A FULLY IMMERSIVE MEDIEVAL VR ADVENTURE THAT BRINGS HISTORY TO LIFE

By Natasha U’Ren-Ashdown | @tasha.ua ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

Step into 1301 Carcassonne, France and experience medieval history through an immersive story of rebellion and legend. The Last Stronghold is a fully immersive medieval journey that takes you through woods and a castle, where you become part of the town’s rebellion, which is all presented through VR.

The venue is slightly hidden as it is located upstairs in the W12 Shopping Centre, but the experience itself is very easy to navigate. Once you are wearing your headset, you are told to follow the story by entering blue boxes, although you have the freedom to roam around once the next part of the story is activated. Having never done VR before, I assumed it would be a stand-in-place situation, but I was pleasantly surprised that it is actually a full movement experience around the room. Because of this, you are constantly engaged by both the movement and the story.

The story itself is a medieval adventure, which is not something I would usually choose, as I am not a history buff, yet it was still very enjoyable. When tales of legends are told, the VR brings the storytelling to life through large golden figures appearing overhead, which gives the experience a magical feel and draws you into the story.

I have a fear of walking in the darkness in case I fall over (it is very niche, but felt relevant enough to mention), though, because the experience is so engaging, you quickly forget you are not seeing with your own eyes, and my fear quickly disappeared. It is only when you try to grab something that you remember you are wearing a VR headset. The technology itself is cutting-edge. The visual quality of the characters is not fully high-definition, and their speech does not always perfectly match their movements, but it does not detract from the story. The quality is still very impressive, as my friend who joined me could not bring himself to step over the castle ledge because of his fear of heights. The technology also outlines members of your group within the experience, so you can see each other walking around and exploring different paths. It also alerts you to walls and other groups so accurately that the fear of bumping into someone or something is almost nonexistent.

I would recommend this 45-minute experience for groups of two or more, particularly for history lovers or slightly older groups. While it is already very impressive, slightly higher visual quality or more opportunities for participants to influence the story by choosing different paths could make it even better. That said, it was still a very impressive and fun afternoon out.

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Photo Credit: Excurio