Hello. This is <Realworld EXP.>. 'Fear' is one of humanity's primal emotions. It's advantageous for survival to avoid dangerous and frightening things. But ironically, being drawn to stimulating experiences might also be human instinct. After all, we can easily find people who are willing to take risks for the sake of thrills.
Moreover, when safety is guaranteed, fear can become an element of entertainment. People willingly pay money to enjoy fear through horror movies, roller coasters, and similar experiences. And these are becoming increasingly immersive. Realworld members have directly experienced how horror content is evolving through advanced technology and interaction.
Horror escape room from China: 'Dreamcore'
'Dreamcore' became known through somewhat unique circumstances. Originally operating for Chinese tourists and international students, it gained popularity through word of mouth. The fact that it's a Chinese-style horror escape room rarely seen in Korea sparked curiosity among enthusiasts. We asked Realworld members who visited out of curiosity for their impressions of 'Dreamcore'.
Q. What kind of content is 'Dreamcore'? How does it work?
A.
Hyobin) Simply put, missions are provided through walkie-talkies, and you learn the story while performing these missions. The missions are easy difficulty tasks like going out alone to fetch items or solving problems. When players progress the story to certain points, ghost actors come out and perform acting and directing.
Yena) It's not a traditional escape room that progresses in one direction from start to exit. The game begins with players putting bags over their heads and handcuffs on their hands in the starting space, then gathering in a classroom that serves as the main stage and base. Afterwards, 1-2 people leave the base to find hints for solving the main quest in spaces designated by the game master, bringing back hints to solve puzzles. The ending takes place in the classroom where the game concludes, and I remember the ending direction being quite interesting.
Q. What differentiates 'Dreamcore' from other escape rooms or 'haunted houses'?
A.
Yena) Typical escape rooms or haunted houses have predetermined one-directional routes, but Dreamcore's approach of having a base (safe zone) to return to while exploring was quite refreshing. Before playing, I thought it would be an extremely scary escape room, but the horror elements consisted mainly of screaming, touching, and darkness, so personally I didn't feel that much fear. And it was nice that they let us take photos with the ghost actors at the end as a memento.
Chaeon) I think there are almost no missions compared to traditional escape rooms - only about 1-2. Also, while haunted houses follow a one-directional path, Dreamcore has individual missions, and when individual missions are completed, the group moves together. The story progresses each time the group moves together. This happens through actor performances, videos, or audio storytelling.
Q. Interestingly, they provide CCTV footage of your gameplay. Were there any memorable moments?
A.
Jiyoung) (Top left) There's a scene where a female ghost appears, and in reality, the lighting flickers rapidly, so the female ghost's movements appear choppy like stop-motion. So during the blackouts, she seems to teleport from far away directly toward you, and her movements look eerie, which was very impressive.
Hyobin) (Top right) There was an actor hanging from the ceiling performing, and there was a situation where they secretly entered through a window to startle us when we were off guard. The lighting was so dim that we could barely see the actor entering, so we were really surprised. I had great respect for how the actors could perform while hanging from the ceiling in such darkness.
Technology-created horror: Supernatural Phenomenon Research Institute OPCI
OPCI is a horror immersive media theme park created by 'Dotmill', a company specializing in immersive media. It's based on the fictional worldview that 'OPCI, the world's first supernatural phenomenon investigation organization, has opened a field office in Seoul, South Korea.' Visitors come to the OPCI office to experience the basic worldview and then enter the main space for the full experience.
Q. What kind of content is OPCI? Is it more like an exhibition?
A.
Yuhyeon) The staff said, 'It's not a haunted house or escape room, but a horror media art exhibition,' and I think that's a perfect description.
Chaeon) It was a program that fit the concept of a 'horror media art exhibition.' I had heard beforehand that it was mainly a video-based experience exhibition, so I was curious about how much attention they paid to the interior design. I think the interior was quite decent compared to domestic horror escape rooms. The space was also considerably large.
Q. OPCI consists of several zones. Could you describe the spaces?
A.
Suhyeon) It wasn't an exhibition where stories connected between spaces, but rather spaces decorated with various horror themes. It felt like touring through different times and places - a darkened school, a burning villa, crime scenes, etc. What was impressive was the elevator we took when entering the exhibition. It had movement, and it made us unable to predict what would unfold before entering the exhibition hall, making it more immersive.
Heesu) Having us wander around dark places like a maze made it feel large-scale. It was fun to keep changing directions while walking around and examining things by touch. Each zone had many dark and narrow areas, but I think they were decorated with better quality than expected. However, it was a bit disappointing that it seemed like just viewing exhibitions rather than having various interactive experiences.
Kyungmin) While it proceeded with the OPCI concept, rather than having a specific theme, it felt like moving between zones and observing abnormal phenomena. What was interesting was that each space felt different in terms of temperature, smell, etc. - whether it was just a feeling or if they actually set it up that way, the spaces were decorated with remarkable immersion.
Q. The production using large displays and projection mapping stands out. Were there any impressive scenes?
A.
Hyobin) (Top left) When we entered a classroom-like space, a video of a ghost crawling was playing on a window-shaped screen. The video was quite realistic, making it actually feel like 'a ghost was crawling on the window trying to get into the classroom,' which created a sense of horror.
Yuhyeon) (Top right) Bizarre monster videos were playing on LED screens on all four walls, making it feel like we were surrounded on all sides. It was the room with the highest satisfaction!
Heesu) The part where they installed a beam projector on the ceiling and created the effect of cockroaches crawling on the floor was impressive. Usually projection mapping is done on walls, but projecting from ceiling to floor seemed like a relatively easy way to create effective production.
Kyungmin) The cockroach video nearly took my breath away too. One interesting thing was projection onto mannequins - whether they distorted the projection video itself or not, the way it fit perfectly on the mannequins with three-dimensional effect was impressive.
The emergence of experiential content enjoyable even in urban areas
In the past, to visit haunted house experiences or ghost houses, you had to leave the city center and go to places like theme parks. But as 'Dreamcore' is located in Konkuk University area and 'OPCI' is in Yeouido Times Square, now you can enjoy experiential content in urban areas as long as there's sufficient space. And unlike traditional escape room games where video sharing wasn't possible, they're encouraging content viralization by providing gameplay videos.
Besides 'Dreamcore' and 'OPCI', we experienced various other content including equipment-based hide-and-seek 'Hide and Seek,' but we're sorry we couldn't introduce them all, and we'll provide detailed explanations when the opportunity arises. Realworld is at the center of these gradually changing experience trends. We hope you'll be the first to encounter these changing experience trends together with Realworld, and with that, we conclude.