Company «Next Lock (ИП Мельников А.А.)»

We arrived late, and at the entrance we were greeted brusquely, which immediately killed the mood. The game was far too dark, and the physical contact at times crossed the line: several times we were hit with a whip across the face and chest, and at one point we were tossed around near candelabras and glass was broken. The lighting and the actors’ actions were out of sync; the shaman’s dance took ... Expand

The quest left mixed feelings: the opening was so loud you couldn’t make out the plot-relevant lines, the horror part was weaker than expected, and the tension gets lost with a large group. Otherwise it’s fine, just not for eight people.

We did the hard-shocker mode: they checked passports in advance, asked about our health, and then we were hit with non-stop action in a rustic setting. Special thanks to the actors — the performances were strong and distinct: one kept the tension high, another added dark humor, and a third didn’t spare our nerves. At times it was painful, but that’s exactly what we came for. The atmosphere, the ch... Expand

We often go to escape rooms and chose the hard mode without electric shocks. They used whips and belts; it was painful at times, but that’s exactly what we came for. The actors worked with everyone and kept up the pace. The puzzles aren’t difficult, the final musical flourish was a pleasant surprise, and the staff were extremely professional and courteous.

We were looking for “the max” and got it: we became part of the story, gathered clues, wandered through the forest, and something was happening all the time. A few classic puzzles, but the flow of logic is satisfying—one step naturally leads to the next. The actors kept up the tension and didn’t get thrown off by our jokes and improvisations. We left feeling like we’d lived through a mini-adventur... Expand

We were expecting 90 minutes and 'three keys', but finished in about an hour; there aren’t many puzzles and some solutions are illogical. The ritual is very bare-bones, the ending doesn’t explain what actually happened and breaks immersion. At one point we used a key to open a door and found the admin and an actor behind it—it was awkward and the magic vanished. The medium barely interacted with u... Expand

From the get-go we were energized: they gave us uniforms, assigned roles, and Boris and the Chief Doctor kept us switching between fear and laughter. The puzzles are electronic, no code locks — a nice touch. An hour and a half flew by, and a photo with the “staff” was the cherry on top. Highly recommend.

The location is huge, with so many routes that we actually lost each other a couple of times. We picked the medium difficulty—scary but manageable; the actor appeared at just the right moments and didn’t get in the way of thinking. The puzzles are logical, though Thomas saved us a couple of times with his hints. An excellent balance of emotions and brainwork.

This was my second quest of the day, and I realized that for real emotions you should go for hard mode. They actually made me scream here, but when I asked, the team dialed back the physical contact. Special thanks to the game master for spoiler-free hints and for the atmosphere that makes your legs refuse to step into the dark corridor.

Contradictions remain: there’s atmosphere, but it’s stuffy and dirty, and there’s little horror. One actor often just got in the way and hit, while the improvisation was weak, and some props didn’t work, so we wasted time for nothing. Some people got way too much attention, others almost none, and they even jabbed us with a stun gun on medium difficulty. The overall impression was spoiled.