Review: Enchambered - The Whispering Halls

RATING: 5 Key RESULT: Win REMAINING: 9:34

Oh good, another “haunted” house. If I’ve done this once, I’ve done it a thou…..wait is that an actual freaking ghost?!?

Story

Your group has been summoned by the owner of an old Victorian manor. It seems that the property has a problem of the paranormal kind. As members of a paranormal investigations unit, you jump at this chance. Upon arrival, you are escorted to an old study adorned with books and curious artifacts from the previous owners. The owner begins to explain this situation:

“About 100 years ago this house was built by a wealthy clock-maker. Legend has it this house was built around a special clock. Some say the clock-maker built this clock to slow down time, so he could spend more time with is terminally ill daughter before she passed.

We have just recently acquired the home and are in the process of trying to re-sell it, but we are having some………problems. It turns out this house just might ACTUALLY be haunted! So we have hired you as paranormal investigators. All we is ask is that your team figure out if there are any ghosts, and, if there are, if you could kindly get rid of them for us.”

The owner leaves you to your work. His last words ring in your ears as a chill runs down your spine. “I hope you can help us, no one ever lasts past midnight”. The door slams behind him. The floors shake, and you can hear the loud rumblings of some ancient device inside the walls. With a loud crash, the door is sealed shut. Then the whispers start.

You look to the others in your group. What have you gotten yourselves into? The grandfather clock chimes eleven PM. You have 60 minutes until midnight and you are not alone!

We have heard these styles of stories before, the only difference is, Enchambered delivered a great experience to go along with their story!

Scenic

The Whispering Halls does not lack in the scenic department at all. Even before you enter the actual room you are met with a Victorian looking door complete with lion head knocker. Once you step inside you might as well forget about the outside world because quite simply, it does not exist after the door closes.

The owners combed over every detail and made every object and item found in the room feel authentic. The wallpaper, the clocks, the old style radios – everything felt spot on!

Did I mention the ghost of the little girl? When you find your way out of the first of multiple rooms you are met with quite a moment when a projection of a little girl’s ghost shows up in an open door and starts delivering a very ominous warning.

As you progress some of the scenery gets darker in content, building upon the story as you get further into the room. Not only was the visual on point but the audio was as well. Use of localized sound effects made it feel as though the spirits were moving throughout the room. The timing of the lights with those audio effects made our group stop what we were doing on a couple of occasions to pay attention to our surroundings.

Puzzles

Not only does The Whispering Halls deliver in the scenic, it also brings very satisfying, unique puzzles that I had not seen before. Are there combo locks? Yes, a few, but the overwhelming majority of the puzzles were tech driven – spliced into the theme and story of the room majestically.

One puzzle truly delivers a bonafide “Wow!” moment that everyone on your team will want to see. Luckily, with a few chances to witness it, no one should have to miss out.

I really enjoyed how they took some classic escape room puzzles that you see in some of the lesser quality games and turned them into something completely different.

The one thing that I did not enjoy with this game however, was the clue system. When a clue was requested the game master would have to come into the room to help us. This isn’t out of the ordinary with other games but with so much effort put into the immersion and use of tech, having an employee come in can take you out of the storyworld quite a bit.

Overall

At the end of the day, Enchambered has built an incredibly immersive game that challenges players of all levels. The owners truly understand how to build a game from the ground up and their game flow is spot on.

As you continue to explore the space, more and more things previously thought to be unimportant details show their true meanings and how they were important to the story. Enchambered did a magnificent job of taking a story we have heard before and feeding us breadcrumbs to lead us down a path toward the big reveal. When we finally got to the climax of the story we had been taken through a couple of entertaining twists and turns – delivering a story that is comparable to a movie!

Enchambered’s use of technology is second to none (at the moment) in the Sacramento area and is, without a doubt, one of the best rooms I have ever done. Being honest, my one nitpick thing about the venue would be the maximum group size. Twelve is a just too many people – but luckily we managed to play as a private game.

Enchambered is known for stepping up their games with every new release. With a recent warehouse expansion and construction of a new room well under way there is quite a lot to be excited for from this company!