In 1888, in a famous London neighborhood called Whitechapel, a series of murders committed by Jack the Ripper took place. Now, 130 years later, a murderer is paying tribute and causing chaos following the footsteps of Jack himself. In this escape room we will challenge you to decipher a series of enigmas that will challenge your intelligence, imagination and cooperation in addition to testing your fears. Wit, collaboration, perspective … All the senses must be alert, any small detail can be essential to overcome the challenge.

So far, I had played very few scary rooms due to the theme not being a big hit on our group. I had not played any of the tension or horror rooms that involve actors, apart from the Catacombs in Amsterdam. When I told some veterans that I’d like to get started with Whitechapel, and that we’d be just two players, they said: Well, that’s going all in. Either you’ll love it or hate it! They were right.

Whitechapel is a piece of art. The introduction is a 10/10 and may very well be the best intro I have ever experienced. You are greeted by an in-character GM from the first moment while a blind character Sam with a very specific speech signature warns you of how dangerous the neighbors of Whitechapel are. His blindness is an excellent tie-in to why it is no problem that it’s so dark in this first room. It is so dangerous in fact, that Sam will give you a safe phrase. A safe phrase you will not want to use, trust me.

All in all, it’s a very hands-on experience. You’ll need to react to what is happening around you and the room will throw the best bravery test I have ever seen at you. It’s a very clever idea, and it is even better executed. It is important to notice thought that despite all the horror and fright, the room always uses safe scares, and they respect the time the players need to solve riddles.

Horror analysis (mild spoilers): Some great horror tricks include: Perfect timing with lights on and off. Something approaching, and nothing you can do about it. Fear of the unknown. Retreating back to where you had to escape from at an earlier stage. On the downside, a few of the core riddles are on the easier and weaker side in retrospect – but perfectly understandable given players won’t be able to give their 100% while scared.

Another genius use of horror tricks that shows that the creators of the room are masters of horror: Tension cannot be held indefinitely, so a pinch of hilarity provides a respite while giving horror a chance to sneak up on you and catch you off guard. Finally, fully surrounding effects that not even 7.1 audio systems achieve made me feel like there were not two but 15 actors.

What some may consider spoiler but I believe to not reveal a lot of the room, but rather a warning for the scared: There will be physical contact. You’ll need to save your friends. Or perhaps they’ll need to save you. Do not worry: It’s gentle non-painful contact. If you are worried about all this, the game also offers a Mystery mode, a lighter version of the game.

Is it playable in English? Not really, unfortunately. They mentioned they could run a customized session if you request in advance. Some international enthusiasts managed to reach out to some well-known local enthusiasts that re-played the game with them and acted as translators. It’s key for the intro, one scene that requires role playing interaction and necessary for two of the riddles.

• Website: http://www.roomwhitechapel.com/
• Duration: 75min
• Escape time: 55/75 min.
• Difficulty: Medium-High depends how much horror affects you
• Players: 2-6
• Price: 75-120 Euros
• Location: Carrer de les Acacies, 23-25, Barcelona
• Rating: 9.2/10

Read about the other 15 rooms we played on this Barcelona trip on “BARCELONA ESCAPE TRIP – DECEMBER 2019“. (published in the next few days)