Sonata of Shadows

THE VOICES!!! Oh me oh my, what a fantastic room! Sonata of Shadows? More like, Sonata of HUGE BEAM OF LIGHT AND WONDER. I was so impressed with the set up here, this was my third experience at Ukiyo so I came in with a rough idea of what to expect and was instead met with a wonderful subversion of expectations. We’re talking a new space to explore, a story that works standalone or as a continuation, interesting NPCs and… puzzles! My god! My sweet boys finally made a puzzle-dense room! It’s beautiful! The set design was gorgeous, the puzzles were rustic and tactile, the story had urgency, the characters were layered (even comedic at times) and the dress ups were at their best. The 4 masks are also back in a big way with a slightly larger array of abilities and application, with the unique powers not only serving the story but acting as a more crucial puzzle-solving element too, a super ideal tweak in my opinion. Players also have two different game modes to choose from, “focused mode” for a more linear, story driven experience and “open world mode” for a multilinear, chaotic play-through; a really clever and accomodating addition. (If you favour player autonomy, choose the latter). While I’m usually not a massive fan of Ukiyo’s “save states” or “come back for part two” style of play, I have to admit this one was very cool and a narrative I’d be happy revisit and explore in the future. Enormous kudos to Mike and the team, they didn’t really put a foot wrong in this one. It’s head and shoulders my favourite room of theirs so… what are you doing? Stop reading my silly little review, grab a few of your most whimsical friends, and go save my darling, 👁️ The Herald 👁️ 8.6/10 🔏🧩

This escape room is so different from any other escape room!! You're not aiming to escape or find the killer, just understand the story. This is the kind of escape room that is just eons ahead of its time and I'm looking forward to doing many more with Ukiyo (did all of theirs except the horror one which has since closed)