The Nemesis Club Archives - Room Escape Artist

Kill all humans?

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team size: 4-8; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $35 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: One person needs a bit of agility.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

If someone told me that EVIL Robots was actually an escape room designed by Pixar, I’d believe it. This feels like it could be their work. From the look to the characters to the storytelling, it’s a really cool game.

Oh, and it’s built around a larger-than-an-adult-human animatronic robot:

A robotic lab with a large red robot, a small robot dog, and a number of other equipment that looks like it could be from the Jetsons.

Animatronics in escape rooms often feel rigid and lifeless, repeating the same movements without intention. However, that was not the case in EVIL Robots. That big robot felt alive, relevant, and actively interacting with us.

Additionally, Nemesis Club had some clever ways to adapt the difficulty of the game on the fly. Even with these affordances, there were a few places where the clue structure could be further refined. There were a few instances where it was a bit confusing as to what the game wanted from us.

Nemesis Club is one of the newer companies to watch in the escape room world, and this was their first game… which is insane. It’s so overwhelmingly strong. If I had to choose just one game from them, of their first two, I’d pick Mogollon Monster (by a hair), but the truth is, if you’re playing one, play both.

Nemesis Club is a company worth traveling to see, and they have more in the works. I cannot wait to see where they take us next.

Who is this for?

Adventure seekers
Story seekers
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
Robot or 60s sci-fi fans
Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

Incredible set design
Some great characters
Brilliant interactions
Challenging puzzles
Nemesis Club’s ambiance
Milkshakes

Story

While we were on a tour of the Experimental Virtual Intelligence Laboratory, Robots Division, their biggest, strongest, and smartest robot turned evil, with a desire to kill all humans. Could we stop it in time?

Continue reading →

CAW!

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team size: 4-8; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $35 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: There is a portion of the game that shakes.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

2022 Golden Lock Award Ribbon — 2022 Golden Lock Award Winner

REA Reaction

The Nemesis Club is a special place: an escape room speakeasy set behind a phenomenal milkshake shop. It was surreal seeing tons of people buying milkshakes and legitimately having no idea that there was a world class escape room company hidden in the back.

Mogollon Monster itself was a grand adventure built around capturing an Arizona Bigfoot. Set in a Monster Rangers’ campsite, this narrative adventure was structured around tracking, baiting, and capturing a photo of the monster.

An outdoor campsite with a burned down campfire, Monster Ranger uniforms hung on a lashed-together structure, in the background is an RV with an archery target.

Mogollon Monster was exciting and hilarious, with layers of jokes, some of which were deep cuts that you’d have to have some background in scouting to appreciate. I’m a former Eagle Scout, and there were a number of points where I dropped out of playing the game and just dug into the props and materials because they were so delightful and rich.

Finally, the finale of Mogollon Monster was genius; it felt like we were on a ride.

The Nemesis Club is a world class escape room company, and I am completely confident that we will be seeing amazing things from them long into the future. I cannot wait to play more of their work.