Hello! I'm WHY, a planner at Realworld.
For those of us creating content, fresh ideas are absolutely essential!!
The Interactive Content Team (aka IC Team) had been rushing through the first half of the year and needed some new input!
To refresh ourselves and broaden our perspectives, we headed to Hongdae with the team for an escape room experience.
The place the IC Team found was 'Earth Planet Escape Room' in Hongdae,
specifically the 'Hongdae Last City' location.
The name itself is unique - let's head inside to check it out.
The dystopian and cyberpunk atmosphere is quite impressive,
and after reading the descriptions posted inside, I could understand why this place is called 'Last City'.
The general storyline is:
After an asteroid collision, the few surviving humans create Last City, a final paradise, and work to restore Earth's pre-catastrophe civilization and data. However, 9 records failed to restore, so elite agents are deployed...
That's the setup,
and it seems like these 9 records are exactly the escape room themes we'll be challenging!
The popular themes here are 'Endangered Species Expedition' and 'Shadow'!
WHY and BEEN, who aren't used to escape rooms, took on 'Shadow', while the other members challenged 'Endangered Species Expedition'.
Now it's time to say goodbye to our electronic devices for a while.
Everyone successfully completed their record restoration missions!
Although WHY and BEEN used quite a few hints,
we were so focused on playing that time just flew by.
Let me summarize the experience briefly.
'Shadow' was like a combination of detective work and dark superhero story.
I can't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but it gave me vibes similar to the movie 'Venom'.
What I loved most was the direction -
the way they naturally implemented the presence of '000' using beam projectors and mechanical devices was truly impressive.
'Endangered Species Expedition' involves exploring the mysterious V Island while searching for rare animals.
You find and collect data on rare animals, then radio in to complete the expedition, which reveals the full story.
The team members said the sub-quests of finding rare animals were just as fun as the main quest!
What insights did we gain from this experience?
Many team members positively noted how they decorated even the lobby where people wait.
Most other escape room cafes don't bother decorating their waiting areas,
but this place designed their space to match the dystopian concept, allowing for immediate immersion upon entry.
Realworld Seongsu also has unified interior design between the 1st floor cafe and the 2nd floor where the main content is enjoyed,
so visitors can dive into Realworld's unique world the moment they enter the store.
Seeing this gave us a sense of relief and confidence that 'we're heading in the right direction'.
The IC Team works tirelessly day and night to plan content that immerses players!
Stay tuned to see what we'll do next to gain new insights!