Hi all
Back in February 2023, my usual team of 4 took a kid-free trip down to Melbourne over a long weekend. After hitting the Mornington Peninsula, we headed to the city and checked out (among other rooms), The Curium Experience.
The Curium Experience has just the one room available at the time that we played, but they have more rooms planned. We had heard nothing but great things about Curium (with many of my escape room friends telling me it is the new must do room in Melbourne), so it was at the top of our list.
Their first room is called Extraction. Extraction was our 221st room to date. The summary of the room is as follows:
Extract the artefact and don't get caught... easier said than done when the item is held in a secret lab in Area 51. Our technology can get you in, but after that, you're on your own. We hope you have what it takes... after all, the future of the planet is at stake!
Here is what I thought of Extraction:
·
Extraction
was phenomenal! Of all of the rooms that I have played to date, this one most
made us feel like we were on a movie set.
The tech and theming were off the charts;
·
Extraction
is one of the biggest experiences we have played to date. We were told afterwards how many metres players
traversed in this experience was (I have forgotten the precise amount, but it
was enormous);
·
there are
so many puzzles in Extraction, many of which were really challenging. Some of the puzzles required dexterity,
others more typical escape room brain burners.
The visuals are so impressive that I found in some parts of the
experience, it took a minute or two to take in all that there was to see before
I could get my brain focused on the task at hand;
·
the
experience starts off quite unassuming, in what looks like a typical escape
room, but it builds (and builds) from that point right up to the ending. It has a really good room (and suspense) flow
in that regard;
·
the
amount of tech that goes into this experience is mind blowing. I understand it
took a long time for Curium to construct this room, but it very clear why (and
the effort certainly paid off); and
·
we were
lucky enough to get to speak with owners Charlie and Rohan after our
escape. It is always great to talk to
owners who are enthusiasts and who generally care about ensuring that players
all have a great experience in their rooms.
I had one reservation going into Extraction and that is that I had heard that the room pushes players through. That is, if you are taking too long on puzzles, the game can move you along (whether or not you have completed the relevant puzzle(s)). I had had a really bad experience with this model of escape room before, where the room had arbitrarily decided that we had taken too long on a puzzle and solved it for us. I found that model thoroughly frustrating and unsatisfying.
I am really pleased to report that we did not have this issue at all in Extraction. There was just the one puzzle that we didn’t solve (very early on), but the game moved us on and we certainly didn’t feel that we had been deprived of solving the puzzle. Other newer players might however feel that frustration though if they are pushed through multiple puzzles, so it’s something to be aware of.
Extraction is a big-budget, movie-set quality experience. It is jam packed full of challenging puzzles, the backstory is strong and the tech is off the charts. It has clearly been designed and built by enthusiasts
Where: The Curium Experience
Duration: 90 minutes
Themes: 1 (but more planned)
Cost: $59 per person (assuming team of 4)
Overall Rating: The best room in Melbourne, hands down.
More details: https://www.curium.com.au/
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