Escape the Witch's Castle! Cookie Run Offline 'Escape Room'

Devsisters has tried something new again. They've brought the Cookie Run universe, with its cute cookies, to life for fans to experience firsthand. It's an 'escape room'.

I was really surprised to hear about the opening of the Cookie Run story, where you have to escape from the witch's castle, as an escape room. The 'escape' story, which is the most basic part of the Cookie Run IP, has been reborn as a perfect real-world content.

'Cookie Run Brave Escape - Crispy Escape,' which opens on May 28th, is an escape room experience exhibition based on this Cookie Run story. It's the first offline escape room for Cookie Run, and the experience is divided into two themes: the Path of Wisdom and the Path of Courage.

The Path of Wisdom, Theme A, takes you through the Exploration Zone after entering, and then you'll experience two play zones: Poison Mushroom Cookie's Suspicious Ingredient Room and Pomegranate Cookie's Whispering Study. Wind Archer Cookie and Moonlight Cookie also appear here.

The other theme, the Path of Courage, also takes you through the Exploration Zone to face Licorice Cookie's Messy Lab and Dark Choco Cookie's Lonely Attic play zones. You'll escape with Sea Fairy Cookie and Fire Spirit Cookie.

And the day before the official opening, I was able to experience this special event first. I played Theme A, the Path of Wisdom. However, due to the nature of the escape room, taking pictures inside the theme, except for the Exploration Zone, was not allowed.

When you enter each theme, you can watch an intro video and enjoy some mini-games in the Exploration Zone. At this time, you can take pictures in the Exploration Zone, so it's a good idea to make memories here. After that, you'll enter the play zone in the order written on your bracelet. You can experience the escape room elements that you generally think of in this play zone.

The difficulty of the escape room itself was at a moderate level, suitable for ages 7 and up. I only occasionally go to offline escape room cafes, but I didn't feel that the puzzles were too difficult or tricky.

▲ This is what the inside of the Exploration Zone looks like

Since it was a soft opening, 7 people entered together, and it took about 10-15 minutes to get out of one play zone. On the official opening day, there will be a time limit for each play zone. After experiencing both play zones, you can exit the escape room space with an outro video.

Although it's difficult to explain without specific mentions, the productions within the theme tried to convey the feeling of the in-game. Familiar cookies appeared, and the spirit cookies I met during the escape process made me feel like I was Brave Cookie.

After working hard with my teammates to put our heads together, we were able to escape the witch's castle in style. As a fan who has been playing Cookie Run since the Kakao days to OvenBreak for over 10 years, the situation of escaping the witch's castle myself was a fun experience.

▲ You can meet cookies not only in the Exploration Zone but also in the play zone

And what made this exhibition feel really special was not just because I play the Cookie Run game. The fact that they brought an offline event that matches the content and theme of the game is special.

Recently, most game offline events can be narrowed down to a few types. Pop-up stores with goods or food and beverages, orchestras where you can listen to OSTs, and comprehensive events or showcases held in large exhibition halls. Of course, these events are also really enjoyable and happy experiences for users of the game.

However, this Cookie Run escape room is an experiential exhibition that is hard to find at regular game events, and it creates content based on the theme of escape, which is so familiar to Cookie Run users.

Experiencing the story of Cookie Run escaping from the witch's castle in an actual offline escape room, you can immediately understand why this exhibition is an 'escape room.' You can also see that there is a clear rationale for why this game is holding this kind of event.

It's not very dynamic, and the quality of the production and puzzles isn't as outstanding as professional escape room cafes, but you can actually experience the content in the game offline, without just simply watching it.

Regarding this exhibition, a Devsisters official said, "We designed it to increase immersion by implementing the Cookie Run universe in a real space and to experience the story with all five senses." He added, "Starting with the Cookie Run escape room, we plan to further expand the brand experience of the Cookie Run IP combined with trends offline."

This special, fun, and memorable Cookie Run escape room will be held in Seongsu for three months until August 28th. You can make a reservation through Naver, and a maximum of 6 people per time will be divided into two teams to enter.

And at the exhibition hall, you can also find a goods shop selling limited edition goods and a small cafe selling collaboration drinks. More information about Cookie Run Brave Escape - Crispy Escape can be found on the Naver page.

■ 'Cookie Run Brave Escape - Crispy Escape' On-Site Photos