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 rooms at Ukiyo.
I had played other rooms by Ukiyo before (including Deep Space (in person) and their online “Ukiyo at home” experiences). I had mixed experiences on those earlier occasions, but I had heard good things about Ukiyo’s Crumbling Prince series so I went it with an open mind.
The Crumbling Prince (Episode 1) was our 222nd room to date. Before we played the room, players are asked to go online to play a short room called The Sound of Spring (A Crumbling Prince Tale). Unfortunately, much like the Ukiyo at home experiences I had played before (and never again), we had issues with the execution of the online experience. One of our players was stuck in a never-ending loop in the game (and was really frustrated with it). The Sound of Spring experience was very similar to my criticisms of the 2 Ukiyo at home experiences I had played – they needed a lot more beta testing.
However, here is what I thought of The Crumbling Prince (Episode 1):
·
the experience
begins well before players enter the room.
Players sit down in a separate space and are provided with tea and mochi
– it is all very calming and does well at setting them scene for the room to
come;
·
the theming
in TCP was really nicely done. The
designers have applied a high level of attention to detail with all aspects –
the sounds, the props, the overall feel were very nicely done;
·
the
biggest drawcard of TCP is that each player has their own role to play – some can
commune with nature, others can provide light, and so on. I thought this was
executed well. The second main drawcard
of TCP is that players have the opportunity to interact with a NPC throughout
the experience. We were told that the
more we interact with the animatronic NPC, the more immersive the experience
would be (and this was certainly the case);
·
whilst I
enjoyed those elements, I found the room overall to be very slow paced. I
really enjoy immersion in escape rooms, and perhaps it was because we had a lot
of other rooms to play that weekend on our Melb trip, but I felt like the
experience could have been 60 mins not 120 mins. The tea and mochi were nice, but given we
played this room back to back with TCP Episode 2, I felt like we spent a lot of
our day in a dark room (which felt like a bit of a waste of time for me). I have no doubt other players really enjoyed
the tea and the slower pace of this room, but each to their own; and
·
the price
of The Crumbling Prince is very expensive (certainly the most expensive room I
had played at the time). The price was
$81.25 per player, which I think personally is a lot of money for the
experience on offer.
Whilst I enjoyed aspects of TCP Episode 1, the pace was just too slow for me. I enjoyed the theming and the interesting interactions with the NPC, and each character having their own special power, but it missed any sense of excitement or urgency for me. I look back and would describe the experience as more interesting than fun, which is a shame.
Where: Ukiyo
Duration: 90 minutes
Themes: 4 (but more planned)
Cost: $81.25 per person (assuming team of 4)
Overall Rating: An interesting, immersive but slow paced experience
More details: https://www.ukiyo.com.au/
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