Escape rooms have always been loved and appreciated by the players. This 60-minute real-time adventure game puts the person right in the middle of the action and provides him/her with an exhilarating experience. What makes them so enjoyable and fun is their immersive nature. So how do escape games provide people with this immersive experience? To answer that, we need to take a look back in time.
Escape rooms were started in 2007 by a company known as SCRAP in Japan. These escape rooms’ whole concept was to bring the ‘escape the room’ video games to life. So, spots, decked up with mind-bending puzzles, riddles, quizzes, and ciphers came to life, where the players had to solve to win the game. SCRAP was successful in doing that, and naturally, escape rooms became a roaring success. The escape room trend spread across the world like wildfire, and the rest is history!
But recently, escape room has started witnessing a new clientele, i.e., the gen-Z. This generation is born tech-geek. Technology is an inseparable part of their life. Since birth, they have witnessed the marvels of technology and have made use of them. The games that they play on their computers and their phones are highly immersive and engaging. When they leave their homes to experience a real-time adventure such as escape rooms, they expect nothing less than an enchanting escape experience. So, to cater to this generation’s needs, the escape rooms had to take their game up a notch.
That is where technology comes in! To compete with the contemporary modes of entertainment, escape rooms have employed the latest technology. Retaining the original escape room layout and adding the virtual reality game feel has helped the escape rooms to elevate their performance.
If you want to know how escape rooms achieved that, then hype up! We have what you are looking for: –
- Cameras, speakers, and microphone: Escape rooms have long been using cameras to monitor the rooms and prevent any mishaps. But recently, cameras have started serving a dual purpose. Now, the game-master is not required to be in the room to provide the players with the hints. The players can simply look towards the camera and ask for them, and they will receive them via the speakers. Cordless telephones or walkie-talkies are also used in some rooms to serve this purpose. Moreover, the speakers can be used to add sound effects to the game. Imagine playing a horror game and listening to the witch’s evil laugh or always hearing a phrase spoken by a person, which later proves out to be a major hint! Wouldn’t that make your experience ten times more exhilarating?
- Lighting: Lights play a significant role in setting the mood right for any occasion. To suit different genres of escape rooms, other colored lights are brought to life. Flickering lights can easily add a horror effect to any room and send a chill down anyone’s spine, dim-lit rooms create a sense of mystery and add suspicion to the environment. Neon-colored lights are perfect for portraying a sci-fi themed room. Also, tiny LED lights are used to highlight a particular area or to make any object enjoyable to look at. Hence, lighting plays a significant role in feels enhancement.
- Props: Props have always been the heart and the soul of an escape room. The real-time feel of escape rooms is all because of the support used in the gameplay. Imagine how immersive and interactive an escape game can be if the props use the latest technology. Escape rooms now offer working TV sets, talking dolls, tiny robots, and so much more. Also, some escape rooms have leveled up their game by using holograms and electronic labyrinths. All in all, these tiny knick-knacks play a massive role in setting the environment right for the game, and they also affect the psyche of the players to provide them with an enveloping experience.
- Lock and keys: Lock and keys have been used for so long in the escape games and other games. Escape rooms changed the conventional lock and key and replaced it with new magnetic waves that are tougher to figure out and give a sense of challenge to the players. Even the old, conventional combination locks and detonators now feature new looks and are operated via touch screens. In sci-fi-based escape rooms, unlocking the chests or doors by putting the combination on a touch-screen pad would make the players feel like a tech-genius and make the gameplay even more authentic the storyline it is based on.
- Miscellaneous: Some escape rooms have moving walls, lasers, infrared light sensors, automated doors, or even motion sensors. All these things are costly; that is why very few escape room brands can afford them. However, we agree that these things can take the escape game to the next level and make them even more immersive. Because the technology is advancing so rapidly, we are sure that more and more escape rooms will soon use them.
- Virtual reality technology: The most significant advancement today in escape rooms is introducing virtual reality (VR) to the gameplay. The VR glasses/helmets bring a whole new level of excitement to the players as they provide the players with a real-feeling environment and game. The VR technology rewards the players with never-before-seen experience. VR makes the players feel as if they are interacting with the environment. Imagine having a sword in your hand and fighting a dragon that is protecting the chest of gold. Experiencing all these story tales and fiction is simple via virtual reality!??
VR technology is still in its developmental stages, but there are still a lot of promising results. One thing is for sure, the next year of escape gaming will be about the virtual-reality environment.
Final words-
The room and gameplay themes are in constant development and are trying to adapt to the ever-growing technology. To make the spaces more exhilarating and enhance the games’ feel factor, the brands are making use of all the latest technology that they could. Therefore, according to the trends, the escape game will not fade into mediocrity, and they are here to stay for the next decade. Haven?t tried any hi-tech escape game? You are missing a major fun! Surf the web and book now!
