Our main activity for the afternoon was at Obscura. This activity deserves a post on its own.
Our kids love escape room games. They are much better at solving the puzzles. I like to think that it is largely bcos they see better in those dimly lit rooms. Not all escape rooms are good and some are so aged that the mechanisms work poorly and we can’t move on even when we got the right solution. That is frustrating bcos we then started doubting if we are wrong or the machines just didn’t work.
Anyway, our kids are scardy cats and usually opt for the non-horror rooms. The horror theme rooms have also leveled up and now comes with actors that chased participants and jump scare them. Those are definitely not for us.
In our last KL trip, we came across a new type of escape room - Hauntu. It is horror theme, and not exactly an escape room but a story telling, RPG format. It was the 1st time that we tried something like that and we chose the safest answers when offered options by the actors, only to regret after the entire episode and thought that we could have experienced it better. But that is after the entire thing, when we were told that our options would have changed the storyline and outcome. It was a really good experience that we still talk about months after.
When searching for escape room, I came across Obscura. It is newly opened in R&F mall, which is near to CIQ. I googled and it sounded like the Haunta. I booked! They have 2 themes - Dolls’ House and some Chinese temple thing. We opted for the latter. Daddy Lim said that the actors are going to speak in Chinese and it makes sense to hear Chinese in a Chinese temple setting. I duno what logic that is, but at least somebody made a choice.
The staff started briefing us on the storyline - we are a group of time travellers, going back to this old village to try to help retrieve old memories. He then gave us the instructions. Some of them are the usual - the chicken out option, no hp, no attacking of the actors, follow the blinking light, stand still when it is total darkness, etc.
As he went on, some other rules caught our eyes. There are some chasing involved and we are encouraged to 小跑. The actors will match our pace, so the faster we run, the harder they chase. T.T Each of us have a solo mission to complete. What??!!!!!! While 3 of the “solo” missions can be done in pairs, one of us must do the “solo” mission alone. We draw lots and Zaky was the “lucky” one. I would have died if it was me. Actually, I wouldn’t die bcos I would make Daddy Lim or the kids switch with me. Haha.
The game started and we were each given a lanyard that laminates slightly in the dark. I supposed that was how they make sure that we can be found if we got lost or for the staff to spot us in the dark. We were to walk in single file. Daddy Lim volunteered to be in the back. I don’t care, I only want to be in the middle. Nana was so brave to take the front. Zaky is just another scardy cat like me.
We entered a door, sat on a platform and the moment the game started, we knew that it would be good. The visuals and sounds were impressive. Everything felt very nice too. After the initial opening, the platform moved. It was so good but I was so scared.
There were so many jump scares. I was the 1st to start my mission. I had to walk in darkness to find the lantern. Nana accompanied me. The whole time, I was just grabbing her arm and asking her to slow down.
While Nana and I were on our mission, Daddy Lim and Zaky just got jump scare crazy in the pitch black darkness. We survived. I would not if Nana didn’t come along. I screamed and jumped at every single thing. Nana was so irritated. Haha.
Zaky was the 2nd to go on his real “solo” mission. In between the missions, we uncover the story, got chased, got scared by crazy people with teaser and watched “performances” to understand what happened.
Zaky’s solo mission was really scary. At one point, we heard him yelling and then caught him as he was running like crazy down the corridor, after being chased by a white lady ghost with crazy hair. He was so traumatised and took several attempts before he finally properly narrated his mission and experience. Lol.
Nana was the 3rd to go on the mission and she opted for Daddy Lim to accompany her bcos she knows that Zaky and I were useless. Lol. Zaky was very appalled that Daddy Lim and Nana left us behind bcos we are just scared shitless and useless, like what Nana said. While they were away, we sat on this moving bench, grabbed each other’s hands and had scary performances. I duno what the performances were about. I had long given up, after I once opened my eyes and saw what looked like Sadako crawling towards us. That had been my constant - while walking, I had my head on Nana’s back, looking at the floor. Other times, I will be clutching someone’s hands and closing my eyes while whatever was happening. Nana complained that my hair kept tickling her.
Finally, Daddy Lim went on his last mission and Nana went with him. Nana took Daddy Lim’s place and fell through a trap door as part of the challenge.
The entire activity took about 80 mins. The actors were speaking in mandarin and their mandarin was quite good. The kids said that their accent was thick though and half the time, I had to translate for them. However, they couldn’t hear me properly bcos my head was always facing away. Otherwise, I was so scared that i cannot think logically and I gave up translating. Lol.
There was a final performance and they say that it was good. I was just preparing for a jump scare, even after the entire activity ended and the staff took a picture for us, I was still prepping to withstand a jump scare. There was none, thankfully.
The story?
There was a drought and famine at this village on the mountain. The villagers prayed for rain but there was none. The village head then sent one of the village men to look for food but he never came back. The village head felt guilty towards the family of the village man and still had to solve the food shortage problem. For the latter, he decided to cut and feed the villagers with his own meat (story lah, story). Another villagers suspected that the village head had actually killed the man that he supposedly sent and fed them the dead man’s meat. This villager ended up killing the village head, spread rumors and the entire village started killing and eating each other. The villagers who became cannibals then became mutated and the mountain god also turned evil. We helped the village head retrieved his memory and he vowed to fight the evil god and saved us. Tadah! We were saved and alive!
The activity was worth the $$. We were so amazed at how the actors could move so precisely in the dark and when the light comes on, they would be at the precise position to scare us. Sometimes, that meant right next to us, staring at our face. The next moment, they disappeared from our sight. The props were very realistic. The performances really good - whatever that I managed to peek - so the entire experience must be even better for the rest.
It is very tiring to be scared. The entire time, I was constantly in a hunched position and my back hurts. Zaky said that this is worse than USS Halloween night; bcos the actors in USS don’t chase people.
We walked back to JBCC to buy contact lenses. A major renovation was taking place and we had dinner at the only Korean restaurant available. We didn’t order much bcos we were too tired to be hungry. Their side dishes were all vegetable. Haiya.
