Lots of escape rooms call themselves horror because there is a skull on the shelf and a red light in the corner. The good ones are different. They stay with you after you have finished. Here is what makes the difference, and how we try to do it in our own games.
A Story You Want To Finish
Fear without a reason wears off quickly. A horror escape room works when you want to know what happened as much as you want to get out. In Silent Night, you are searching Holloway House, empty since six year old Ada went to hide on Christmas Eve and was never found. Every room tells you a little more, and the ending is the reason to keep going.
Atmosphere Over Gore
The scariest thing in a room is usually something you almost saw. A creaking floorboard, a door that was shut a minute ago, a clock stopped at ten to twelve. None of our games use gore. They rely on sound, light and the feeling that you are not alone.
Scares That Earn Their Place
A jump scare every two minutes stops being scary. The best ones come after a quiet stretch, when you have relaxed. We keep them rare and we keep them random, so you can never quite predict the next one.
Puzzles That Fit The World
Nothing breaks the mood faster than a random number lock in a Victorian nursery. Good horror puzzles belong in the room: a family portrait that gives you an order, a music box with a tune you need, a rotary phone you have to dial. You should feel like you are working out what happened, not doing homework.
Fair, Not Easy
A scary room should be challenging, but you should never be stuck because the game hid something unfairly. Every clue in our games is there to be found, and the hint button will tell you where to look if you need it.
Sound Matters More Than You Think
Turn the sound off and most horror falls flat. Footsteps above you, a radio crackling on, wind against the window. Play with headphones or the TV speakers if you can.
Where To Start
- The Skeleton’s Curse: free, ten minutes, creepy rather than scary.
- Silent Night: a haunted house over three acts, 15 and over.
- Ward 13: a closed hospital where someone keeps pressing the call button, 15 and over.
