Next Level Escape – The Strange Disappearance On Station Eleven [Hivemind Review]

The Strange Disappearance On Station Eleven is included in our recommendation guide for 2-Player Online Escape Games. For more of the best online escape games in this style, check out the recommendation guide.

The Strange Disappearance On Station Eleven is a point-and-click game created by Next Level Escape in Sydney, Australia.

Illustration of a trench coat and fedora clad person in the rain. It looks like futuristic noir.

Format

Style of Play: computer with internet connection

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Play on demand
  • Point-and-click

Required Equipment:

Recommended Team Size: 1-3

Play Time: no timer; plan for 1-2 hours depending on group size

Price: $40 AUD per team

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

The Strange Disappearance On Station Eleven is an online solo or multiplayer point-and-click game where you explore a space station via an interactive 3D web interface. You must find information, piece together the circumstances of the mystery, and solve puzzles to gain access to new locations or information.

A sleek, white, humanoid robot reaching out with its hand.

Cindi S’ Reaction

The Strange Disappearance On Station Eleven has a unique premise: a 1940’s film-noir-style gumshoe is hired to investigate the missing crew of a futuristic space station. It may be an odd combination, but it works! The space station is hauntingly empty, save for one lone AI, staring creepily from the corner. The puzzles involve searching and making connections that further the story and get you closer to learning what actually happened to the crew. The game has a great sense of humor and there are fun surprises to discover along the way, so click around and try everything! I would recommend this game to experienced players, as the solutions are not handed to you; I found it helpful to take a few notes on key information.

While I enjoyed the game, the hint system could have been more robust, and I did experience a few technical issues. In one instance, switching browsers from Chrome to Safari fixed the problem. In another, the resolution on my system was set incorrectly for the game, resulting in display issues and a piece of key information being cut off. Once I adjusted the resolution (zoom out on the View menu), the game displayed correctly.

Joel Smileypeacefun Reaction

We were on a space station, where the entire crew went missing. Rumor had it that the AI computer has something to do with it, but what happened?

At its best, there was a short tutorial to get us familiarized with the controls. The game was filled with nicely themed, humorous puzzles and there was a funny conclusion to the story. One puzzle cleverly turned a side joke into an actual learning curve for a puzzle.

At its worst, the adventure was a tiny bit too text-heavy for my personal liking. There was an unnecessary amount of tedious back-and-forth between the game spaces. One puzzle in particular had an unintuitive password input.

Getting into space was not easy because for some reason I had loading issues in Google Chrome. But trying it in another browser (Microsoft Edge, for example) solved the problem.

Brett Kuehner’s Reaction

  • + Funny writing and storyline
  • + Good Easter egg references to science fiction and fantasy shows
  • + The mystery resolves in a way that makes perfect sense (while being quite absurd)
  • – A little too much searching for my taste
  • + Even though game state isn’t fully shared between players, there is a “catch up” button so you can skip puzzles other players have solved
  • + A reasonable variety of puzzles, with thematically appropriate interfaces
  • + Graphics are a bit sparse, but that fits the setting

Disclosure: Next Level Escape provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.

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