La Cerveseria / The Barroom (Enigmik)

Review by Michael

I wish I understood the enthusiasm some people feel for this advertisement-like game. The only reason I’m not outright calling it a commercial is because I don’t know if, technically, it escapes that definition through some loophole or other. Put it this way, it focuses heavily on the beer produced and sold by its sponsor, and its theme is the making of beer. We were told by the alert, helpful, and fluent staff-member we spoke to that the venue had total creative control over the room itself, and that while the funding, and the bottled beers given out as “party favors” all came from that sponsor, the proposal came from the venue, because they were building an escape room where this brewery had once been.

I’m sure the beer is great (I have no idea, I don’t drink) and I have to wonder if it’s partly responsible for the many good reviews this place received.

I mean, it’s fine — it looks good, or, I should say, it looks expensive, and that might be enough for some people. But I question the endless honors, awards, and honorable mentions this room receives, as it does not really stand out against its siblings in Barcelona.

I think my problem with it stems from the fact that the challenges, supposedly related to the operation of a secret brewery, aren’t really fun mini-games in themselves (which is important for building up a feeling of confidence/competence as people master a big piece of machinery). Sometimes the task is to sabotage a piece of equipment — those moments were fun, as it took a bit of imagination to see where the possib ilities for sabotage were, and who doesn’t love that “great minds think alike!” feeling when a mischievous solution turns out to be correct?

But this was inconsistent. For the most part the job was to make beer. The challenge for the designer, then, would be to make that feel more like play than work. Each task was divided up by player roles, which is one of those design elements that can be thrilling or superfluous… in this context, it wasn’t really either one, as it conferred no ability, power, or privilege, only the additional job of “clocking in” at certain stations, and ultimately at an input station everyone on the team was meant to visit separately.

Another weakness was that none of the tasks that represented the phases of beer-making felt like toy versions of the actual task; they felt like obstacles that related only superficially to the measuring, etc, required of the actual beer making process. At their least playful, the least such tasks can offer is a bit of insight into the actual process, but these hurdles didn’t do that either.

There is something worse than ludonarrative dissonance, it turns out. The story within this room is even less compelling than its puzzles, but neither are interesting enough to be dissonant. Maybe that’s the secret to convincing critics you’ve made something special?

I think the reason for the good reviews is that there is an impressive amount of crawling around to be done, and reviewers love being told they have to crawl through a vent (or something like that). It’s a little arbitrary. My hunch is, most people who praise the room are falling for the high-production value, advertorial scene design, which, coupled with free beer, is bound to give anyone euphoric recall.

We found it vexing and incoherent.

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Enigmik