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March 3, 2026
Atlantis Protocol: How Sherlocked Created Amsterdam’s New City Game
Quick Summary
Before diving into the full story, here’s a clear snapshot of the key ideas...
- Making the world more magical is our core mission, leading us to expand beyond indoor escape rooms to transform Amsterdam’s everyday streets into a living puzzle.
- The "sinking city" narrative serves as our foundation, turning the real-world fact that Amsterdam is built on swampy land and wooden poles into a high-stakes mystery.
- Authenticity is rooted in history, as we blended local landmarks and historical figures like Hendrick de Keyser with our own fictional universe of alchemists and secret societies.
- Designing for the real world required a new level of precision, using clear mapping and rapid feedback to ensure the city’s natural distractions didn't break the players' immersion.
- Shifting your perspective is the ultimate goal, inviting players to walk through the historic center not as tourists, but as explorers uncovering secrets hidden in plain sight.
At Sherlocked, our mission has always been simple: to make the world more magical. For years, we’ve done this through immersive storytelling and our award-winning escape rooms in Amsterdam. But we kept asking ourselves, how can we bring that same magic and mystery beyond our walls and into the city itself?
The idea for our newest experience, began with Sherlocked’s Co-Directors Francine Boon and Victor van Doorn.
“Originally, Victor and I dreamt about creating a game… we called it Enchanted City,” says Francine, our Creative Rebel. “We thought, it’s amazing that we can make escape rooms and experiences, but it might be even more impactful if people could see their everyday environment transform before their eyes.”
That spark, the vision of layering mystery and story over Amsterdam’s familiar streets, became the foundation of a new kind of experience: Atlantis Protocol, an outdoor escape game that transforms the city into a living puzzle.
When the pandemic temporarily closed our indoor games, the idea finally took shape. People still needed connection, wonder, and play, just in a safer, open-air setting. So we gathered a small, dedicated team to make it happen. Soon, a story rooted in local history began to rise from the city’s depths: the sinking city.
Table of Contents
Poles, Alchemists, and a Secret Plot
The narrative behind Atlantis Protocol grew from one of Amsterdam’s strangest truths.
“Amsterdam is built on poles, on swamp land. It’s actually not really suitable to build anything on,” Francine explains.
That fact alone felt like a secret waiting to be told. What if that fragile foundation began to fail? What if Amsterdam itself were starting to sink?
From that question a world unfolded, one of hidden threats, lost inventions, and a mysterious device capable of saving or dooming the city. To root the fiction in reality, we drew inspiration from real historical figures like Hendrick de Keyser, the 17th-century master architect behind many of the city’s iconic landmarks.
We also wanted to connect the story to the existing Sherlocked universe, bringing back our beloved character Mary Sidney, The Alchemist, and linking her to de Keyser through the secretive society of the Crossed Keys, a hidden order sworn to protect Amsterdam’s deepest mysteries.
Amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, Atlantis Protocol became our way of building something joyful, a city game in Amsterdam that encouraged people to go outside, explore with friends, and rediscover freedom through play.
The Challenges of Building a City Game
Creating a city game came with an entirely new set of challenges, ones we’d never faced within the controlled environments of our escape rooms.
“One of the biggest challenges with creating something out in the real world is that we can’t control the environment,” says Francine.
In an escape room, we manage everything: lighting, sound, pacing. But in the city, anything can become a distraction or an accidental red herring.
That freedom meant the design needed to be precise.
“If we’re too vague and players walk in the wrong direction, it drains a lot of energy,” Francine explains. “So, the map is very clear, it guides you step by step. We also give faster feedback, to reassure players that they’re in the right place.”
These challenges, combined with evolving technology, extended our development timeline.
“We started working on this in 2020, and it’s now finally out of beta,” says Francine. While similar projects might take four to six months, our focus on refining gameplay, user experience, and automation stretched that timeline, but for us, attention to detail is part of the magic.
A City Game Made for Amsterdam
Despite the hurdles, Atlantis Protocol perfectly reflects Sherlocked’s creative philosophy, and offers something truly unique to players.
“In our broader mission,” Francine says, “this game sends you into the city, and hopefully gives you a story that makes you look differently at Amsterdam’s historic center.”
Players don’t just walk past monuments, they step inside real locations, speak to real people, and uncover stories woven into the city’s living fabric. As Francine says “We love that, because it creates an extra layer of immersion.”
Atlantis Protocol is designed as an invitation to explore, an experience that encourages curiosity and wonder in both visitors and locals alike. Whether you’ve lived here for years or are just passing through, this is a chance to see Amsterdam through new eyes, to walk its streets not as a tourist, but as an explorer uncovering a centuries-old mystery.
So gather your friends, follow the clues, and see the city with new eyes. Book your adventure and uncover Atlantis Protocol today.
