Competitive Review: HiddenCity
HiddenCity offers “real-world adventure games” in London.
“Journey across the city, solving a trail of clues sent to your phone, in a treasure hunt-style experience.
Choose an immersive game and you'll play a role in the story, interacting with people on your journey, solving physical puzzles, and earning yourself a prize at the end.”
“Turn a city into an experience.”
Start the game - head to the starting location and text start
Find a final, secret location
HiddenCity has an impressive record, with more than 450 reviews on Trip Advisor and over 80% of them 5 stars (and only 2% 1 or 2 stars). Scanning through a couple of pages of reviews, some clear trends emerged in what people liked:
“...the clues were cryptic but not overly, we could still work them out and felt a sense of achievement when we did. As a born and bred Londoner I was surprised to be shown so many new great areas while on this trail that I would never have known about otherwise.”
“We enjoyed it so much we immediately booked another one. Since then we have done 3 of Hidden City’s games and plan to do more.”
“This was amazing, great fun and was brilliantly executed I wished they had more in other cities. We have done treasure trails but this is much more detailed.”
“To parts of London I had never seen before. Locations were lush and informative. The colleagues at the venues we visited were welcoming and engaged with the quest.”
“They always take me to super interesting places in the City that I have never seen or noticed before. The clues are not too cryptic so as to be frustrating, and are accessible to all.”
Perfect difficulty balance - Clues are not too difficult but still mysterious enough to give a sense of accomplishment.
Social and competitive (if you want) - Being more of an escape room experience, everyone was playing in a group and enjoyed it more for that. HiddenCity also has a Leaderboard function to up the ante.
A unique city tour - Part of the draw is exploring the city, discovering new spots or seeing old ones in a new light.
Love the ‘Gather your team’ social sharing
Opportunities for The Arcadia Report
“My only niggle is that if we didn’t have a few ladies in group who weren’t from London it would have been very tricky. Some local knowledge is helpful. Alternatively pull out your google map for clues to the questions.”
The experience is amazing, by all accounts, but it runs like a high-end escape room in that it is custom to the city, involves actors, and must be booked out. This is great but not as accessible, especially for time-strapped millennials. If The Arcadia Report could bring this kind of experience to you, wherever you are, that could be an amazing opportunity. In particular, areas I could improve:
Making the location mechanics feel tailored, and like a treasure hunt.
Up the social side, so people can get involved in groups.
Capture that same excitement of an immersive, high-end experience rather than a mobile game.
“This was amazing, great fun and was brilliantly executed I wished they had more in other cities. We have done treasure trails but this is much more detailed.”
With The Arcadia Report, you don’t need to be in London. It transforms your city into an escape room.
