Room Escape Artist

 ”It’s like a buffet of all these different immersive experiences, all this weird stuff that people have dreamed up.”

As the sun sets on the barren wasteland of California’s Mojave Desert, synth beats start to pulse and the MegaBlock comes to life under the glow of neon lights. This is Neotropolis, an immersive cyberpunk festival.

For five days, participants come together to explore this annual event, discovering secrets in back alleyways and working missions for the NeoCorps. This open world festival combines elements of larp, music shows, performance, and live action gaming. Attendees can also create their own cyberpunk experiences for other attendees to discover.

Scott Levy of The Immersive Machine in Phoenix, AZ (Sal’s Cybernetics) created a mini escape room called Crux Factory for Neotropolis 2025, and he joins us on Spoilers Club to tell us all about it. We start with an overview of Neotropolis and chat about everything: how factions work, camp life, what to expect when visiting, and how the official NeoMissions work. Peih-Gee also shares insights from the night mission she created.

Scott walks us through Crux Factory and all the other fun elements he created, including a decoder station that many different factions used to enhance their missions, and his robo finder game. You might recognize some of the game titles used for the decoder.

If you’re interested in the concept of an immersive open world, Neotropolis is a can’t miss experience. It’s chock full of incredible costumes, rich world-building, live action games, music performances, and unexpected adventure around every corner and hidden alley. You can hear more about it from creator Jared Butler, who was a guest on Reality Escape Pod in Season 7.

And if you’re interested in visiting a cyberpunk world in more familiar settings, make sure to check out Scott’s escape room, Sal’s Cybernetics at The Immersive Machine in Phoenix, AZ.

How to Listen

When you support Room Escape Artist on Patreon at $15 per month (or above), you get access to the Spoilers Club, our exclusive podcast where hosts David Spira and Peih-Gee Law chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms… spoilers and all!