M’ama

This was the last game of our tour of Athens and we saved a great game for our finale. We climbed the stairs to the venue to find a rather spooky door which led us into a rather normal looking room, but the normality didn’t last for long….

We entered the world of Mama… and then the screaming began…

I won’t go into detail of the room, so not to give any spoilers. But I will say that it is worth playing this room solely to experience the actors at work. Their movements and mannerisms were faultless, appearing and disappearing seamlessly. Their interactions with the players were excellent and you could feel the malevolence of their characters long before they got close to you. They were brilliant.

The puzzles work well with the narrative, they progress the story and fit to the theme. We found them to be logical and not too time consuming which meant that we didn’t lose any of the feelings of unease and dread.

What this adventure also excels in is the use of its layout and the sound system. The layout of the game is used to maximum effect to increase the players apprehension as they progress. It also provided some wonderful framing for the interactions, giving the encounter a cinematic quality as we watched the story unfold. More than once our team were a little slow to progress to the next area for fear of what was lurking there, only to then be scared from a completely different area. Misdirection is used very well throughout the game.

The sound is used to great effect both to increase the adrenaline levels of the players giving them a greater sense of impending terror, but also giving times of calm and the feeling of safety.

Mama is a beautifully haunting story and adventure, and I highly recommend you play it if you’re ever in Athens.