After playing Beneath the Surface, which I wrote about in a separate article, we headed to another game from the same Brno-based creator – the Isolation escape room, part of the Lost in the House project. And I have to say right away: in my opinion, it is an absolutely outstanding escape room.
You can certainly recognize the signature of the same creator as in Beneath the Surface, but the tasks are completely different and the atmosphere is absolutely amazing. Before I get to the game itself, however, let me take a brief detour for those who do not yet know much about escape rooms.
What exactly is an escape room (and where did it come from)?
An escape room is a team-based immersive game in which a group of players enters a themed space and solves a sequence of puzzles and tasks within a time limit. The goal is to progress through the story and ultimately find a way out. So you are not merely passively watching the plot unfold – you are the main characters who influence everything.
The concept originated from “escape the room” computer games around the turn of the millennium. One of the first physical escape rooms is considered to be the Real Escape Game, created in Kyoto, Japan, in 2007 by Takao Kato and the company SCRAP. From Japan, the phenomenon first spread across Asia, reached the US around 2011, and swept through Europe and the rest of the world between 2012 and 2014. Escape rooms arrived in the Czech Republic during the last decade, and today there are hundreds operating across the country – probably the most in Prague.
And Isolation also stands out for just how far the genre has evolved. While a typical escape room lasts around sixty minutes, here you get an unusual 140 minutes.
Lost in the House: an entire house that draws you in
Lost in the House is not just a single room. As the creator himself states, it is the only escape room in the Czech Republic with an entire house dedicated to it – you never know which door will be the last. What is more, all the props are custom-made, so do not expect any mindless unlocking and copying of codes.
The project currently offers three games in total: Isolation, Missing, and Beneath the Surface. We have completed two of them so far, with the third still awaiting us.
The story of Isolation
The story takes you to the far north. In the 1950s, the people of Scandinavia were shaken by a terrifying tragedy that remains unexplained to this day. Years later, you and a group of friends set off on a trek lasting several weeks through the untouched wilderness of northern Finland, but persistent rain forces you off your planned route and you become lost in the remote wasteland. Eventually, you find shelter in an old abandoned cabin, where you decide to spend the night – with no idea that what began as mere shelter from the rain will become a trap from which there is no way back.
The entire house is furnished in the style of an old cabin, and a darker layer of the story gradually unfolds before you. You discover an old recording, come across traces of an abandoned sanatorium and an infection from which you must escape into isolation. I will not reveal any more – that would spoil it. I will only add that it draws you so deeply into the story that, like us, you completely lose track of time.
How Isolation works: light instead of codes
What elevates Isolation is the way it is played. You will not find any combination locks here. Instead of copying numbers and turning dials, you work with real mechanisms – when you solve something correctly, push something, or move an object, additional parts of the house automatically open and the next part of the story is activated. Everything fits together and has been thought through down to the smallest detail.
The use of light also works brilliantly. You spend most of the time moving around in darkness, essentially “following the light” – it always comes on wherever a task is waiting for you to solve. In this way, the game subtly guides you while maintaining the tension.
And I will add a small hint: you will be using real tools – actual equipment of the kind you might need for woodworking. I will not reveal exactly what, but be prepared to handle plenty of things and, above all, think carefully about them.
Just as in Beneath the Surface, you need to read the instructions carefully and listen attentively – otherwise, you will not be able to progress.
And here is an interesting detail that I did not even mention before: the sounds for Isolation were created in a professional recording studio, and the entire game features Dolby Surround 5.1 audio that changes depending on which part of the story you are currently in. It makes a bigger difference to the overall atmosphere than you might expect.
Who the game is suitable for
Isolation is long and challenging. The time limit is the aforementioned 140 minutes, and the game is designed for 2 to 4 players. We played the game as a group of four, and even then we used the entire allotted time – you certainly will not be bored. The game is not physically demanding; you will mainly be exercising your brain.
Officially, the game is intended for players aged 16 and over (younger players may only enter when accompanied by an adult). The atmosphere is excellent and becomes seriously oppressive in some sections – the second half is quite dark, so I would not recommend it for very young children. The creator also states that the game relies on atmosphere rather than jump scares, so do not expect cheap shocks, but rather tension that slowly builds. Due to the generally gloomy mood, the game is not recommended during pregnancy.
Practical information
You can find Isolation in Brno-Žebětín (on the corner of Kohoutovická Street). Reservations can be made online through the project’s website, where you can also purchase a gift voucher – a great idea for an experience gift. Payment at the venue can be made in cash. You can find the current address, prices, and available dates at ztracenivdome.cz/izolace.
Final thoughts
In my opinion, Lost in the House has once again not disappointed. From my perspective, Isolation is an absolutely top-class escape room – if you already know the creator’s other games, you can certainly recognize his signature here, but the tasks are completely different from those in Beneath the Surface and the atmosphere is even stronger. The creator has done a truly exceptional job, and the game draws you so deeply into the story that you forget all about time and the outside world. I definitely recommend it.
And because one game is not enough for us, we still have their third creation awaiting us – Missing. We will definitely visit that one too, but I will write a separate article about it.
