I recently had the opportunity to try out a new form of escape room- the AI Escape game at Immersive Gamebox. The setup is one of the most intriguing I’ve tried- a dynamic cube-shaped room where interactive touch-sensitive images are projected on all the walls. After giving it a shot, there’s one big question: is this the future of escape rooms?
Before I answer that question, I’ll share a little more about how it works. Upon entering the room, players each get a special visor to wear. It’s on the heavy side and a little uncomfortable at first, but after a few minutes, I didn’t notice it any more. The hat is used to capture where you’re standing in the room.
Three of the walls of the room are interactive, and the last wall, the one with the entrance, still gets a full-scale projection, albeit one that’s not interactive. The result is a fully immersive space, hence the name of the business.
The introduction describes the interactive walls as touchscreens, though while playing, we got the sense that wasn’t exactly true. Rather, it was an easier way to explain with players how to interact with the space. We believe that cameras above the players capture where you place your hands and use that to trigger inputs.
As your team gets started, you have the option to purchase refreshments to keep with you while playing. I imagine having a large group could get quite hot, so getting something to drink isn’t a bad idea.
After a bit of calibration, the game starts. The room shows a dynamic scene that settles into one 3D “room” of a house. The timer starts, and players are free to explore. Touch objects on the three interactive walls and they open or zoom for easier viewing. A few of the objects are locks that require entering a code on a large keypad that appears after pressing. By pressing on a door, you can move the setting from room to room, although it moves for everyone, so you had better make sure the team is happy with that decision.
The game is split into multiple chapters. Interestingly, only the first chapter fits the parameters of an escape room. The other chapters were fun, but they’re more of a linear puzzle experience tackling various challenges in order. It seems like challenges and minigames are the bread and butter of Immersive Gamebox, so it makes sense that the game would play to their strengths. In the first chapter, entering digits on 0-9 keypads proved frustrating at times, but after chapter 1, everything players need to touch is quite large and detects every action perfectly.
The game had a cute but simple story invoking Tron, with maybe a little 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nothing too revolutionary but enough to add a flow and an objective. It also allowed for a few interesting settings that made good use of the cube-like game space.
All the puzzles were quite simple and easy. We only had a few minor challenges – reading small text was difficult on the projection, and at one point players need to click on an object that doesn’t appear as clickable which added a bit of confusion. Some of the later challenges were skill-based rather than logic or strategy, but it was still fun.
With all that being said, we enjoyed our experience. It doesn’t scratch the same itch as a normal escape room, but I’d do another one in a heartbeat. I appreciate that this format could open the door to reusing one space for a potentially high number of games; that’s a wonderful gift for someone who usually has to travel 200 miles to find an escape room I haven’t played.
Immersive Gamebox is a new technology that fits in a sweet spot between VR and physical reality. I love that there’s a brand new canvas out there for new game designs, and I look forward to seeing what Immersive Gamebox delivers next.
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