The Artefact

The Artefact was the second room our team of four tackled that night, and the 187 Escape Artists were still buzzing from our recent completion of End of the Road. After grabbing a satisfying meal at Stacked (just around the corner), we were fueled up and ready to dive in. Our Gamesmaster, Stuart, took on the persona of the cheeky AI Bot HAL, leading us on our next adventure. We started off a bit sluggish—I blame the hearty dinner we indulged in—but around 10-15 minutes in, we found our momentum and began making significant progress. While the room initially felt a bit bottlenecked, once we hit our stride, we surged ahead and finished with a strong flourish, escaping with about 16 minutes left on the clock. As always, the Gamesmaster played a crucial role in our experience, and in The Artefact, Stuart was no exception. We had a blast, sharing moments of pure hilarity as we danced, sang, celebrated, and laughed together. The theming was top-notch, and the puzzles posed a satisfying challenge, even for a semi-experienced team. The high-tech elements in this particular theme at Next Level were executed brilliantly, but they also cleverly incorporated some low-tech puzzles that seamlessly fit the theme. Next Level consistently delivers immersive and well-designed experiences, and we're already looking forward to our next visit to this exceptional establishment.

Going into this one I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to the proactivity and involvement of the Game Master but I ended up loving how it was implemented into the game. The Artefact is much better suited to large groups due to its difficulty, but even with 2 players I found it to be the perfect balance of clever, crazy and hilarious. Such a unique and entertaining experience. Our GM and omnipotent AI Mykha was amazing and had A-tier bants.

Very fun take on an evil AI, in the style of HAL or GLaDOS. Different experience that was fun and made us laugh

We loved The Artefact! The GM can make or break this style of room and Matt was fabulous. Lots of funny jokes throughout for fans of Portal, Stargate, etc. Great scenario setup, never forgot why we were there or what we were doing. Interesting mix of puzzles, relatively few padlocks.

This is cool!!! Definitely up there with one of the best. Love the implementation of AI.

Another great room at Next Level escapes! We absolutely love them. Great games master. Very cleaver puzzles.

My partner and I adored this game, easily in our top 10! You’ll appreciate it even more if you are familiar with video games like portal. Although this is a big room, we were able to tackle it with two people and made some great time! High tech, unique puzzles, couldn’t recommend this room more

Love love love this room! Puzzles are just the right amount of challenging, some nice novel ideas, flows really well! Would probably classify more hard than medium cuz some puzzles were really quite hard, especially with 2 people! Love the interaction with the GM taking the role of the sassy AI computer! Set design and atmosphere also well done. Some of the mechanics and technical stuff you have to do also very nice and challenging! In the end also very rewarding! Love how the finale was not abrupt but you can see it coming and you work your way through the stages connecting more and more clues and making the finale come true! Loved it!