HUSH Escape Room by Breakout Philippines - My "DON'T BREATHE" experience

Gone were the days when the characters scream at the sight of a scary figure. In the "Don't Breathe" movie by Columbia Pictures, the wealthy, blind man was about to be robbed by Alex, Rocky and Money. They thought they could escape with his cash but then the old man could hear every step, every move, and every breathe. How can they escape a blind serial killer with heightened sense of hearing? Surely it is a suspense, thriller movie you wouldn't want to miss.

Now what if you were Alex, Rocky and Money?

"You and your friends break into the house of a wealthy blind man, thinking you'll get away with the perfect heist. You're wrong.
You have 45 minutes to find the money and escape the clutches of a violent blind man in the room with you and your friends. He knows you're there. He's stretching his hands out to reach you. And if he gets to you, you know you're done for." -from Breakout Philippines Facebook page


WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
Are you ready to do the perfect heist and escape the clutches of the blind old man?

HUSH escape room is a LIVE ACTION ESCAPE ROOM inspired by the movie "Don't Breathe" brought to us by Breakout Philippines and Columbia Pictures Philippines. Probably most of you are familiar with the idea of escape rooms or might be aware of this movie tie-up?

WELL, I WAS NOT.

Last Friday, August 5 marked the FIRST TIME I got try an ESCAPE ROOM. And it would be no other than the HUSH escape room.

Let us list what I knew (and believed) so far before I got in.
-I will be contained in a room with my (blogger) groupmates and we should find clues to decode and open locks, for 45 mins.
- I believe I am smart enough to solve puzzles. LIKE DUH I AM A SHERLOCK FAN and A SELF-CONFESSED PUZZLE LOVER. So I think puzzles will be a breeze.
- I'll just focus on finding the clues in unthinkable places and we'll be able to go out before the time runs out!
-I also thought that these escape room trend is just for those who extremely seek the horror thrill like what people experience in watching horror movies. Since I don't *enjoy* horror movies, I thought I wouldn't FEEL the thrill of escape rooms....

IF IT WILL BE YOUR FIRST TIME, AND YOU'RE THINKING JUST LIKE ME WELL THEN, PREPARE TO LOSE IT.
READ ON.




Before we enter the HUSH room we were briefed by Maggie. She welcomed us and introduced Breakout Philippines first. All I can remember is that the company they are in is part of the reality challenge Takeshi's Castle and the escape room concept is the "darker" one. She told us that HUSH is a LIVE ACTION ESCAPE ROOM based from "Don't Breathe". It means that there will be a BLIND, OLD MAN actor inside playing the role like that of in the movie.

In order for us to know and expect (and be scared), she showed us the trailer of the movie and explained the objective: be able to get the cash and escape not in the same way we entered. Basically, she just reiterated what happened in the trailer: the old man, even though he's blind, can hear us, and even make the slightest noise, he'll know where we are. Inside, we must find a way to escape, thru solving puzzles or unlocking codes. But we must do it carefully and quietly, or else the blind old man will catch us and the game is over. She then explained the house rules to have a smoother playing experience. Just listen to what she's saying for your convenience and clarify if you have questions.



She then revealed that we'll have a TEAM LEADER, who will guide us since we're not expert thieves after all. We should follow the TEAM LEADER since that person knows what to do.

After a few tries to escape the orientation room (haha!) 'cause we're in between scared, excited, thrilled, and wanting to go to CR to lock ourselves instead there, they wished us good luck and the game officially began.



The entrance to the room had quite cool reference to the movie. I thought at first that we'll just be in a small room with clutter, torn papers, posters with ink writings and codes. Instead, THE ROOMS LOOKED LIKE WE JUST ENTERED A SCENE TO A HORROR-THRILLER MOVIE.

We were in DIFFERENT PARTS of a house, just like in the movie trailer. They are craftily designed from furniture, props, sound effects and lighting to match the theme and the story, and to give you the THRILL OF UNFAMILIARITY. It really felt like we just broke in someone else's house.

 I thought it will be just a single room we'll be escaping from but no, they are SERIES OF ROOMS and each of them has challenges.

Oh, the challenges are relatively easy. The game was rated 3.5/5 difficulty, meaning the puzzles are medium difficulty. BUT BUT BUT! The puzzles and codes were definitely NOT THE ONLY things wherein you have to use your mind...

I thought we could get away with just decoding and opening the locks. IT'S NOT THAT EASY. That's why they incorporated a thriller movie to measure your heartbeat during panic attack! HAHA!
There were times we need the use of quick-thinking, decision-making and observation skills in UNEXPECTED scenarios, as well as teamwork and communication skills with our group mates!

However, in the HUSH room, I believe that you should also use your HEART, INSTINCTS and EMOTIONS.

Adding to the challenge is the blind man. The blind old man is not deaf. And he is a serial killer.
I thought he'll be just lurking around the corner and we'll just have to be quiet to get past him. Nah.
He knew we were there and we were after his money so he was doing his best to guard his fortune and his house. He's equipped and he knows how to play with the thieves. 
If you are not quiet, he could find you. If you are not careful, you might just lose the game. And if you are not quick, things will happen. You know, things....



There will be things you really HAVE TO FIND. (It's not just keys to locks). There is difference in WHAT to find, WHERE to find, and HOW to find. And the finding moment was probably the most time consuming, so you better look properly... and quietly! It won't be easy. Definitely not obvious. Some may just need a little common sense but some you really have search!

And there will be some things that will just HAPPEN. They just do. Prepare yourself.

We were scared. In some or every definition of the term "scared". I was hiding half of my body in the shelf. One of us teared up mid-game. We kept our eyes shut and our hands covering our mouth, a la Rocky, the girl in the movie.

Like us, you'll be panicking. You might argue with a group mate.
You will feel strong, raging emotions.
Tell you what?
 YOU CANNOT SCREAM IT OUT.
If the killer is just near you and with just one single word, single step, or breathe, he could find you.



And we all know, not being able to express what you feel is so heart-wrenching.
Di ko na kailangang humugot dito para lang malaman nyo ang pakiramdam di ba?
Sadly though, we didn't escape, but we were almost there. But the reason why we didn't escape is probably one of the things we learned about ourselves from the HUSH room experience. It wasn't only because we panicked or we found the wrong code, it was so much more, that could probably tell something about you and your group mates' course of action during such situations.

Hello blogger friends, Shai and Alice! And to those I just met that night Pocholo, Cess and Ralph!
After the game, we were catapulting rants, feels, questions to Maggie and Joe who started asking if we enjoyed the game. AND WE WERE LIKE "GUYS HOW CAN WE GET OVER IT". The rush of fear and relief flowed out our systems and we became really talkative. We wanted to punch meet the blind man actor and hug our Team Leader. You'll probably have the same emotions but better keep the violent reactions to yourselves. Haha!

I still have strong post-game feels after two days. (There was paranoia the night after! HAHAHUHU!) In fact, I was still discussing stuff with Alice, one of my groupmates, who also have the same post-game feels as me (read her own version of the experience here ). The post-game feels might or might not include crying, regrets and talking about how awesomely cute is our Team Leader. haha!

HUSH escape room by Breakout Philippines not only made our minds and senses work, it also rattled our emotions and made us question our moral and trust issues.

For FRUSTRATINGLY SCARY AND THRILLING experience, book the HUSH escape room now! It is only available at the PARAGON PLAZA branch, which is located along EDSA in between Shaw and Boni stations.


Rates
Weekday rate (Monday to Thursday)
P300/head no matter how many you are in the group

Weekend rates (Friday to Saturday)
For 1-2 persons- P600/head
For 3-4 persons- P500/head
For 5 and up- P400/head

They also have other branches that offer different rooms!
Check out www.breakout.com.ph to learn more.

Have you tried this? Comment below your feels! HAHA

Love,


MoMo


P.S.
Lights on.Lights off.



2 comments:

  1. We're going to try the room this coming Friday! Thanks for giving us your cool insights on what to expect! :)

    ReplyDelete

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