The Room – Brandon Darkmoor Ghosthunter – 6.5/10
Berlin, Germany
An internship with the famous ghost hunter Brandon Darkmoor – that was your plan. You didn’t expect to be sent off to a case on your first day though. In the past, the building of „THE ROOM“ was part of the Carl Bonhof clinic. This asylum experienced a horrible fire in 1987. Everybody survived – except for one person. The former opera singer Anna Morana haunts the basement ever since. Can you help her soul to find eternal peace?
Played January 2023
Our final experience at The Room was Brandon Darkmoor. Everyone, and I mean everyone who responded to our post about which rooms to do in Berlin had this as the number one room to do, so we made sure it was our last room of the day so that we ended on a high…. quelle disappoint. I think, because it had been hyped sooo much we went in with too much expectation.
Now don’t get me wrong, this was a good experience, many people would class it as a fantastic experience, but it was also a bit confusing in that it wasn’t an escape room (nor does it call itself one, that isn’t a problem), but it’s also not not an escape room. It’s not completely an immersive experience either. It is, as described, an ‘experience’ but that word covers quite a lot. For me personally, I think I would have preferred a GM led immersive experience for this. Our GM, the same one from Lost Treasure, was incredible. Give that man a raise. He seriously made the whole thing fun. He would have been amazing leading us round and hunting ghosts with us. That would have been the icing on this otherwise perfectly reasonable cake.
The room itself is absurdly clever. I had seen spoilers before going so I knew what was going to happen, but to see it in action was great. It’s extremely innovative and was probably the first of it’s kind when it was first built. I have seen 4 other rooms that do this special trick since, but I’m sure Brandon was the inspiration. It isn’t particularly pretty, but then, it’s not meant to be.
In terms of puzzles, there is a minor amount of searching and reading, and there are, if I remember correctly, 2 or 3 puzzles to solve. That’s why it’s not not an escape room. But at the same time, throw 5 people in who have just spent four hours solving puzzles and hey presto, you have a room full of people standing around wondering what on earth they need to solve when there is nothing to solve. I think they really should have drummed that into us HARD. It’s not their fault, of course.
There was a pretty decent storyline and a truly great ending to the game that really made all that early confusion worth it. We did have a good time and we would recommend this. Just go with the flow. Take it as a self led experience that requires some reading on your part. Pretend you’re at a ghost museum or something. Don’t overthink it. You’ll be fine.
Theme/Immersion – 9
Puzzles – 4.5
Fun Factor – 7.5
Difficulty – 5
Reviewed by A