Search

Asylum

H
Jan 26
2 min read

Xcape Wellington (Lower Hutt, New Zealand)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Player limit: 2-8

Age limit: Under 14s require adult in the room

Difficulty: 8/10

Date visited: December 2025

This was the third of our 5 rooms in one day at Xcape — one of the highest rated escape room establishments in New Zealand — situated in Lower Hutt, about 15 minutes north of Wellington.

Here are my thoughts:

This was another strong room, set in an abandoned insane asylum. The backstory revolves around a mystery behind the death of 5 patients in a fire, which we had to solve as we progressed through the room. I didn’t find the narrative super captivating or anything, but it did drive momentum and helped tie the puzzles and various spaces together.
The set design was very solid, capturing the vibe of an asylum and the secrets hidden behind the walls. It did feel a little bit smaller than some of Xcape’s other rooms, but still spacious compared to most of the other games we played in New Zealand.
The strongest aspect of this room was probably the atmosphere, which was crafted with a combination of dim lighting, darkness, lighting effects, and booming sounds. Definitely a few potential jump scares in this one. I thought the supernatural slant was a nice touch.
The puzzles were somewhat challenging and required a variety of different skills, from hunt and seek to pattern recognition and logical deduction. The use of tech behind the puzzles and effects was impressive but subtle, keeping immersion intact. That said, there were a couple of little finicky things that made the game flow slightly less smooth for us (relative to Xcape’s other rooms).
Xcape utilised a hybrid hint system in which our GM could see and hear us at all times, and there was also a screen inside the room that showed our remaining game time and any hints the GM wanted to deliver.
We struggled in Asylum the most out of all the rooms at Xcape, possibly because we did this one after a heavy ramen lunch that had us battling a carb coma! We ended up needing 2 clues to finish with about 10 minutes left.
Out GM told us that the owners of Xcape purchased the venue next door and are in the process of building a brand new set of rooms that promises to be even bigger and better!