Now that it’s spooky season, we thought that it was time to discuss what makes an escape room scary! We get asked all the time, “How scary is this room?” Well, what you find scary is absolutely subjective, and what terrifies you may not terrify everyone else. (To be clear, there is a big difference between a scary escape room and haunts.) We’ve narrowed down three elements of what makes an escape room scary: atmosphere, relatability, and unpredictability.
Atmosphere
When you play in a scary escape room, the atmosphere heightens all of our preexisting fears. Sounds, imagery, and the unfolding story will all continually set you on edge. The game’s atmosphere creates a level of immersion that pulls you down into your scenario, making it difficult to discern fact from fiction. Is there really someone hiding behind that door? The combination of atmosphere and that blurred reality serve to make a normal escape room feel as tense as a horror film. The results are that these elements combine to really hit home each time the game deliberately scares you.
Relatability
Relatability is a key tool an escape room uses to make you connect with the horror. For example, hearing that knock from around a corner helps to remind you of the noises you’d hear when you’re alone at night. A horror escape room wants to prey on the connections you have to your everyday life, and this will result in you being even more immersed in the room’s horror. Ultimately, the game’s relatability helps to ground the horror in reality while also fully immersing you in a spooky setting.
Unpredictability
A key part of a scary escape room is unpredictability. Not knowing what will happen next makes every aspect of the room foreign. It makes you feel vulnerable and preys on your imagination! Your own imagination is one of your best tools for an escape room, but in a scary room it can be a large obstacle to solving puzzles. Ultimately, unpredictability will also heighten the difficulty of the room because it’s hard to focus on a puzzle when you’re always looking over your shoulder for the next scare.
Now that you know what makes an escape room scary, you won’t be so scared when you play an escape room this Halloween! But, we totally understand that being immersed in a scary game can make logic fly out the window, so don’t feel bad if you’re still scared! (No matter how scared you are, it’s just a game!)
Written by Jake Lee