The Show Must Go On

Nice easy room. Perfect for beginners. It’s completely linear so seasoned escape roomers might find it slow. But if you fully commit to the story you’ll have fun.

A cross between an escape room and an audio play, The Show Must Go On is one of the most unique formats we’ve experienced. The game cleverly alternates between story-driven audio segments and puzzle-solving, giving each space to shine without stepping on each other. It creates a really smooth flow where you’re either fully immersed in the narrative or locked into solving with clear purpose. The theming is excellent, everything feels intentional and grounded in the world, and the puzzles all make sense within the setting. There’s a great mix too, from classic search elements to more logic-based challenges, with both high-tech and low-tech components working seamlessly together. The live Gamesmaster interaction is a standout. It fits perfectly with the theatre theme and adds an extra layer of immersion and fun without ever feeling intrusive. This isn’t a traditional timed escape room, but the experience runs beautifully at around the hour mark. Innovative, polished, and genuinely different. This is a must-play for anyone looking for something beyond the standard escape room formula.

This rooms felt more like an experience than a typical escape room and quite different to the other rooms at Next Level. Since you are stagehands for this, this whole room only consists of the trap area of the theatre but they definitely decorated the set nicely! This is marketed as their easiest room and it is certainly true as we went through the room with 20 minutes left to spare. More experience players will definitely have no problem with the room and maybe find it too easy but I think this is perfect for brand new players. In between the puzzles, there are moments where you are meant to stand around and listen to the audio of what is happening on the stage, often in the form of voice overs. I think this hinders the room a bit. One of the best parts of Next Level is the player and game master interaction and due to the voice overs, the game master is unable to jump in as often. The final part is a great time and they even provide a video of it so you can cringe at it afterwards!

This one wasn’t really my vibe. Still a very clever story and concept, but probably my least favourite of the rooms at Next Level. It is quite story-driven, so if that isn’t your vibe you’d be better off with any of the other rooms. The ending was very fun!

Super linear room. Great character acting! Had fun to dip my toe back into ERs after 2 month hiatus. Thank you Stuart for being an awesome GM

Fun and good for a small group! GM was super engaging

It was super fun and I’d definitely recommend it. Our gm, Stuart, was friendly, warm, & entertaining. We would be happy to have him as our gm again. The puzzles themselves were easy, but interesting and a good time. We finished in 55 minutes out of 75. My recommendation would be to take your time, enjoy the breaks between puzzles, & enjoy the show!

Another Next Level escape room down, another amazing experience with the staff/GM! This is very much a story room and not a puzzle heavy room. I went with 4 of us, all with differing levels of experience with escape rooms (more beginners). I wanted to show them a more chill and story-driven room, with GMs who make you part of the play. You will do puzzles when prompted as the story goes on. Our GM Matt was absolutely fantastic! We almost made him break character but they were an awesome GM and made us laugh on several occasions. Puzzles are very easy but we were very much there to be involved in the story, which they did perfectly.

Slightly different room in that there's a lot of GM driven activity, almost like they're playing a part in a show. Our GM, Croz, was very good in this and was adding lots of situation specific humour and commentary to our actions. Room is linear and had no weird or obtuse puzzles, so nice and relaxed.

From one show into another, The Show Must Go On is a well-executed, lighthearted room absolutely perfect for families and beginners alike. For a reasonably small space, there's so many clever puzzles and easter eggs squeezed in that even in a group of 6 my team were always discovering new and ridiculous things to play with and solve. I noticed that comparative to all other Next Level experiences, there's probably the biggest contrast between the story beats and the puzzle solving elements which I found to be (most times) super engaging with other instances maybe overstaying their welcome a touch. Nothing crazy but might not be best suited for the hardcore puzzle-orientated enthusiasts. I suspect this would be the vast minority though, it's really fun. Overall still an amazing room with such a unique ending, special thanks to our GM/Stage Manager Brodie who went all out and made the experience infinitely better. Legend. Wonderful. 8/10 🔏🧩