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Escape the room experiences have been big for a few years now, so much so that a lot of them have licensed intellectual properties to become more enticing. Hell, it was even the basis of a recent episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. With so many escape room experiences popping up it was only a matter of time before someone reverse engineered the experience and tried something new.
Metal Gear Real Infiltration Game is the brainchild of Tokyo Mystery Circus in Shinjuku, Tokyo that puts you in the shoes of Solid Snake infiltrating Shadow Moses island as either a three-person team or as a true to form solo operation. Your goal is to sneak past armed guards and destroy Metal Gear before it can be used to launch a nuke. Outside of your tactical vest and a communication codec, all weapons are OSP (on-site procurement).
As expected the codec is how the game directors will communicate with you but the infiltration vest serves as your target should you alert the guards to your presence. Here’s the interesting part, if you are shot you don’t die or lose the game, you just lose time and will have to move faster to complete your goal. Additional time can be purchased because terrorists can always be bribed with more money.
Speaking of money, the experience is surprisingly cheap. Solo tickets are listed as 3,880 yen (~US$34), with the pair and trio experience starting out at 4,880 (~US$43) and 6,300 (~US$55) yen respectively. 10-minute continues cost 800 yen (~US$7). Times are also counted individually so if you’ve got an Otacon for a best friend you aren’t dragged down by them.
The best part about all of this? It’s surprisingly English friendly. Going off of a report from SoraNews24, they state that while the verbal instructions are given in Japanese, there is an English rules card and all videos are subtitled in English. Guard actors are trained to react to any loud noises so the universal act of holding a guard at gunpoint can stretch across languages. Take that Skullface.
The Metal Gear Real Infiltration Game is currently running in Tokyo with plans for it to run through December 31st. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the official website. Sukiyabashi Jiro is classified as a restaurant good enough to warrant a trip to Japan alone but this Metal Gear Solid experience is also making a strong case for me to forgo financial responsibility and hop on the next plane to Tokyo.
Tokyo’s Metal Gear Real Infiltration game is awesome [SoraNews24]