THE TOKYO MATRIX: DUNGEON SPIRAL — Attraction in Tokyo

Updated As of 08/11/24 We were able to come here again and I brought some of my newer friends to play it with us. The pricing of the entry fees have been lowered, they offer a way that people that just want a one time experience can go right into the game without having to register an account, there is a photo op section, they allow picture taking in the game area now up to a certain level, and they offer a discount after your first game if you choose to come back after. My friends really enjoyed it, with one of them begging we go back before we leave. Still loved this place and like it even more that it seems to be growing and also optimizing the game more.

Something new they've added since Ive been is that you now have 3 free lives which allow you to resume a mission room from the start and you can activate new items to assist with the challenges you are facing in that room before you try it again. In addition to the 3 free lives, you can also pay for up to 2 retries before you have to exit.

Previous Review

A lot of the reviews seem to be by people who don't follow instructions, can't read, or don't understand how the game operates. This is not just an escape room. It plays like one, but it's essentially a live service gacha game designed for multiple plays and microtransactions. If you know what a "Roguelite" game is, this is the best comparison. It's just that consecutive sessions cost money. You level up your character after each entry,and you can earn currency for gacha pulls. If you are a visitor and you play this game ,keep in mind,you will not beat the game. It' made for repeat visits. A lot of the challenges are alleviated by your exp level and what items you bring in from the gacha. Beginners won't win or get very far, but knowing this, it's still a fun experience.

The largest your party can be is 3 people, but you can play with less as well.

The game is not child-friendly as the puzzles are really hard, and some of the puzzles require using symbol-based math. The game warns that it is a super hard mode game. I wouldn't bring anyone who wasn't a teenager or older.

The staff was extremely helpful in making sure that our accounts were set up and also understood the elements of the game. They stressed multiple times that you can buy TWO continues per entry, each person has to buy a continue(or the party leader can cover everyone), there are no continues allowed past 21:00. If you check out before you use a continue, you can't come continue after check out. And they even ask if you are sure to check out. Honestly, if you are having issues understanding or communicating, use Google Translate. I think people don't use this tool enough. Avoid using complex or colloquial phrases so the translation is simple, but the translate app really helps when you don't know enough Japanese or they don't know enough English.

There are English subtitles and explanations for the course, other reviews complain of translation issues and unclear instructions. I'm unsure of how clearer the instructions could be because they seemed extremely straightforward. Some of the symbols were unclear due to size, but the staff observing our game stepped in to clarify that we could use the terminal to see the symbols better and guided us throughout the game. Everyone was extremely helpful throughout our experience.

Technically speaking, the game can be a bit wonky. The battle mechanics sometimes don't register well if you swing or move too fast, and some of the games that use a projected image as an interaction point can misread inputs at times. Some of the touch screens will fail if it reads too many inputs as well.

Overall, the experience is very fun. We did two playthroughs in one night and used 3 Continues overall. We had a couple of items that revived us and also assisted us in the puzzles by extending timers, slowing down obstacles, or giving us multiple paths. I don't think the game is possible without using items as some puzzles have multiple parts.

I recommend it highly, especially if you're expecting to...

I SHOULD be the target audience for this (loves escape rooms, video gamer), but this is poorly executed. I accept and understand how gatcha games and roguelikes work, and this is just the worst aspects of both.

It combines all the things mentioned above into an experience where you advance through puzzles/rooms as far as you can in one go. Don't make it (they make it clear you won't on the first try)? Once you've hit the third area, you can pay to retry up to twice. Out of re-tries? Any items you collected while replaying can be used in a future attempt to help give you a fighting chance (more time in puzzles, more attack strength in fights etc).

I know, it SOUNDS SO COOL, right?? Trust me, I REALLY wanted this to be good. But there's quite a few problems:

• The AR area where you fight things on a screen (think Xbox Kinect or playing a game with a Wiimote) is super janky. It's non-responsive and you have to really try make it register your movements (Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown at Super Nintendo World is a good version of what this is trying to be). • It's entirely possible to not make it out of area 1 or 2, and they're way less interesting than area 3 (we didn't make it beyond here). If areas 1 & 2 were all I got to experience before my time ran out, I would think the whole thing is a scam, because: • It's expensive relative to what you get. Everything is paid for via an internal currency, of which you can only buy in large chunks. But don't forget to buy some items. But don't forget to pay for continues when you inevitably fail. It's a trap. • The area 3 rooms are interesting, but not amazing. I do like that they're bite-sized challenge rooms (of which you're randomly assigned 3 each time you play), however they felt very low quality compared to other ones I've played (for example, Hijinx Hotel in Australia). • Using the items doesn't feel impactful. Maybe it's the transition to IRL versus video games, but having an extra try here or +7% attack there just doesn't feel as good as it should (granted, we may have only been using the basic starter ones, but they didn't encourage me to come back and try and farm better ones).

If you're in the reviews because you saw the poor star rating but thought "maybe people just don't "get it"', that's not the case. It promises so much and doesn't deliver.

The only situation I can see this place being amazing for you is if your brain is wired similarly to a freemium mobile game whale. You can spend a LOT of money for the CHANCE to get something that will help you out next time. They also do seem to regularly rotate the themes, so maybe if the anime you like is the current one that might persuade you. But honestly, you're better off going across the road to Tokyo...

TL;DR - PEOPLE ARE STUPID AND THIS PLACE IS FOR GAMERS. IT'S LITERALLY A REAL-LIFE ROGUELIKE GAME. THANK YOU.

I was a bit wary because of such a low rating but my 2 friends and I who love video games and escape rooms were very intrigued so we tried it out. We became convinced that pretty much every 1 star reviewer went into this with very incorrect expectations. Ex) one person complained it wasn't a "true VR escape room"; no where does it say VR? So many people say instructions are non existent or unclear but that was absolutely NOT the case. We found the instructions for every single mission VERY clear and simple to follow. People are really out here giving one star reviews because they're not smart enough to comprehend simple instructions. My group watched every instructional video that was playing there while we were registering. It literally says "VERY VERY VERY HARD" like 5 different times on 5 different signs, and y'all bringing your kids here and complaining about the difficulty level? My group made it to 3-2 on the first try.

People complaining about the 2nd level do not have critical thinking skills. What do the symbols mean? Y'all can't see that each symbol literally corresponds to a number as in one sword = 1, two sword = 2, three swords = 3, etc. and the screen literally tells you what colored section to find the symbols, and what symbols you need to find. We were given 15 minutes to figure out the 2nd section and completed it in 5 minutes.

The only valid thing that people are complaining about is 3-2. We did it twice and 3-1 is easy but 3-2 feels impossible. In fact, I think it's supposed to be impossible without the right skill cards because it's a ROGUELIKE. you are SUPPOSED to play multiple times and get stronger every time you play.... JUST LIKE IT SAYS IN THE VIDEOS!!! It literally says you can't beat it on your first couple tries, and that you can get items to help you along the way. If you don't understand how roguelikes work, this place isn't the...