A must play
Location: Voorburg, Netherlands
Date Played: July 10, 2023
Team Size: 2-5; we recommend 3-4
Duration: 90 minutes
Price: 179 € per team
Ticketing: Private
Accessibility Consideration: All players must climb and crawl
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
Down the Hatch's Molly's Game is a ground-breaking puzzle-driven immersive narrative experience that demonstrates the incredible potential of escape rooms as a more mature storytelling medium.
I emerged from the game with full-body chills, on the verge of tears, struggling to fully process what I'd just experienced and its tremendous implications for escape rooms on the whole. Of the many hundreds of escape rooms I've played to date, I can count on one hand the number that have evoked strong, complex emotions with such thoughtfulness and clarity.
Molly's Game checked all the boxes for a top-tier escape room: a sprawling, detailed set; memorable interactions and magical special effects; lighting and sound design cinematically scoring every moment; and no shortage of satisfying, creative puzzles. And yet what truly elevated the experience was the narrative depth and cohesion that tied it all together. Each carefully cultivated emotion and each shocking revelation built into the next. Not a single element was extraneous.
Did Molly's Game tell my all-time favorite story? Honestly, no. But did it tell its story effectively? Resoundingly yes, with a nearly unprecedented level of passion, conviction, and sophistication.
There's a fine line between sufficiently praising and unfairly overhyping world-class experiences. Any given game will land differently for different players, different teams, and different playthroughs. So is Molly's Game the top escape room in the world? To me, the only reasonable answer to such a question is with an optimistic prediction: I believe that Molly's Game will fundamentally influence and inspire countless "best in the world" escape rooms in the years to come, providing them with new tools to more effectively tell diverse and varied stories.
For escape room players who care about narrative, Molly's Game is worth traveling from any distance to play. The Netherlands and Belgium are astonishingly rich with dark, sumptuous, narrative-centric escape rooms, and Molly's Game is unequivocally one of the region's crown jewels.
When you visit, I recommend moving through this experience with maximal intention and openness. Don't rush. Don't treat the puzzles as "just" puzzles. Read everything. Unlike in the majority of escape rooms, every interaction, every detail, and every mind-blowing effect in Molly's Game has a clear "why" — even if not immediately obvious in the moment — and ultimately, the game's narrative is its principal puzzle.
Image via Down the Hatch
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