Raids are one of Destiny 2’s greatest experiences. The whole activity is unlike anything in many other games, pitting six players against a gauntlet of enemies, puzzles, and eventually a nigh-unbeatable boss. Recently, my mates and I tackled a Day One attempt at the King’s Fall raid. After 22 hours, though battered and bruised, we walked away with victory. A few weeks later, one of our raid team announced he had plans to return home to visit family and friends, so we took the opportunity to catch up. And what does a group of friends (who are now raiding aficionados) do when they catch up? Complete an Escape Room.
When I learned my mate was flying up to Brisbane to see his family, we all jumped at the chance to catch up again. I’d not seen him in years since he moved, and we didn’t want to settle for just drinks and dinner. Someone posed the idea of doing some kind of activity – which is when I hit upon a golden idea: let’s do an escape room! It makes sense. Though we’re friends first, we love raiding, so what better way to flex that muscle than to do the real-life equivalent of a raid?
We all met up in Brisbane city early in the evening to loosen up with a couple of beers. Our location of choice? A rooftop bar overlooking town hall. After sinking a few frothies, we ambled on to our next destination. Strike Bowling in the Wintergarden isn’t just for bowling, it’s a place where you can play mini golf and laser tag, but we were there for the escape room.
After a round of shots, we were led up to the escape room, given a brief explanation of what was going to happen, asked to close our eyes, and marched into the room. When we opened them, we were greeted with darkness, blood-smeared walls, and sinks full of organs. We had 60 minutes to escape the butcher before he returned and added our blood and guts to the mix.
Wouldn’t you know it, the escape room took us a mere 22 minutes to complete, some 3 minutes shy of the current record. Pretty good for first-time escape room players (though, the raiders in us were disappointed we didn’t walk away having set a new record).
To celebrate our speedy escape, we shared a massive serving of Long Island Iced Tea (served in a golf trophy), took off to a local Italian restaurant, consumed delicious pizza, more beer and red wine, and capped off the night with a visit to a whiskey bar. Good company demands good times.
When my mate comes back up to visit again, I reckon we’ll do something similar. Next time, though, we might up the ante, try a more difficult escape room, and even split the team in half, do two rooms, and then compare times.
