Mindhunters –  Der Patient – Escape Room Osnabrück

Dieser Beitrag ist auch verfügbar auf: Deutsch (German)

Osnabrück / 3 – 6 players / Price: 29 Euro per Person / Rating: 7.9

Location: Neumarkt 7, Osnabrück

Date of Play: 07.01.2022

Group of players: 2

★★★★

After we successfully solved Pakt mit dem Teufel with the devil, we jumped straight into the next adventure at the Mindhunters in Osnabrück. This time we traveled back to the 19th century and thus to the time of cholera.

Mindhunters also uses the edutainment approach for Der Patient. Due to the real historical background of the city of Osnabrück, the concept is a mixture of education and entertainment in the form of an Escape Room. 

Der Patient

“Osnabrück, August 25, 1859. Cholera is spreading like an epidemic in the city and more and more people are becoming infected with bacteria. Some even suffer from a so-called nervous fever. Out of necessity, an old dean’s house of the church is converted into a hospital through a generous donation. Three sisters of the Boromäus Order from Trier agree to staff the hospital. On August 20, the first patient arrives at the Marienhospital. The sisters immediately start treatment, but the patient seems to be incurable after only 3 days. He behaves extremely strangely and emphasizes again and again that the place is haunted. The nurses are overwhelmed with this patient and request help. A group of science advocates sets out to unravel the mystery of the patient. Will you find out what is going on in the old dean’s house? Is this really a case of nerve fever? Are you ready to cure the patient?”

Atmosphere

The game starts directly in the entrance area of the hospital. An admissions desk, a counter and other props give the game the flair of a hospital. Unfortunately, the scenery is not quite as detailed as in Der Pakt mit dem Teufel. However, this may also be due to the sterile setting of the hospital, which naturally offers less room for an exciting backdrop. In the course of the game, we subsequently explore other rooms in the hospital’s wing. With a big twist in the story, the setting actually picks up qualitatively and could entertain us towards the end.

We missed a bit of the tension in the adventure in times of cholera. There was no real despair or sympathy for the patients at any point. The emotional connection to the main character could have been more focused here. 

Story

Here, the provider’s edutainment approach was also adopted. The real historical context was mainly taken up by audio sequences and files of the patients. At the beginning, the story is somewhat subordinate, but takes up more space towards the end of the room. Here, too, a reflection on the events on a meta level was suggested in the finale, which we liked.

Riddles

The puzzles are mainly cognitive tasks that are arranged non-linearly. The puzzle flow is pleasant and can provide good entertainment even for large groups. The puzzles don’t all arise organically from the story context, but seem to be artificially added to the scenery at times. This also applies to some gimmicks, which don’t all fit immersively to the time. Nevertheless, overall they tell the story further and thus contribute to the clarification of our mission. We liked an analog puzzle that led to a fitting task in the hospital setting as part of a substance investigation. We liked that the different rooms of the hospital have to be entered several times, which resulted in a nice dynamic.

Gamemaster

In this adventure we were again supported auditorily. The hinting worked well this time and was thematically integrated.

Conclusion

Der Patient is an adventure, which kept us entertained for an hour. Unfortunately, it can’t quite keep up with Der Pakt mit dem Teufel. This is partly due to the rather predictable setting and the lack of emotional attachment to the events and the main character. Nevertheless, it is a game that was entertaining and definitely fun. For beginners, Patient is a great space to explore different locations. For more experienced players, we recommend Der Pakt mit dem Teufel, which we found to be more coherent overall.