Ukiyo - "The Crumbling Prince - Episode 1"

5 hours ago

4 min read

LOCATION:  Brunswick, Victoria, Australia

Ukiyo - "The Crumbling Prince - Episode 1"

Photo above is property of Ukiyo

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: The Crumbling Prince - Episode 1
📅 DATE PLAYED: October 8, 2026
🎬 GENRE: Fantasy
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 Adults & 2 Kids): 2/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-5 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 90 Mins.
💰 PRICE: €36/ pp
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

You and your friends are invited by The Prince to his garden in a mystical land. Will you uncover the truth before it's too late?

Video above is property of Ukiyo

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

Dress up! Physically becoming the characters added a whole new dimension to this room. Each player must choose one of four masks to don and embody for the duration. Players can pick from Sun, Moon, Wild, and Lost, with each mask having their own play experience and bringing different strengths to the team. The cloaks they provide at the beginning were handmade, and looked like they had been well loved by both players and staff alike. Attention to detail in both the design and crafting stages of the costumes were clear, even the natural wear and tear of the cloaks looks intentional!
Audio design was phenomenal! Voice acting for The Prince and the other characters you get to meet over the course of the room, was fantastic! It was brilliant casting and they did such a good job bringing those characters to life, and giving them a voice that suited them. The general noise and sound design for the rest of the room was perfect. Conveyed enough of a whimsical vibe while also maintaining that it was a tangible space. It built up the environment and let you know that everything might not have been as The Prince said...
The set! Often in escape rooms, you have puzzles that use water and have to flush something, or there's something on a magnet to float up a pipe. Very few escape rooms have a water feature in their room! The little stream brought a nice opportunity in the room to sit, stare, and reflect. In this experience, players are encouraged to take their time and indulge in the story and world-building around them. The room seemingly takes strong inspiration from zen gardens, Studio Ghibli films, and The Legend Of Zelda games. There was a certain minimalism to the room that is also fairly rare in escape rooms, it was a nice change of pace!

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

Puzzles weren't really at the core of this room, and felt as though they were just put there as almost plot devices. They did progress the room nicely and were so heavily weaved into the story, with everything being relevant and a direct correlation to something in the story. There's only so much time you can spend talking to The Prince! For a 90 minute experience, I think it could benefit from a few more puzzles. Maybe creating other ways the masks can assist with puzzles they're not directly needed for, or having their own little objectives/things to find around the room to give players more of an immediate sense of their mask and who they are.
This is only Episode 1! The Crumbling Prince is set into 2 rooms. It is encouraged to play the rooms back to back for a smoother experience of the story as a whole, which we sadly weren't able to do this time round. If you're travelling from overseas or interstate, it could be very challenging to stitch those experiences and stories together if you're playing them years apart! I'm also dying to know what happens in episode 2, the suspense is too much!

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

In the way of escape room experiences, this is definitely more on the experience side! From start to finish, it was a curated, tailored experience that promoted a sense of stillness and calm within players, setting the vibe off the bat. Serenity is at the very core of this experience. I can't sing enough praise for the staff and GM's at Ukiyo. Their investment and dedication to what they have created, is reflected in every single thing they do, including the character-esque physique the GM acquires while briefing before the room. They also look like they're having fun and happy to be there, which is also very important! We also played the room PAX AUS weekend in Melbourne, and checked out their booth at PAX, which had an immersive mini game/experience and plenty of other interactive elements. Like learning how to play their card game! The owners and staff were both lovely to chat to on both occasions.

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

They have a good selection of merch available! Anything from standard prints, to jewellery items.
They have created a card game called Kitsunedo!
There's snacks involved 👀