RATING: 5 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 7:03
Intergalactic destruction… or… embrace AI… this might just be the one puzzle we can’t solve.
You’re aboard a spaceship hurtling toward a massive black hole that’s devouring everything in its path. Alarms blare. Warning lights flash. Our galaxy is on the brink of destruction! Your only shot to save the solar system? Transform your spaceship into a bomb. You’ll have to intentionally sabotage your own systems, override every safety protocol, and weaponize the onboard antimatter to blow that black hole to smithereens!
Houston (and more than two dozen other cities around the United States) we have a problem. A galaxy-hungry black hole is barreling through the cosmos, on a collision course destined to absolutely spaghetti-fy the Milky Way. (It’s a technical term.) There’s only one ship in its path that stands any hope of stopping it, and its cadets are… letting AI do the thinking for them. Well crap.
Perhaps all is not lost; the current operating system of this AI is named Hermes, and it’s actually quite found of humans. This friendly little piece of programming has searched its entire database of 0’s and 1’s to render the perfect plan: aid astronauts on-board in docking with a nearby space station to turn the entire thing into ::checks notes:: a cataclysmic bomb. Wait that can’t be right?!
Ok, so it’s not exactly the best plan, but it’s the only option left. The space station is powered by a volatile antimatter, and once intentionally destabilized, it’s strong enough to obliterate the black hole, save the galaxy and ::checks notes again:: probably kill all lifeforms on board.
Now do you understand why EA does not endorse the use of AI?
It’s been said that escape games are “like real life video games,” but that has perhaps never been more true than Cosmic Crisis. The ship and space station feel equal parts futuristic and sleek, but also evoke a sense of imminent malfunction and out-datedness in all the best ways.
Each chamber within quite literally pulses and glows with vibrant LED lighting that creates a futuristic sci-fi vibe which truly sets it apart. Pipes and hoses loop out of buzzing contraptions, stretching up to crisscross the vessel’s metallic ceilings.
Large, often wall-sized high definition screens are everywhere, adding an instant kinetic energy that brings the adventure to life, while often becoming interactive stations that further both the game and its storyworld. And then, of course, there’s Hermes – a friendly, silly animated computer character capable of real-time interaction, well-placed comedic relief and is even programmed to display a wide range of human-like emotions in the only way today’s generation can understand: emoji.
A voyage into Cosmic Crisis rewards cadets with a wide array of puzzle styles, often finding something for every member of an intergalactic crew. Steps throughout the mission are well-programmed to always remain as logical and intuitive as the lifelike AI which coded them, creating a satisfying flow up to the end. Err, of the journey. Um, mission. Game. Look you’re definitely not going to explode in outer space.
Probably.
The Escape Game truly takes this adventure’s objectives into a whole new stratosphere, with incredibly high tech tasks that are sometimes as much an elaborate live video game as they are puzzles. Brave cadets will need to blast through an asteroid belt, intentionally cause all sorts of life support function errors aboard the space station and, with any luck (?), short-circuit its very control system if they hope to stop the approaching black hole. Doing so will require some truly outside the box strategy that at times verges on a kind of taboo destructive behavior bound to make any experienced space force second guess if they’re actually allowed to proceed.
Without a doubt, Cosmic Crisis orbits among the highest constellations in The Escape Game’s ever-growing portfolio as one of their very best experiences. The amount heart and levity injected into an otherwise tense situation of life-or-death consequences makes Cosmic Crisis as much a force to be reckoned with as that monster galaxy-eating black hole itself.
But, like a sixth finger rendered to every hand, it does reinforce our stance that, no matter the advancement, AI is still anything but perfect. Though Cosmic Crisis truly is a tour de force for The Escape Game, it does include one lengthy puzzle towards the end that cadets will likely find locked deep in an orbit of tedious, frustrating repetition. It’s the kind of activity that’s a pleasant surprise to do once, but quickly overstays its welcome over subsequent passes.
In truth, this mission was locked on a solid trajectory toward a most coveted 6 Key score, hyper-powered by many high-tech wow moments activating a most clever, immersive storyworld. But at times, all it takes is one puzzle tiresome enough to derail an entire planet’s orbit.
Just the same, Cosmic Crisis remains a shooting star in the ever-evolving universe of The Escape Game. Even if it did almost blow us up in the process.
Show your support for Escape Authority and get social with us:
Venue: The Escape Game (The Forum Shops)
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Number of Games: 8
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 8 people
Group Type: Public / You may be paired with strangers.
Cost: $42.99 per person
We thank The Escape Game for inviting us to play this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, that in no way impacts the opinion included within this review.
