Het Testament
When the loyal and technically very skilled gardener Valere Bex dies, he leaves Baron Adrien Felecité not only his beloved pigs Elodie and Hildegard, but also a mysterious message in which he speaks of a valuable treasure hidden somewhere on the property. Since, despite the Baron’s intensive research, the search for the gardener’s true legacy was unsuccessful, he asks us specialists for help and promises us a generous reward if we can solve the mystery of the Bex will for him.
I am very grateful and happy that we were able to arrange an appointment with the Baron at the end of our three-day escape trip through Holland and Belgium, because it was an unforgettable, rewarding and humorous experience. Baron Beeckman. The name of this provider says it all! From the booking, to our visit to the original property, to the follow-up correspondence, every conversation/every document is “in character”.
We are given a very warm welcome by our hosts. Both the Baron’s housekeeper and butler are dressed appropriately and never fall out of character. They speak perfect English. Unfortunately, Het Testament itself cannot be played in English, for understandable reasons, and ideally two people who speak Dutch are needed for a good gaming experience. Luckily, we had our linguistic all-purpose weapon with us in Santiago, and we were able to have the two Dutch speakers we needed in Sigrid, who we “picked up” at a Belgian friterie (thanks for spontaneously playing along!).
It has already been mentioned that the gardener is a kind of Gyro Gearloose. In fact, we were able to admire several of his ingenious inventions and elaborate devices during our mission. I was absolutely thrilled by these complex mechanics that were created to solve some of the puzzles! The whole experience was very humorous and there was a specific hilarious situation with a few animal creatures that were integrated into the game in an original way and provided a lot of entertainment.
All the locations around Baron Beeckman (we also played the 2nd room, Hen Genoopschap) are so authentic and detailed, and show once again that automation and animatronics are not always needed to create an outstanding gaming experience for escape room lovers.
The Testament is currently ranked 5th on escapetalk.nl, the platform where all rooms in BENELUX are listed, and I can understand why. Because it is simply an experience that you have to love! Thanks for heaving us Baron Beeckman.
