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Murder at Mandai Camp: The Case Reopens is an eerily fun virtual escape room experience

By Kenneth Ang - 31 Dec 2020

Put on your sleuthing hats

Image: Sight Lines Entertainment

Before we begin, let's just get one thing out of the way: I'm a sucker for whodunnits.

Of course, I don't mean those cheap "one-minute mysteries" you see in kids' picture books. I appreciate real deductive reasoning based on circumstantial evidence and flawless logic, so it should come as no surprise that you'll find a swath of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, and Miss Marple novels on my bookshelf. 

From award-winning playwright/director Chong Tze Chien and Sight Lines Entertainment comes Murder at Mandai Camp: The Case Reopens, a virtual mystery/horror escape room with a uniquely local flavour. Yes, we know the title isn't the sexiest thing around, but the experience was pretty decent - my fellow writer Tim Augustin was on board for this little mystery too, so let's check out what this whole gig is about. 

 

The investigation brief

Essentially, the plot centers around an incident where a recruit named Ilham Rozells (Irsyad Dawood) was found dead after a night training exercise in Mandai Camp. His buddy, a fellow recruit named Tan Chee Meng (Bright Ong) was named as the prime suspect for the murder, but he seemingly went insane after the event, citing hauntings by a supernatural entity which he indicated as being responsible for Ilham's death. Unfortunately, this eventually resulted in him taking his own life.

There are several other people involved in the case: Rozells' former officer lieutenant Haziq (Erwin Shah Ismail) was discharged from active service soon after the murder on grounds of negligence, while Captain Ronald Tan (Ronald Goh) was assigned to identify the murderer. However, the latter was soon visited by the entity as well, which led to CID officer Lemuel Ng (Benjamin Kheng) reopening the case in an attempt to finally confirm the cause of Ilham's untimely demise.

So, Tim, what did you think about this at the start, and how did it change along the way?

 

Two detectives on the case!

Image: Sight Lines Entertainment

Tim: I wasn’t sure what to expect from this particular escape room, so it’s safe to say that the spooks blind sided me here. The game opens up innocently enough - with a quick phone call with your superior, the aforementioned Lemuel Ng, who’s given you the task of solving the cold case. You have to walk into an office and rummage around to find two key pieces of evidence that will undoubtedly prove who killed the victim.

Once you enter the office however, you start to notice some strange goings-on. Belongings are strewn everywhere, and there are ominous footsteps to be heard in the background. As you navigate around the office, you see a ghostly lady in a white dress staring at you from around the corner. She never moves or blinks - she just watches. As you point and click on various suspicious objects, you get screaming jump scares before a flashback pops up. These flashbacks bring you back to key moments in the case’s timeline, where you can look for clues. 

If you’re the kind to shy away from horror, you might want to shy away from this escape room too. Personally, I love horror - so I didn’t have much trouble with it. The jump scares are tiresome and repetitive, and they don’t even add anything to the game besides shock value, which is disappointing. The ghost’s static image in various parts of the office was a great touch, however. More of that subtlety would’ve been welcome. 

K: Well, at least someone enjoyed the little horror element they tossed in. As for me, I wasn't exactly fond of it, and I can confidently say I haven't had the guts to touch a horror title, much less an escape room after an Outlast dare "gone wrong". Coincidentally, it took place during my National Service stint too - my friend wagered twenty bucks I couldn't handle playing Outlast at midnight for fifteen minutes with headphones on, and suffice to say he was twenty bucks richer that night (I tapped out at five minutes).

In hindsight, it was a really bad deal. 

Like Tim, I started out all prepped to piece together a murder mystery gone cold using pure logic, so you can certainly imagine my uhh...displeasure when the jump scares happened. I hate those with a passion, but my fear of clicking something which would lead to a potential jump scare did pay off in a rather amusing way towards the end! Case in point, I spent a lot more time thinking about motives and evidence rather than clicking around for clues, and I'm proud to admit I still managed to reach the right conclusion in the end, which entitles me to that juicy S$1,000 lucky draw they've got going on for those who guess correctly. Seriously, it's not that hard. 

As for the 90-minute time limit, it wasn't exactly stressful - I finished the experience with more than half the time to spare. I did actually expect the game area to be bigger than just a regular office too, though I do concede the claustrophobia does contribute loads to the horror element. I do agree about the jump scares being a little repetitive though - you'll be greeted by one each time you want to revisit a flashback, and it sort of becomes a bother by that point. The lurking woman did the trick though - it was creepy as living heck, and I spent most of the time loitering around the starting point of the office because I didn't want some ghostly lady staring at me while I tried to piece the puzzle together.

Hmm, what about the mystery itself? Any thoughts on the concept?

Tim: Ha...chicken! I think the actual mystery was fantastic. Tons of evidence are available if you look hard enough, and individually, they all point to different suspects. Once you start to add everything up and see the bigger picture, figuring out the correct suspect and selecting the right evidence to prove it isn’t all that hard. 

K: That's fair - I do agree with you on that first bit about the evidence pointing to different suspects, which makes the mystery less straightforward. Still, I felt it was still too simplistic for my liking, and it may have done better without the supernatural factor added into it. Personally, I really appreciate the nod the development team has given to this often-ignored aspect of National Service - ghost stories are staple to the NS experience much like grass is to cows, so it's nice to actually see something play out with that in mind. 

 

Case closed?

Image: Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall

Overall, I think we're both on the same boat - we felt the experience was pretty neat, and it's quite impressive considering they shoved all of that into what was essentially a 90-minute livestream. It may not be the most frightening or the most in-depth mystery-cum-horror experience out there, but the local flavour comes through clear as day, and that's what matters. After all, the guys will know that nothing riles up an outfield experience quite like a solid, chilling tale told by torchlight.

If you're interested in giving it a go (and trying to qualify for that S$1,000 lucky draw), simply head over to SISTIC to book your tickets. The game will run for an extended period till Saturday, 16 Jan 2021 and players will be available to stream it anytime from 8pm till 4am after purchasing the $20 ticket. 

Additionally, you can ever order a "cold one" to go with this cold case. In partnership with Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall, two themed cocktails called The Scent of Plumeria and Pisang Noir will be available for purchase via their online webstore, and orders will come with an exclusive clue as well, which should go a ways in helping you solve this mystery. Cheers!

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