Mission Impossible

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Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to attempt an escape room on the island of Bali, Indonesia.

Located in Seminyak, Totem Room Escape Challenge is situated in the heart of a dynamic tourist area full of shops, restaurants and hotels. From Ngurah Rai International Airport, Totem is approximately 30 minutes away by taxi and should not cost more than $10-$15 one way. This is important to note since all cab fares are negotiable in Bali as the driver will tend to provide quotes at the higher end.  To reach Totem head towards the shopping arcade at Seminyak Square and find the Starbucks Coffee Shop. You will then see the large Totem Room Escape Challenge sign across the street.

At the entrance, we were required to remove our footwear which is customary at most establishments in Indonesia. Unless you are comfortable playing in bare feet, make sure you dress accordingly (i.e. pair of socks). As we entered the lobby, we were greeted by the friendly staff at Totem.  The wait area was quite small in comparison to North American standards, but as we would later discover, this was consistent with all the escape rooms we experienced in Southeast Asia due to the scarcity of space. In fact, due to limited real estate, rooms would often involve climbing or crawling to reach the next area.  Before the challenge began, we were brought to a pre-room area where an introductory video was shown. The video however, did not provide any additional details on the story which was a bit of a letdown.

Mission Impossible’s strength was its room quality. As the game involved a variety of physical challenges, the room’s strong construction and craftsmanship work were definitely crucial to the experience. Seamless use of both mechanical and digital technology in the room with no exposed wiring or incomplete spaces enhanced the experience. The room, however, had two drawbacks. The first was a weight restriction in a particular area of the game. Therefore, if you have a larger group playing this mission, some members may be restricted to participating until this section has been completed. This could turn out to be a major disappointment as we believed this area to be the best part of the mission. The second was the loud bleeping of the countdown clock as each second passed by. The team found this feature to be distracting to our communication and puzzle solving as we navigated through the challenges. In addition, the design of the room also made it extremely difficult to backtrack to the beginning to check on the time. As such, we believe that it would make for a much better player experience to mute the clock and also add a secondary clock in the latter half of the room.

While we were immersed in each room, we did not easily understand how the rooms were linked with each other as there was no clear flow to help you understand why you transitioned from one room to the next. This led us to feel as if we were completing individual challenges instead of one mission. The synopsis in the lobby also indicated that we were professional thieves in a vault of million dollar gold coins, but we often questioned why we were in a particular area and how it fit into the overarching story.  With some tweaks to connect the story with each room, the immersion experience would be much improved.

A challenge cannot be called Mission Impossible without some adrenaline and this room did not disappoint.  The room had a good combination of physical and visual challenges requiring teamwork, communication, and strategic thinking.  Two puzzles in particular were the highlights of our experience.  The first was a challenge that tested our flexibility and spatial awareness, while the second used puzzle elements which we have never experienced before in an escape room. It is worth noting that an amount of flexible mobility is required for this room so we do caution players with any injuries or health conditions from participating.

Overall, we had an incredible fun playing this challenge and would highly recommend Mission Impossible to escape room beginners and to enthusiasts alike.  The room may prove to be a bit more challenging to a novice player and for those that are not used to rooms requiring physical activity, but at IDR 200,000 or $15, the mission offers tremendous value to test your escaping abilities.  Whether you are a tourist visiting the island or a local resident looking for some entertainment, be sure to put Totem Room Escape Challenge on your list.

So are you up for this mission?  Good!  Because this review will self-destruct in 3, 2, 1…