Escapeway (Madrid)

  • Time: 60-70 minutes
  • Capacity: 3-8 players
  • Theme: Espionage
  • Difficulty: Very Hard
  • Recommendation: Skippable

Check position in our ranking and our detailed rating.

Date we played: April 2018 (5 players)

Very nice game if you don’t need the game master

Famous for its difficulty, when we played it the website displayed a 7% exit rate. Later, they added the possibility to choose between “medium/hard” and “hard” modes, and a money supplement can increase your time from 60 to 70 minutes.

Punishing the dirty intentions of a corporation from the hideout of an “Anonymous” member, following the clues he left before fleeing… the game aims at a great experience. With a decent story, an original introduction, a suitable decoration, and not very original but well integrated puzzles (especially some details), El Escondite del Hacker aims at being a top escape room in Madrid.

Nonetheless, it was our worst escape room experience. It was a perfect example of the importance of the game master. When the game master does a good job we don’t notice it that much, we have a great global experience and we do not stop thinking whether he/she contributed more or less to the outcome. But when a game master ruins your experience in a nice game, then you realize it. Cheers for the great game masters we don’t value enough!

In our experience in El Escondite del Hacker the game master left a lot to be desired. He performed the intro with apathy and disdain. During the game, he seemed to be absent for long periods. In one of them, he left us being stuck for 20 minutes and did not interact with us despite we asked for help in repeated occasions. Most of the hints we received were not helpful. When time run out without being able to escape, the game master burst into the room with satisfaction. He quickly and briefly showed us the remaining riddles and asked why we were so serious. One of us tried to explain: it was a pity that in such a great game many players would miss half of the experience. He reacted with a “bah” and looking away.

This story may seem the expression of the frustration of poorly skilled players who didn’t make it. We all know that players have better and worse days, and according to it we play better or worse and enjoy more or less, being this totally independent of the game itself. Also a game master has the right to have a bad day. Hence we talked to other teams, who played with the same game master between one year before and one year after our episode. Some of them escaped on time but still had a similar experience to ours. According to the owners, they received multiple complaints about their game master.

Anyway, as we went through the lobby, one of the owners showed interest in our team and shared with us a pleasant conversation about other escape rooms.

It is curious that in our experience in El Misterio de la Calavera de Cristal, another Escapeway room, the game master was not very successful either.

Our experience in El Escondite del Hacker was bad. Being objective, the game itself, regardless the game master, is very good. That was especially annoying, but everything has a bright side: it motivated us to become better players and develop our escape room skills (see In-depth guide for beginners). In this way, we will not have to depend on the game master to fully enjoy a game, in case we find ourselves in a similar situation.  

To sum up, if you are experienced and barely need help to complete your escape rooms, you will probably enjoy El Escondite del Hacker. If not, you may better check new references on the game: hopefully they changed their game master.

UPDATE: After the closing down of Escapeway, the game has been moved to Experiencity and been reworked (read our review here).