In this blog I we will be looking at the the differences between Virtualised (VR) Escape Rooms and the tradtional Escape Room Experience. Fans of traditional Escape Rooms may be reluctant to try and VR Based Escape Room as they would say “we’re not gamers” but with the growing quality of virtual Escape Rooms, the ability to work easier as a team and of course the types of scenarios you can place a group into using a virtualised Escape Room, perhaps its time for even hard-core fans of traditional physical Escape Rooms to take the plunge.
At Player Ready we have always offered Escape Rooms on our VR systems all the way back to 2018 and these at the time were quite basic, limited to perhaps 1-2 players. However we found that users loved them and often were keen for release of new titles.
In 2019 Ubisoft Games, creator of Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman, Far Cry, Watch Dogs and many entered the market launching Ubisoft Escape Games. These started using the world of Assassins Creed, for thoese unfamilar with the Assassins Creed universe, the basic premises in far in the future, humans use a form of time travel technolgy to control an Assassin in the distant past, often to solve a mystery or hunt down Templar Targets.  The series features historical fiction, science fiction and fictional characters intertwined with real-world historical events and figures.
This makes the idea of strapping on our Virtual Reality Headset here in 2021 and transporting yourself back into the distant past such as Ancient Egyptian Tombs also a perfect fit. These Escape Games mix a small amount of simple action such as using your hands to wield a bow to shoot targets, or hold mirrors to redirect light to open the tombs. There is a small amount of climbing involved, using your hands to grab ledges above you and “pull yourself” up.
Its this sort of content, large tombs, mirrors, shooting puzzles and climbing which can make a virtual reality Escape Rooms able to offer more than a traditional Escape Room can offer. However there are of course some limits, not everyone likes wearing a headset. The technology has moved foward alot even in the last few years, but if you don’t like having your eyes covered then that can be a show-stopper. Of course our headsets will fit people wearing most glasses or contacts and most Escape Rooms will only last 60-minutes so the weight of the headset isn’t an issue we’ve come across for most people.
Some players before they arrive worry about being dizzy, sick or vertigo. Although a tiny precentage of people using any kind of screen will feel sickness we find that this only normal occurs with fast moving content such as Roller Coasters or Racing – escpecially as the body is not moving at the same speed.
Virtual Escape Rooms use what is called “room scale” which is you stand (or sit in a wheechair) and as you phsyically move your head around, duck, crouch the headset is tracked, this prevents sickness. Vertigo may be an issue in some of the Escape Rooms which feature heights & climbing because of who realistic it seems, even someone affected by heights may hestiate to look over the edge in VR. Of course we have more gentle escape rooms which don’t feature heights, scares and are totally family friendly.
Currently we have over 12 exclusive Escape Rooms which can only be played in authorised commerical centres such as Player Ready Truro, Plymouth, Taunton or Plymouth.
This again hi-lights the advantage that a virtual Escape Room experience can offer over tradtional, we can take more risks and if you like scary content, we’ve got that covered, do you like exploring the future, we have space themed content? Fancy a jungle experience, we have that? Want to step into the Story if Alice in Wonderland? We have that as well.
Where as the average Escape Room due to limits on the physical building may offer 1-2 or some of the bigger ones 3-4 “Rooms” and will run these for a season which can be as long as 12-months – our Escape Rooms are always being added too, changing a virtual Escape Room is clicking a button.
Our team are always trying new content, some gets rejected, some gets placed on the “only for experienced players” list because of how challenging they are, we often start users on Ubisoft Series but we also have the entire ARVI Escape Room catalogue with our favourite being the new Alice In Wonderland Escape Room.
So lets look at the Pros & Cons:
Cons of Virtual Escape Room Experiences
- Some users don’t like using a headset for an hour
- Current Escape Rooms are limited to Six Players in the same Experience
- Rarely a technical glitch may occur
- Cannot yet “feel” the in-game objects…(coming soon though)
- Younger players under 7 cannot take part…
Pros of Virtual Escpae Room Experiences
- Larger scope and range of activities involved
- Content can be added as soon as its released
- More choice of experiences
- Bringing people together over distant to join in the Escape Room from two locations. For example 2 players in Truro, 2 in Plymouth and 2 in Portsmouth all connect together.
- Bring together the entire family, kids, teens, adults & grandparents can all enjoy the experience.
- Costs about the same as a physical escape room, this is mainly due to equipment cost and software royalities for premium Escape Room content.
We are of cause biased but we believe that Virtual Escape Rooms (VR) & AR Escape Rooms will be the future as technolgy improves headsets are getting lighter, wireless, better sound, better screens and with hand, body and room tracking, eventualy you won’t need controllers or additional equipment. Extra features such as haptic vests for “feeling” the experience and being added to future content and the abilty to stand on-top of an ancient pryamid or into the depths of a hellish dungeon – thats hard to replicate.
There will always be a place for a physical Escape Room at least until we have technology which like The Matrix makes you feel like you are inside it, the screams, laughs & feedback from our virtual Escape Rooms just proves they are the future.
Did you like this blog? Do you fancy an Escape Room ? Use Code: Blog1009 for 10% discount at all our Escape Room Locations currently open in Cornwall (Truro), Somerset (Taunton), Devon (Plymouth) & Hampshire (Portsmouth).