Escape Barcelona: Alien : El Origen (Barcelona, Spain)

"They're everywhere!"

Touted by a few Spanish bloggers as the "top escape room in Barcelona", we were ready to see this game for ourselves. We were the first players from outside of Spain to play this game and this should really help the accuracy of stack rankings for the TERPECA project. Two locals accompanied us for the game in case we needed translations but all essential portions were in English so we didn't need any help. We also learned that it took over a year to create this escape room with a full time building staff.

From their site:

"Forma parte de la tripulacion de la USCSS Escape y viaja al planeta Thedus./ Be part of the crew of the USCSS Escape and travel to the planet Thedus."

Also, special thanks to Victor from the Spanish blog Room-Escapers for all his recommendations in the city!

Game Play, Set Design, Puzzles

The immersion was great and the feeling of being in an "Alien" movie was pretty darn good. Those who have played the official Alien VR game in Anaheim will see some similarities in terms of the environment and the intro to the game. The start was stellar and there was a good variety of puzzles that required dexterity and some video games like elements. The puzzles were fun and on the easy-medium scale of difficulty and the overall experience was superb.

The game branches off with split teams and four players was the minimum needed as there were some puzzles which require at least two people per track to complete. Event though the teams are split, the tracks are 90% the same so that should alleviate FOMO concerns which some enthusiasts may experience.

Several independent decisions were made by both teams that not only affected the other team's gameplay, but also the ending of the game. Of course, the other team made a decision that made our tasks significantly more difficult, which often happens as Sarah is a little devil.

There were nine possible outcomes in "Alien : Origen" which goes to show how much thought went into the creative process. There are some frantic moments that recreated scenes from the movie and our performance had consequences in terms of the final outcome. One of the tasks was daunting with just two players but that's just part of the game play so there was no need to panic too much.

The ending was great with everyone scrambling to complete the final few tasks. If we were more than four it would have been overly crowded in some tight corridors so we recommend playing with exactly four players.

Memorable Moments 

You wanted a movie-like experience? You got a movie-like experience! The fantastic start and strong finish will forever be in our memories.

Room For Improvement

There was an instance where we completed a task but were not aware that this was the case. This is being very nitpicky, it wasn't a big deal at all. On a separate note, puzzle snobs may feel that the challenges may be a little straight forward for their tastes. It was so fun we wanted more!

Overall Thoughts

The adventure of playing this game was a real treat. We suggest playing with exactly four players in order to maximize the game play as it's not possible with two and would be crowded with more than four. While not the most puzzle heavy game, the thrill of running through a nicely sized alien spaceship and the overall experience was top of class.

• Set design: Awesome Alien spaceship!
• Difficulty: Medium
• Price: 17€-25€ ($20-$29)/person 
• Number of players: 4-10, private (we recommend exactly 4)
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Overall Rating: ★★★★★ (The future of entertainment)

See their website here: https://www.escapebarcelona.com/en/

See Room-Escaper's review of Alien (in Spanish but Google translated into English) here.