Nautilius (Game duration 90 minutes)
Fury team: Nush Krasteva, Stanislav Belev and Nadezhda Danabasheva
Date: June 10, 2024
Fury team time: N/A min
In Nautilius, we were tasked with retrieving a lost treasure stolen by the Nazi army. Somehow, it seems like all escape games in Poland somehow tie back to Nazis – which is a bit odd, but understandable given the country’s history.
Before starting, we were warned that the game was still in testing mode, but we decided to go for it anyway. The beginning was strong: we found ourselves inside a submarine and immediately had to fix various systems, which really set the mood. The game started in English, and for a while, we were progressing steadily.
Then, about 15 minutes in, the timer suddenly hit 00:00 and the game restarted-but this time in Polish. None of us understood the language, and since the game heavily relies on reading text, we were totally lost. With the help of the game master, we managed to push forward, but everything fell apart once we reached the last area.
The final challenge was a puzzle involving reflecting lights, eagles, and buttons with runes. The feedback from the buttons was delayed, and the puzzle kept restarting multiple times. Every time we pressed the wrong button, a German-sounding voice yelled “NEIN NEIN NEIN” at us, which was unnerving at first but soon became hysterically funny.
After spending about 15 minutes dealing with moving lights, disappearing and reappearing buttons (which were hidden behind a painting that moved automatically), we just gave up and left.
I can absolutely see the potential here – if this game were fully operational, I would have loved it. But in this unfinished state, after laughing uncontrollably for five minutes, we decided to walk away. What’s funny is that this experience actually set the tone for the rest of our trip. For the next few days, we kept yelling “NEIN NEIN NEIN” at each other whenever things got tense or silly.
