Locations · Next Space

Next Space has 53 rooms on the CD (numbered 1 to 54; number 45 is missing). Of these, 50 are real locations, and three are special: the narration (51), an unused copy (52) and a black screen for death and credits (54). The game never gave its rooms names, so the names in this list are our own descriptive ones. We use the room number as a stable reference, and it is also what links each location to its pictures. In site-media/rooms.json the same rooms have working names; the names used here are the editorial ones and are definitive for the website.

The rooms are grouped by story chapter. Some appear in the game more than once: the bar returns in four chapters, and every return is a little different.

Be warned: the text contains spoilers for puzzle solutions. If you want to play blind, come back here once you have finished the game.

Chapter 1: Prologue

The game opens with three places that are more of a film set than a playground: Frank’s room, the Boss’s office and the ship’s cockpit. You only get control a little later, outside the bar.

Room 48: Frank’s Room

Chapter: 1 · Characters: Frank, The Boss

An unmade bed, a pile of discarded things and a big screen on the wall. This is what Frank’s home looks like after a night nobody wants to remember.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. The game begins with a call from the Boss. Frank doesn’t even know yet why the Boss is shouting in his ear, and the Boss is only too happy to explain. The intro plays like a film.

Room 47: The Boss’s Office

Chapter: 1, 13 · Characters: The Boss, Astrud deBurgh, Frank

A round office with a window that looks straight out into space. A big desk, a red armchair and little lights on the floor.

What happens here. This is where Frank first gets a telling-off and is ordered to fly out. We come back here one last time at the end of the game, when the Boss wants to know where Frank has been all week.

Room 46: Cockpit of Frank’s Ship

Chapter: 1 · Characters: Frank, The Boss (voice)

A view from behind the front console: two tall red pillars and, in the middle, a panel of blinking lights. This is how Frank sees space while the Boss shouts into the radio.

What happens here. Frank lets the Boss hurry him along, but still flies the way he wants. Then a wormhole pulls him in and he ends up in another galaxy.

Chapter 2: Little Estóz’s Bar

The first real places where you can walk around, click and talk to people. The entrance hall, the main room and, before that, the landing pad outside the entrance.

Room 35: Outside the Bar

Chapter: 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 · Characters: Frank, G-HERN’s Intruders

A station wall of rusty metal, a pink neon sign above heavy double doors, a big window and a landing pad.

What happens here. Frank lands here after flying through the wormhole, sets off for the greenhouse from here and keeps coming back. Later a bomb is built above the door from the things Frank has collected.

Room 39: Bar: Entrance Hall

Chapter: 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 · Characters: The Ladies (androids), Frank, The Helper Robot, Guest (investigator)

A light-blue entrance hall with a white floor, round seats and a teleporter booth. Two ladies sit there looking as if they were waiting just for you.

What happens here. The ladies try to lure Frank over, while the barman advises him to give them a wide berth. Later the barman is interrogated here, and this is where Frank jumps into the teleporter. There are also some scattered biscuits and a way through to the outer door.

Room 40: Little Estóz’s Bar: Main Room

Chapter: 2, 4, 9, 11 · Characters: The Barman, Viktor, The Ladies, Bar Patrons

The biggest conversation hub in the game: a round black counter, an aquarium, shelves of unidentifiable things and tables of patrons you had better not stare at for too long.

What happens here. The barman explains to Frank where he has ended up, and talks to him through a broken translator. After the explosion, this is where the party kicks off. Later the barman is frozen in a block of ice and Frank thaws him out.

Chapter 3: The PSAB Greenhouse

A colourful world of greenhouses where every plant acts as if it wants to eat you. And some of them mean it.

Room 12: Crashed Ship in the Greenhouse

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank

The ship hangs upside down four metres above the ground, surrounded by foam, broken glass and greenery. The air outside is toxic.

What happens here. Frank comes to after the crash with the words “I… I… I’m alive. It’s a miracle.” Out of foam and glass from the broken windows he makes his first sword. This is the first place where he can actually make things.

Room 8: Greenhouse: Dripping Acid

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank

Large glass windows, colourful greenery and a corrosive liquid dripping from one flower. It hisses where it hits the ground, so nobody sensible is going to taste it.

What happens here. Frank scoops acid into a leaf and dips his sword in it. Doors lead out of the room in two directions: to the greenhouse with the giant creature and to the control room.

Room 15: Greenhouse: Giant Creature

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank, The Giant Creature

A blue wall, thistles like Christmas trees and a big monster perched on a structure of poles. A small fan in the wall hides a grille that Frank will find useful.

What happens here. The sword dipped in acid forces the creature to back off. Frank gets a metal rod, a horn and a grille here, and lures the little creature with fruit.

Room 10: Greenhouse: Tree and Waterfall

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank

A bare tree, a small glass greenhouse, a noisy waterfall and rocks that look suspiciously artificial. The water is cold and Frank has no wish to swim in it.

What happens here. There is wood on the ground and something glints in the water. Frank pulls out a heavy stone and promptly wonders whether it might be gold. The stone will later come in handy against the giant creature.

Room 14: Greenhouse with the Apple

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank, The Little Creature

A narrow view through dark foliage of a small glass greenhouse. The tree here bears fruit that looks like a cross between a strawberry and an apple.

What happens here. Frank picks two fruits and finds a little creature that is bored and ignores him. The fruit becomes bait.

Room 16: Cave of the Carnivorous Flowers

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank

A brook flows out of a rocky cave, a tree licks its lips and flowers that smell anything but sweet poke out of a hole in the ground. A lovely spot for a stroll, if you don’t mind the risk.

What happens here. A trap. Anyone who steps into the wrong zone ends up in a carnivorous flower (a short 3D animation and a skull). On a first visit, then, it is wiser just to admire the flower.

Room 13: Greenhouse Control Room

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank, The Little Creature

A small dark room with a control panel, a fan and a massive door. Light comes from under the floor, and on one side a little creature is waiting.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. Frank uses acid and an iron rod to smash the panel and open the door. The little creature squeezes into his pocket and comes along with him.

Room 9: Hangar with the Ship

Chapter: 3 · Characters: Frank

A bright hangar with a parked ship, big boxes and a ladder going up. Next to the ship is a small box.

What happens here. The box holds electric wires and something else that “isn’t ticking”, though it is probably a bomb all the same. From here, retractable stairs lead into the alien ship.

Room 29: Cockpit of the Alien Ship

Chapter: 3, 12 · Characters: Frank, The Little Creature

A pink-and-red cockpit with seats, a navigation computer, a big viewport and cargo boxes.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. Frank uses the map and flies back to the bar. Later he comes back here to lure the creature out with a biscuit and similarly gentle methods.

Chapter 4: Explosion and Celebration

No new places. We return to the area outside the bar and to the bar itself. The entrance, however, is no longer the way we left it.

This chapter takes place in rooms we already know: Room 35 (Outside the Bar), Room 39 (Bar: Entrance Hall), Room 40 (Little Estóz’s Bar: Main Room).

Chapter 5: At the Androids’

Five rooms of a single flat. This is where the game turns from an adventure into an escape from an overly hospitable home.

Room 43: The Androids’ Bedroom

Chapter: 5 · Characters: Frank, The Androids (Maco and Káča)

A blue bedroom with a red bed, an armchair and flowers. Everything here is arranged so that nobody would want to go back. Or ever leave.

What happens here. Frank wakes up with a sore head and without any of his things. The androids announce that he will stay here as a pet. Later he takes a knife he finds here.

Room 49: The Androids’ Living Room

Chapter: 5 · Characters: The Androids, Frank

A green sofa, a TV on the wall and a small table with a remote control on it. The residents’ favourite programme is on the screen.

What happens here. Frank reaches for the remote and is immediately told it is not a toy for him. He only gets hold of it later, when the androids are out.

Room 42: Corridor with a Grille and Wires

Chapter: 5 · Characters: Frank, The Androids, The Cleaning Robot

A green floor, a picture on the wall, a potted flower and a grille with machinery hidden behind it. It can be opened if you have the right stick.

What happens here. Frank prises off the grille and cuts the wires with the knife, causing a short circuit. The Cleaning Robot catches him going for its toolkit and an argument follows. Finally, Frank uses the remote here to open the door to freedom.

Room 41: The Androids’ Kitchenette

Chapter: 5 · Characters: Frank, The Kitchen Creature

Green kitchen counters, a flower in a vase, a tray and, in the corner, an opening into a dark hiding place. Nothing here looks dangerous, which is the first bad sign.

What happens here. Frank sets a trap for the monster: a bucket, crisps as bait, a little stick to prop it up and a plastic bag. The result is a snake in a bag, which later comes in handy against the Cleaning Robot.

Room 44: The Cleaning Robot’s Closet

Chapter: 5 · Characters: The Cleaning Robot, Frank

Wardrobes full of clothes, a bucket, a round opening and a little robot that would love nothing more than to wipe everything down, clean it and throw it out.

What happens here. Frank finds a bucket and a toolkit here and strikes up a conversation with the little robot, which hates dirt and the androids almost equally. He slips it the snake in the bag, and the robot ends up wrecking the sofa.

Chapter 6: Hotel Elevators and the Guard Robot

The hotel from top to bottom: the corridor, the roof and the laundry on level P. Linking them, an elevator with a mind of its own.

Room 36: Hotel Corridor Before the Elevator

Chapter: 6 · Characters: Frank, The Androids

A glass elevator shaft, doors to the residential units and, on the wall, a moving picture that Frank thinks is completely bonkers.

What happens here. Frank uses a milling tool to sharpen the edge of the elevator doors and takes a piece of chewing gum stuck to the railing. When an android grabs him, the doors chop off her hand, and the hand with its fingerprints later comes in handy for the palm sensor.

Room 23: Hotel Roof

Chapter: 6 · Characters: The Guard Robot, Frank

A landing pad under a starry sky, the leg of an enormous ship, laser beams and a large control stand with a palm sensor. Frank’s ship is in sight.

What happens here. One of the longest dialogues in the game, in which the Guard Robot lets nobody through without permission. Frank tries the chewing gum, the hand with the fingerprints and finally the fire trick in the laundry.

Room 24: Laundry and Disintegrator

Chapter: 5, 6 · Characters: The Hanging Robot, Frank

A glowing red washing machine that doubles as a disintegrator, laundry containers, a fire extinguisher and a hanging robot that talks about itself rather sardonically.

What happens here. The Hanging Robot begs to be set free and promises revenge on the androids. The fire extinguisher that Frank throws into the disintegrator explodes and flings the robot out. The explosion also provides the pretext for the fire trick Frank later uses to lure the Guard Robot off the roof. Without the chewing gum, though, the elevator leaves without him and the game is over.

Chapter 7: Back at the Bar

No new places. A short visit to the bar’s entrance hall that ends with a jump into the teleporter.

This chapter takes place in rooms we already know: Room 35 (Outside the Bar), Room 39 (Bar: Entrance Hall).

Chapter 8: Teleport Planet: Water, Spider, Pump

An underground world of wrecked teleporters, cobwebs and water creatures. The biggest set of puzzles in the game.

Room 1: Teleport Planet: Teleporter Caves

Chapter: 8, 10, 11 · Characters: Frank

Blue-and-white caves with columns that look like anthills. A circle of light in the middle, a device by the wall that reminds Frank of a machine for making bathtubs, and a door on the right.

What happens here. Frank lands here after the jump from the bar. From here, paths branch off to the teleporter warehouse (32), the anthills (2) and the ladder down to the sewer (3).

Room 32: Warehouse of Wrecked Teleporters

Chapter: 8 · Characters: Frank

Three broken teleporters with red cables hanging from the ceiling, a control panel, a slanted piece of a ship’s hull and a pile of junk.

What happens here. Frank finds a broken card and a syringe here, both of which will come in handy later. Once repaired, the panel becomes the way back to the bar.

Room 34: Pool with the Water Creatures

Chapter: 8 · Characters: The Nypr (water creatures), Frank

A dark cave with red light, a big pool and a broken pump. The water ripples slightly. The darkness here is so thick you could point at it.

What happens here. The Nypr, as the water creatures call themselves, are afraid at first. When Frank puts the pump together from a hose, a filter, a battery, an engine and energy, they reward him with a working teleport card.

Room 30: Industrial Shaft

Chapter: 8 · Characters: Frank

A rust-red shaft with hoses, pipes and a big armoured lid. Frank remarks that cyberpunk must have gone out of fashion here.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. Frank takes a hose and pulls a filter out of a pipe. When the laser cannon (Room 33) burns through the lid, the way down to the engine opens up.

Room 31: Technical Shaft with an Engine

Chapter: 8 · Characters: Frank

A dark channel with covers and, beneath them, an engine with a thin tube through which an energy fluid flows. Frank admits he has never seen an engine like it.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. With the syringe he draws energy from the source, and with the screwdriver he removes the engine. Both end up at the pool.

Room 22: Spider Nest and Green Pond

Chapter: 8 · Characters: Frank, The Spider

A heap of waste, a green sticky pond and a cobweb-lined pipe leading away from the channel. Frank notices a cabinet whose top drawer looks rather interesting.

What happens here. The drawer holds a battery and a screwdriver tool, and green goo can be scooped from the pond. When Frank gets close to the pond, the spider catches him in a cocoon.

Room 21: Cobweb Tunnel with a Cocoon

Chapter: 8 · Characters: Frank, The Spider, The Nypr (water creatures)

A swirling tunnel of white threads with a pond of green goo in the middle. Frank hangs here in a cocoon like a victim who has just realised how flies feel.

What happens here. A lighter burns through the web and Frank is free. He also frees one of the Nypr from another cocoon and makes a path across the goo out of the leftover ash.

Room 33: Room with the Laser Cannon

Chapter: 8 · Characters: Frank

A platform above wrecked machines, reached by a sloping wall, with a shiny cabinet full of wires, a red button and a cannon nobody has used for a long time.

What happens here. Frank connects the battery to the wires, presses the button and the laser burns a hole in the armoured lid. He then takes the battery back.

Chapter 9: Bar II

No new places. The bar is empty and quiet. The barman stands frozen in a block of ice.

This chapter is played in rooms we already know: Room 39 (Bar: Entrance Hall), Room 40 (Little Estóz’s Bar: Main Room).

Chapter 10: Anthill, Sewer, Factory

Deep below the bar: anthills, a sewer and an abandoned factory. Anyone who takes one step too many comes to a bad end.

Room 2: Anthills with a Fan

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank, The Helper Robot

A big fan, light and shimmering columns of anthills. In one of them something lies buried.

What happens here. Sleeping pills scattered over the anthill put the ants to sleep and Frank gets the Helper Robot. Walking into the fan is not recommended: it is one of the game’s seven deaths.

Room 3: Shaft with a Ladder and Pipes

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank

Darkness, a bundle of rusty pipes, a ladder going down into the depths and a thick, stinking liquid welling up from somewhere in the depths.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. Frank takes a hard wooden stick that he later uses as a pole. The ladder leads down into the sewer.

Room 4: Sewer with Barrels

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank

A smelly sewer, pipes and barrels fixed to the wall. A single pretty little lamp gives some light.

What happens here. Frank uses the clicker to cut a barrel loose, steers with the pole as a rudder and floats away. Without the pole he would fall and die.

Room 5: Sewer: Wreckage and Fumes

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank, The Sewer Creature

Collapsed ruins, a pillar propping up the wall, pipes with hissing steam and a dark hole in the wall.

What happens here. A severed tentacle lures the monster and the wall collapses. Frank takes a brush and discovers the way into the next part of the sewer.

Room 6: Sewer: Wounded Viktor

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Viktor, Frank

A dark spot with a bloodstain, pipes and a man lying on the ground. It is Viktor – the same man who was mourning his pet in the bar.

What happens here. Viktor explains how he ran into his beloved pet and sends Frank to the factory for a medkit. Frank finds an axe, a valve and a tentacle that Viktor hacked off his pet.

Room 7: Blocked Sewer

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank

A pipe lying on the ground with slimy muck oozing out of it, a fallen lamp and a hole where the floor has caved in.

What happens here. With a brush dipped in Vaseline and the pole, Frank prises out the plug and opens the way to the factory.

Room 19: Factory: Conveyor Belt

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank, The Ants

A factory hall with a conveyor belt, a laser, termite mounds and a broken machine in which something glitters.

What happens here. Frank greases the machine with Vaseline, finds a crystal and later uses it to set the belt going. One wrong step onto the belt means the end.

Room 11: Factory Storeroom

Chapter: 10 · Characters: Frank

A dark storeroom with containers, spears and useless inventory. An amulet in one corner, a magnet in another.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. Frank takes the meditrans amulet (medkit) for Viktor and a magnet for the Helper Robot.

Room 20: Factory: Laser and Charger

Chapter: 10, 11 · Characters: Frank

Another part of the factory: a control panel, another laser, the belt and the door between the factory and the rest of the world.

What happens here. On the wall is a charger that will later bring the defroster to life. For now it is just a device that Frank does not dare operate while the ants are close by.

Chapter 11: Firearm and Defrosting

Two new rooms behind the bar that hold the key to thawing out the barman.

Room 17: Glass Corridor by the Bar

Chapter: 11 · Characters: Frank

A V-shaped glass corridor with light panels and a control panel, with a glass door waiting beyond it.

The name is a guess based on the objects and surroundings; the game does not name its rooms.

What happens here. A button and the control panel open the glass door to the cold room.

Room 18: Cold Room

Chapter: 11 · Characters: Frank

A blue room with transparent cubes, a fridge and boxes of unusual vegetables and fruit.

What happens here. In this room Frank finds the defroster. It is not charged, but that can be fixed.

Chapter 12: G-HERN’s Base

A base in green tones. The longest chapter: a cell, a toilet, corridors, docks and one character swap.

Room 50: G-HERN’s Command Bridge

Chapter: 11, 12, 13 · Characters: G-HERN, Frank, The Barman

A turquoise curved room with a staircase.

What happens here. Frank and the barman are interrogated here. At the end of the game, Ending A is triggered here, when G-HERN loses control of his own ships.

Room 26: Cell with a Force Field

Chapter: 12 · Characters: Frank, The Barman, The Guard

An octagonal table with a little lamp, a monitor, an unpleasant picture and an armchair. According to the longplay video, the player spends almost eighteen minutes here.

What happens here. Frank haggles with the guard over trips to the toilet and tries out one plan after another with the barman. The force field can only be switched off with the remote from the guardroom.

Room 27: The Cell’s Toilet

Chapter: 12 · Characters: Frank

A small cubicle with a sink, a toilet, a mirror and a cabinet with toilet paper. It is home to one of the most important puzzles in the game.

What happens here. Behind the mirror is a ventilation shaft. Frank sets fire to toilet paper sprinkled with cleaning powder, and he must not forget to put the mirror back in place. Otherwise the game ends with the bad ending.

Room 28: Guardroom with a Monitor

Chapter: 12 · Characters: Frank, The Guard (paralysed)

A green guardroom with a monitor showing an information system. A paralysed guard lies on the floor with a big weapon underneath him.

What happens here. Frank takes the force-field remote from his hand. Later the player comes back here in control of the barman.

Room 37: Green Corridor with Closed Doors

Chapter: 12 · Characters: The Barman, Frank, The Little Creature

A green corridor with panels, doors that won’t open and a small hole for creatures smaller than a human.

What happens here. The barman takes the door apart here. Frank has to go back for the little creature, which gets through the hole and opens the door from the inside.

Room 25: North Corridor

Chapter: 12 · Characters: Frank, The Robot with the Glass, The Guards

A long green corridor in which a robot carrying a glass walks up and down along exactly the same path, again and again. Two guards stand at the far end.

What happens here. Frank stretches a rubber band across the robot’s path and catches it. Once Frank has put sleeping pills in its drink, the Robot with the Glass becomes a waiter that drugs the guards in the dock. Anyone who walks straight up to the guards three times dies.

Room 38: Dock with Guards

Chapter: 12 · Characters: The Barman, The Guards

A dock with an inflating device, broken glass and guards – the station has far too many of them.

What happens here. The barman pulls the uniform off a sleeping guard and inflates himself so that it fits. It is one of the funniest scenes in the game.

Room 53: Dock with a Ship and a Spacesuit

Chapter: 12, 13 · Characters: The Barman, Frank

A small turquoise capsule with a window, one of the station’s twelve docks. A spacesuit lies in an enormous container.

What happens here. The barman sabotages the controls of G-HERN’s ships here. Frank follows him, and Ending A plays out straight afterwards.

Interludes and special screens

Narration, an unused copy and a black screen: places that cannot be visited like the others.

Room 51: Space Scene (narration)

Chapter: 4, 8, 13 · Characters: The Narrator

Black space with blue veils of nebula and text read out by the narrator. Here the game gives the player a breather and explains what has happened in the meantime.

What happens here. Short interludes: “In less than an hour”, the night’s sleep after the celebration, and the epilogue after Ending A. In the bad ending there is also a long epilogue about the war between Earth and G-HERN.

Room 52: Unused Room (copy of Room 1)

Chapter: 13

An almost exact copy of Room 1 that the game does not use. Its texts are in English: test messages left by the developers.

What happens here. Nothing. The player never gets here. It is a leftover from development.

Room 54: Black Screen (death and credits)

Chapter: 13

A black screen on which the closing animations play: a skull after death, the words THE END and the credits.

What happens here. After every death a skull appears here and the game returns to the menu. At the end of the game the credits run here.