Dark. The name change is definitely a good move, because this is by no means an escape room. I was initially confused when I booked it and then arrived to learn it had nothing to do with puzzles or traditional escape room gameplay. What this experience does exceptionally well is scale and immersion. The sets are impressive, the use of live actors adds real intensity, and the technology and production value are ambitious. There are moments that genuinely make you feel like you’ve stepped into the world of Stranger Things. The references to the show’s lore are thoughtful, and there are some genuinely effective scares. Overall, it’s clear that Netflix is aiming high here, and much of it works. Unfortunately, my visit was significantly impacted by technical issues and poor staff response. Because of a snowstorm that day, I was the only guest in the experience, which I was okay with because it meant that the actors were playing up their performances to me directly, which was kind of fun. About 10 minutes in, my headset stopped working. Without it, I couldn’t hear critical audio prompts directing me through the show. I notified three separate staff members. Each one radioed backstage, but no action was taken to resolve the issue. Eventually, when I was physically being ushered into the next room, I verbally refused to continue on, explaining that I was missing half the experience without functioning audio. Only then did a manager appear from backstage and offer to restart the experience with a new headset. I was happy to do that, but I shouldn’t have had to advocate for myself multiple times, especially as the only guest in the building. This experience is designed for groups of 30 to 40 people. If resolving a one-person technical issue was this difficult, I can only imagine how challenging support would be during a full session. To make matters worse, the first replacement headset they gave me also didn’t work. Thankfully, we caught it before restarting. The third headset finally functioned properly. Once the technology worked, I genuinely enjoyed the experience. The performers were committed, the environments were detailed, and the overall value for money felt fair given the production scale. It’s an ambitious and fun concept. While I didn’t try the Squid Game experience at this location, I did attend the traveling Squid Game experience in Los Angeles and had a great time. I hope to return and explore more of what Netflix House has to offer.

Rating: 4/5 - This is a theatrical haunted house with some mild jump scares. I love haunts though, so I really enjoyed it despite only watching the first season of the show (this takes place around season 4-5). There are no puzzles or challenges, you mostly just walk through and look at things. I do like the headphone idea, the audio is location specific and is synced to things that happen around you and provide instructions/voice-over. The flashlight idea was decent, shining them on things will trigger effects, but you only use them in the first part of the experience. Overall the sets looked fantastic, fairly high budget with an epic finale scene. There is a lot of tech, dramatic moments, and easter eggs for fans of the show. There were multiple really good actors that added to the immersion. You go in as 4 groups of 10 people, but eventually all 40 people come together. It is a lot but they designed the experience to handle that group size decently. I feel like this high quality of experience would fit right in at a theme park.

This was an immersive experience, leaning towards a low scare haunted house. There were a few live actors who were okay…most of the experience is you being ushered from room to room to go through a stranger things-related story (aligned with season 4). I’m usually very jumpy and easily scared but did not find this scary. You are in a group of 40 people who are split into 4 groups of 10 but for most of the experience you are waiting for 40 people to go in and out of rooms. Production design was great, sound was great, visual effects were fun. Overall it was fun for a stranger things fan but may not be worth it for people who are not.