Sydney: Virtual Room VR Escape Game Adventure for Groups

4.92

(130 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

“You’re not actually going to make me wear that helmet, right?” I asked, half-laughing as the Gamemaster handed it over. We’d just arrived at Virtual Room Sydney—right on George Street, so close to everything that I almost got lost in the city noise before stepping inside. The place smelled faintly of new electronics and something like carpet glue (not unpleasant, just... present). Our guide, Sam, grinned and said everyone looks a bit ridiculous at first. Honestly, I was nervous—I’ve never done anything VR before—but Sam was patient setting us up in our own little rooms. He even adjusted my headset twice when I mumbled something about my glasses.

After a quick intro (I definitely missed half the instructions because I was distracted by the weird sensation of having a whole world pop up around me), we found ourselves time traveling—like, one minute you’re in ancient Egypt trying to figure out what this statue is hiding, then suddenly you’re somewhere medieval and your friend’s voice is echoing through your headset asking if anyone else can see the giant chicken. There’s this odd mix of total immersion and real-life laughter coming from the next booth over. At one point I tried to say “pyramid” in French for no reason at all; my teammate Li nearly dropped her controller laughing.

The puzzles actually made us talk more than we usually do at dinner. Sometimes we’d get stuck and just stand there waving our arms around like confused birds until someone figured it out. It was surprisingly physical—lots of moving around—and not once did I feel sick or dizzy (which I’d worried about). When it ended, Sam took a few photos of us looking dazed but happy (and slightly sweaty). The whole thing lasted about 45 minutes but honestly felt both longer and shorter somehow. Walking back onto George Street after being “inside” for so long felt bizarre—like waking up from a nap you didn’t mean to take.

I still think about that moment when we finally solved the last puzzle together—it wasn’t even about winning, really. It was just fun to be ridiculous with people you know, somewhere between reality and whatever that place was supposed to be.