Komnata – Saint Angelo’s Castle

Komnata – Saint Angelo’s Castle
Location: London
Game Date: 02/10/2018
Team: Amy & Ian

Theme:
“The Dungeon of St. Angelo’s Castle is a place of great horror. Thousands of innocent victims of the Great Inquisition have spent their last hour in this very dungeon. Every prisoner sentenced to capital punishment was given the chance to save their own life. They were each locked in this dungeon filled with puzzles and mystical secrets for one hour. If they were unable to make it out, they were killed in the most horrible ways. Historians say that only one person managed to escape this gloomy place. He was a sculptor that reached the heights of the jewel craft. No one else has been able to make it out. The spirits of St. Angelo’s Dungeon now await your arrival. Escape within the hour or your soul will forever walk among them.”

St Angelo looks great, a fully immersive game that throws you into the bowels of the dungeons, with a great finish and again a high level of detail. (cloaks were given to wear too, which did set the scene well!) The space is large and has plenty to explore, covering a variety of different settings, all befitting of a dungeon and monk’s chapel.
The room is more than large enough for the maximum number.
Unfortunately, it is again, very, very dark and this is used (especially in the early stages) to increase difficulty within the game (granted I was struggling more with darkness due to my lack of glasses) but a decent in theme torch would have been a welcome respite to the continual low light level. That being said, the room looked beautiful.

Game Play:
A linear game that consisted of a variety of puzzles, logic, observation (heavy) physical, skill, word.
Puzzles were all in theme and presented in the context of the theme.
The interaction with the room was excellent, with puzzles being intrinsic to the theme and not just arbitrarily placed.
Ah-ha moments were excellent for the most part and there were no logic leaps, although there was a sense of ambiguity in one of the puzzles, and the lack of anything to write on hampered progress throughout the room.
Flow was ok, with a couple of sticking spots (mainly in the ambiguity of that one puzzle) and signposting was (like Dr Frankenstien) quite lacking and it was mainly up to the players to make connections and figure out in which direction the game went.
The game overall was enjoyable and challenging for 2 players, with some frustrating moments and some really nice ones.

Clue System:
Clues were given via a voice over

Game Host:
Our game host was good, his brief was short, but clues were delivered in a timely manner

Did we escape?
Yes, in about 55 minutes

Website: https://komnata.co.uk/london
Price:
2 Players £64
3 Players £96
4 Players £108
5 Players £135
6 Players £162