Dream Machine
Introduction
There are escape rooms that make us feel clever. There are rooms that scare us, move us or transport us somewhere else. And then there is Dream Machine.
After Birth Machine and Time Machine, Dr. Mad has another invention waiting for us. This time, instead of travelling through time or exploring where we came from, we are invited to do something considerably easy: Go to sleep.
What follows is 120 minutes inside someone else’s gloriously unfiltered imagination.
Dream Machine is quirky, playful, clever, completely absurd and unlike almost anything else we have played. And don’t forget you have to let yourself become part of the madness.
Leave your dignity at reception. You won’t need it where you’re going.
Story & Emotion
Dr. Mad has developed a machine capable of sending us into an incredibly vivid dream. So we lie down, close our eyes and allow ourselves to be transported into his latest experiment.
What could possibly go wrong?
The further we travel, the stranger things become. Yet somehow, within this completely ridiculous universe, everything connects. There is a story pulling us forward and an objective we need to achieve, but the route there is filled with situations we couldn’t possibly have predicted.
Fans of the previous Mad Machines adventures will also discover a familiar character playing an important role in this story. We love that connection. But the best part is that we aren’t simply watching the absurdity unfold around us. We are required to participate in it.
There were several moments when we looked at what the game apparently expected us to do and thought: Seriously? Yes. Seriously.
Set & Atmosphere
Dream Machine is impossible to predict. Every new space seems to ask the same question: How much weirder can this possibly get? And somehow, the answer is always: a lot.
The sets are playful, wonderfully absurd and full of details that make perfect sense only in this particular universe. We honestly can’t remember the last time we laughed this much inside an escape room. Sometimes because of what we discovered—and sometimes because of what the game expected us to do next.
There are also some genuinely clever technical surprises, including a fantastic visual illusion we rarely encounter in European escape rooms.
Behind all the silliness, though, everything feels polished and intentional. Dream Machine doesn’t just look quirky—it fully commits to being wonderfully weird.
Puzzles & Teamwork
With such an eccentric production, it would be easy for the puzzles to become secondary. They don’t.
Dream Machine has genuinely enjoyable gameplay, combining traditional puzzles with interactive and task-based challenges. More importantly, the puzzles understand the world they live in.
Communication plays an important role as well. Several challenges divide information or responsibilities between us, forcing us to describe, coordinate and occasionally trust whatever nonsense our teammates are shouting from somewhere else.
The room knows exactly when to give us a puzzle, when to give us a task and when simply to give us something completely ridiculous to experience together.
Final Thoughts
Dream Machine is wonderfully weird. And I mean that as the highest compliment.
Antonio and Giulia have built an entire experience around embracing absurdity—and then made sure the puzzles, technology, humour, characters and story all speak the same language.
There are technically impressive moments. There are clever puzzles. There are references we loved discovering. There are excellent team challenges. And there are things I never expected to do in an escape room.
If you play Dream Machine, don’t overthink it. Don’t try to stay sensible. And definitely don’t expect normality. Go to sleep. Get weird. And enjoy the dream.
