In Paris, the very first French « escape game » opened its doors a few weeks ago. This collaborative game allows total immersion and the graphics are striking. Virtual Room is simply stunning!
The « escape games » (life-size escape games) are in fashion, hard not to hear about them. Indeed, the concept is rather attractive: in groups of two to ten participants, clues must be gathered in order to solve an enigma in a limited period of time. Some of these games feature unconnected puzzles while others build it all around a story.
» It took us a year and a half and a team of 10 people to develop the game. We are the first to offer a collaborative experience for several people over such a period of time in the heart of Paris. says Vincent Kawnick, co-founder of Monsieur K, the studio to which we owe the Virtual Room experience.
However, the interested party explains that this is not an escape game as such, preferring to evoke the term « collaborative virtual adventure ». Equipped with an HTC Vive virtual reality headset, an audio headset with microphone, each player will have to collaborate with other players in order to complete tasks or puzzles necessary for progress in the game.
The level of the puzzles also remains low, in order to reach a wide audience of all ages, but boredom is not present. The experience seems exceptional and despite the headphone cable which can be annoying, no motion sickness is to be deplored (headaches, nausea, etc.) since the movements correspond to what we see.
Each player is placed in a 9 m² box and the experience lasts between 40 and 50 minutes, of which here is an overview:
Sources: Sciences et Avenir – Challenges