The Last Survivors: Uncover The Truth
It has been several years since we last visited The Last Survivors at the Secret Nuclear Bunker in Essex, and 2020 was going to see them come back with a new refreshed story line and some additions to the experience. As part of this, the team started to experiment with an online prequel experience.
In an ironic twist of truth being stranger than fiction, the world really was over taken by a life threatening virus, and the team at The Last Survivors were forced to delay the launch of the new live story, but have been able to release the prequel as a 75 minute play along experience, that sets up the story as well as giving users some puzzle solving fun.
As you can see from the screenshots below - the interface for this game is very impressive with players registering for an online medical course, but getting slowly dragged into the action by an undercover agent who is contacting you directly from within the bunker. When we started, we were a little taken aback that we had somehow accessed a real site, but after a few puzzles we were watching "live" video as the agent needed our help to access files, trigger alarms and generally help him investigate the mystery.
The story itself is totally immersive and believable. and as each video ended we needed to work out what we needed to do to progress. Sometimes this was a simple as deducing a password from the evidence presented to us, and sometimes we were tapped into key control panels and able to change the environment for our contact inside. Along the way we learn more about what is going on and the underlying story of the show. By the time we got to the final scenes (which we played twice as there are two potentially different endings) - we would have been ready to grab some guns, head down to that bunker and start kicking some zombie butt!
Of course - like any puzzle/escape room game - some of the puzzles are easier to solve than others, but all can be completed with the aid of some requestable clues, if you are really stuck. But half the fun of the game is moving between the screens and the "evidence" to try and work out what was going to work or not. We can't praise enough the quality and realism in the game dynamic, which is easily the best we have seen for any online experiences. It never feels like a clunky "enter code to progress", style game and the interface is smart and believable at all times.
And then finally there is the in game footage. All filmed at the bunker itself, it is totally believable and well acted. As the game progressed we were desperate to get our character out, having built up quite an empathy with him. So it was nice to see both endings despite our final choices!
All in - we cant praise this game enough. Its a perfect mix of story-telling, immersive experience and escape room. If the new Last Survivors experience is as slick as this - we cant wait for this real pandemic to be over!
In an ironic twist of truth being stranger than fiction, the world really was over taken by a life threatening virus, and the team at The Last Survivors were forced to delay the launch of the new live story, but have been able to release the prequel as a 75 minute play along experience, that sets up the story as well as giving users some puzzle solving fun.
As you can see from the screenshots below - the interface for this game is very impressive with players registering for an online medical course, but getting slowly dragged into the action by an undercover agent who is contacting you directly from within the bunker. When we started, we were a little taken aback that we had somehow accessed a real site, but after a few puzzles we were watching "live" video as the agent needed our help to access files, trigger alarms and generally help him investigate the mystery.
The story itself is totally immersive and believable. and as each video ended we needed to work out what we needed to do to progress. Sometimes this was a simple as deducing a password from the evidence presented to us, and sometimes we were tapped into key control panels and able to change the environment for our contact inside. Along the way we learn more about what is going on and the underlying story of the show. By the time we got to the final scenes (which we played twice as there are two potentially different endings) - we would have been ready to grab some guns, head down to that bunker and start kicking some zombie butt!
Of course - like any puzzle/escape room game - some of the puzzles are easier to solve than others, but all can be completed with the aid of some requestable clues, if you are really stuck. But half the fun of the game is moving between the screens and the "evidence" to try and work out what was going to work or not. We can't praise enough the quality and realism in the game dynamic, which is easily the best we have seen for any online experiences. It never feels like a clunky "enter code to progress", style game and the interface is smart and believable at all times.
And then finally there is the in game footage. All filmed at the bunker itself, it is totally believable and well acted. As the game progressed we were desperate to get our character out, having built up quite an empathy with him. So it was nice to see both endings despite our final choices!
All in - we cant praise this game enough. Its a perfect mix of story-telling, immersive experience and escape room. If the new Last Survivors experience is as slick as this - we cant wait for this real pandemic to be over!
To book for Uncover the Truth - check out The last Survivors website
The Last Survivors: Outpost 16
We last visited The Last Survivors on its opening night and were very impressed by the amazing venue, realistic situations, use of real guns firing blanks and the terrifying zombies. Our only complaint was that the ending was something of an anticlimax but the team said this is something they would address. The show itself has changed several times since then and now (like the zombie virus that inspired it) has mutated into something even more terrifying. Fortunately, this time we are armed with Airsoft guns to allow us to fight back!
Once inside the compound the show effectively starts and all the characters works hard to portray the seriousness of the zombie infection and what we are about to encounter. We were slightly disappointed that the hospital/infection scenes from the previous version wasn't included but this did mean we spent more time actually underground in the massive nuclear bunker itself.
Led by a crack military team we were soon sent on missions to help us piece together what was happening to the people inside and how to escape by looking for clues amongst the genuine artefacts scattered around. We were surprised at just how much we were able to open drawers and search for things seeing as the Secret Nuclear Bunker (the actual one Margaret Thatcher would have gone to in the case of a real nuclear war) is an actual museum with real artefacts and papers from the cold war.
Being left alone at times to wander through this labyrinth of underground tunnels was an incredible experience and created a real sense of isolation and tension especially when we could hear other groups screaming in the distance - not knowing what was attacking them. Of course we soon found out!
All round the compound, we were repeatedly stalked by some big, powerful (and cunning) zombies hungry for our blood. Clearly these actors knew the best hiding places and they achieved some very effective scares that had us screaming in shock. Despite having guns, the attacks usually took us by surprise leaving us fumbling for the trigger to try and shoot the zombie down. It didn't help that different ones required a different number of shots and as ammo was so scarce, it was sometimes easier just to run in the opposite direction!
During the event we got split into much smaller groups and this made the experience more intimate. Fortunately we paired up 2 other guys wanting to take the game seriously and we worked together as a great team with each of us taking it in turns to guard the others while they were searching. The other group were far rowdier and had to be told off a number of times for not listening to the instructions. They probably missed some of the intricacies of the story for example the information about the different types of zombies and how to react to them, but they seemed happy to just run around and shoot every zombie they saw! At one point we were close to actually shooting them ourselves just to shut them up but of course we were preserving our limited ammo as they had blown all theirs on their first mission!
For the finale, we had to find a way to get out of the building and unlike before, the final scene was intense and terrifying with all the zombies attacking from all sides with no apparent escape. Fortunately our last few "bullets" were enough and we ran into the fresh air panting and sweating!
The new version of the show is far more satisfying than the original version we saw a year ago. It's certainly longer and plays out less like a preplanned show but something that the audience can control and impact along the way. This is created by the free flowing nature of the quest to find the clues and the ability to shoot or run away from the zombies. The venue is still one of the most impressive things and its hard to believe that this is even allowed in there at all (the team have to pick up all spent Airsoft pellets at the end of the night!).
The event runs most Sunday nights throughout the year. If you are looking for a fun, scary and interesting scare event then we would definitely recommend The Last Survivors: Outpost 16
The Last Survivors - Review
Zombies really seem to be the big thing at the moment and everywhere you look on television, film and nationwide events, one thing seems certain - the zombies are coming. In the last year, we have seen the zombie chase game - 2.8 Hours Later, zombie paint-ball (Zombie Shopping Mall and Zombie Manor) as well as real zombie fighting (Zombie Boot Camp).
So when the Last Survivors was announced we were slightly sceptical as to what to expect. That was until we read more details about the event and the venue. Somehow, miraculously, the organisers have managed to get hold of a real nuclear bunker and it has to be the most realistic venue we have ever attended a scare attraction in. Dark tunnels, unused dormitories, hospital bays and underground offices flitted in and out of the flickering torch beam. Not that we had much chance to look around us, as scene after scene involved careful negotiation of each room as we tried to find safety.
The Last Survivors starts its story from the moment you make your internet booking and builds a believeable story of a world under threat. You are sent the co-ordinates of the bunker and on arrival are immediately met by a contamination unit under full armed guard. We were "processed" quickly and sent to see the doctor to find out the true threat of the virus around us. We were also presented with a shiny set of earplugs which, after reading the disclaimer, we all just casually put in our pockets, thinking "come on, the event can't be that loud, can it?"
The build up of the story and the details of the virus were enough to get our group on edge and a couple of fun shock moments in the cold light of day, revealed that things were about to get scary. And we weren't even in the bunker yet!
What was incredible was that the only thing visible of the bunker from outside was a single story bugalow in the woodlands. It looked like it stands alone in the hillside which is actually an optical illusion as it sits on top of a three storey deep "city" that was still in commission during the Thatcher era (in fact, amidst all the chaos, we actually spotted Maggie's bedroom, which seemed to have a slathering zombie bent on destruction in it. Somehow it seemed appropriate!)
Once inside the bunker and preparing for lockdown, suddenly all hell broke loose. The lights went out, the nearby screams were ominous and silhouetted in the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly a zombie. It stopped, it sniffed, it saw us and then it RAN. Trapped in the darkness we had no way to escape the zombie we could see bearing down on us through our guide's torch. As it got closer, escape seemed impossible, but suddenly our Captain guide pulled out his gun and fired! The zombie dropped to the floor but his momentum meant he landed in a pile at our feet. We needed no instruction - at this point we ran!
While running, everyone in our group fumbled for their discarded ear plugs, and in the chaos we all tried frantically to put them in before any more guns were fired. We were warned, we had signed the disclaimers but all of us were shocked at the noise and power of that gun shooting in such an enclosed space. It was clear now that these were real guns firing blanks. Suddenly the event was all too real!
The remainder of the attraction then comprised more running, zombie dodging, shooting, hiding and generally panicking for our lives. At times we would be separated from our group or the safety of our guide, and this only left us feeling more vulnerable and scared.
An interesting aspect of The Last Survivors was the interactive nature of the show. At all times we were part of the team, either helping on the radio or checking rooms were clear before entering. This made us all work together and when we had to hold a door closed, we all worked together to ensure survival.
At times, we were faced with choices which could decide our fate. Do we take the doctor who 'may' have been bitten with us? Do we take the briefcase with a supposed antidote in? We were told afterwards that our experience would have played out differently depending on what choices we made. Unfortunately, we were 4 grown, but scared men, so we left the lady doctor locked up and tried to save ourselves!
As the tension built up, we got closer to the exit and a very big surprise left us running out for our lives. An army Sergeant was waiting for us and as we reached the surface we were told that we had survived the experience and we were thanked for coming. We all just looked at each other as if to say "Really? Is that it?" After all the amazing events until that point, we were quite disappointed that there was no conclusion or redemption.
As it was, it turned out that this was the first ever public run through of the show and the team knew they had more work to do on the ending. We sat with them for quite a while afterwards and hopefully they have taken on board some of our ideas for when the show re-opens this week.
It's a shame we had to be so negative about the ending as we loved every second of the show until that point. The venue was amazing and the actors were all convincing (especially our brave Captain who guided us). The entire show is a really unique take on a zombie experience and is probably the closest to a horror movie we have experienced. It was also not quite as long as we were expecting (but we did make the wrong choices a few times which may have impacted the scenes we saw).
For a first public run of the show, we have to say that The Last Survivors was well executed, and provided a number of really good scares and memorable moments we are still talking about a few days later. The designers have a brilliant venue, a strong acting team and some great ideas for the future. We look forward to seeing how the attraction is expanded going forward.
So when the Last Survivors was announced we were slightly sceptical as to what to expect. That was until we read more details about the event and the venue. Somehow, miraculously, the organisers have managed to get hold of a real nuclear bunker and it has to be the most realistic venue we have ever attended a scare attraction in. Dark tunnels, unused dormitories, hospital bays and underground offices flitted in and out of the flickering torch beam. Not that we had much chance to look around us, as scene after scene involved careful negotiation of each room as we tried to find safety.
The Last Survivors starts its story from the moment you make your internet booking and builds a believeable story of a world under threat. You are sent the co-ordinates of the bunker and on arrival are immediately met by a contamination unit under full armed guard. We were "processed" quickly and sent to see the doctor to find out the true threat of the virus around us. We were also presented with a shiny set of earplugs which, after reading the disclaimer, we all just casually put in our pockets, thinking "come on, the event can't be that loud, can it?"
The build up of the story and the details of the virus were enough to get our group on edge and a couple of fun shock moments in the cold light of day, revealed that things were about to get scary. And we weren't even in the bunker yet!
What was incredible was that the only thing visible of the bunker from outside was a single story bugalow in the woodlands. It looked like it stands alone in the hillside which is actually an optical illusion as it sits on top of a three storey deep "city" that was still in commission during the Thatcher era (in fact, amidst all the chaos, we actually spotted Maggie's bedroom, which seemed to have a slathering zombie bent on destruction in it. Somehow it seemed appropriate!)
Once inside the bunker and preparing for lockdown, suddenly all hell broke loose. The lights went out, the nearby screams were ominous and silhouetted in the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly a zombie. It stopped, it sniffed, it saw us and then it RAN. Trapped in the darkness we had no way to escape the zombie we could see bearing down on us through our guide's torch. As it got closer, escape seemed impossible, but suddenly our Captain guide pulled out his gun and fired! The zombie dropped to the floor but his momentum meant he landed in a pile at our feet. We needed no instruction - at this point we ran!
While running, everyone in our group fumbled for their discarded ear plugs, and in the chaos we all tried frantically to put them in before any more guns were fired. We were warned, we had signed the disclaimers but all of us were shocked at the noise and power of that gun shooting in such an enclosed space. It was clear now that these were real guns firing blanks. Suddenly the event was all too real!
The remainder of the attraction then comprised more running, zombie dodging, shooting, hiding and generally panicking for our lives. At times we would be separated from our group or the safety of our guide, and this only left us feeling more vulnerable and scared.
An interesting aspect of The Last Survivors was the interactive nature of the show. At all times we were part of the team, either helping on the radio or checking rooms were clear before entering. This made us all work together and when we had to hold a door closed, we all worked together to ensure survival.
At times, we were faced with choices which could decide our fate. Do we take the doctor who 'may' have been bitten with us? Do we take the briefcase with a supposed antidote in? We were told afterwards that our experience would have played out differently depending on what choices we made. Unfortunately, we were 4 grown, but scared men, so we left the lady doctor locked up and tried to save ourselves!
As the tension built up, we got closer to the exit and a very big surprise left us running out for our lives. An army Sergeant was waiting for us and as we reached the surface we were told that we had survived the experience and we were thanked for coming. We all just looked at each other as if to say "Really? Is that it?" After all the amazing events until that point, we were quite disappointed that there was no conclusion or redemption.
As it was, it turned out that this was the first ever public run through of the show and the team knew they had more work to do on the ending. We sat with them for quite a while afterwards and hopefully they have taken on board some of our ideas for when the show re-opens this week.
It's a shame we had to be so negative about the ending as we loved every second of the show until that point. The venue was amazing and the actors were all convincing (especially our brave Captain who guided us). The entire show is a really unique take on a zombie experience and is probably the closest to a horror movie we have experienced. It was also not quite as long as we were expecting (but we did make the wrong choices a few times which may have impacted the scenes we saw).
For a first public run of the show, we have to say that The Last Survivors was well executed, and provided a number of really good scares and memorable moments we are still talking about a few days later. The designers have a brilliant venue, a strong acting team and some great ideas for the future. We look forward to seeing how the attraction is expanded going forward.
For more details or to book The Last Survivors - check out their website - http://www.thelastsurvivors.co.uk/main/
You Review
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Terrifying
Visiting similar experiences before and being disappointed, and the high ticket price, we were dubious whether this event would leave us feeling thrilled or out of pocket.
You arrive and anxiously wait in your car awaiting for the arrival of the actors. They finally arrive and give you a briefing and explain the story. You're all then given your guns and led to Kelvedon Hatch secret nuclear bunker. Tip toeing down the long dark corridor waiting for a zombie to jump out on us was one of the most intense things we've ever done. After a lot of frantic running and shooting, eventually you all meet in a room and are given the task to locate some boxes. This is where the event really took off as your allowed free roam around a disused bunker, with a gun, and zombies chasing you. It doesn't really get any better! We had a lot of fun with the zombies, and there's nothing quite as satisfying as taking down a zombie in front of your team mates. The guns were also very satisfying to shoot unlike some other zombie events we've attended. You actually believed you were shooting real bullets! The actors were excellent, probably only criticism is it would of been good to have a few more roaming zombies however this could be a budget issue and not really possible as it is a small event. There's a nice little twist to the story which plays out which I won't spoil, however one of the actors used a real blank firing gun, which as loud and cool as it was, I couldn't help but think if it is safe for people's ears as mine were still ringing when I got home.
The final run back through the tunnel being chased by zombies and shooting frantically behind you was exhilarating and when you finally get out of the claustrophobic bunker you actually feel like you've survived a zombie apocalypse.
All in all this was one of the most enjoyable zombie experiences we've done and the minute we got out we were talking about returning with more friends. Its that good.
Visiting similar experiences before and being disappointed, and the high ticket price, we were dubious whether this event would leave us feeling thrilled or out of pocket.
You arrive and anxiously wait in your car awaiting for the arrival of the actors. They finally arrive and give you a briefing and explain the story. You're all then given your guns and led to Kelvedon Hatch secret nuclear bunker. Tip toeing down the long dark corridor waiting for a zombie to jump out on us was one of the most intense things we've ever done. After a lot of frantic running and shooting, eventually you all meet in a room and are given the task to locate some boxes. This is where the event really took off as your allowed free roam around a disused bunker, with a gun, and zombies chasing you. It doesn't really get any better! We had a lot of fun with the zombies, and there's nothing quite as satisfying as taking down a zombie in front of your team mates. The guns were also very satisfying to shoot unlike some other zombie events we've attended. You actually believed you were shooting real bullets! The actors were excellent, probably only criticism is it would of been good to have a few more roaming zombies however this could be a budget issue and not really possible as it is a small event. There's a nice little twist to the story which plays out which I won't spoil, however one of the actors used a real blank firing gun, which as loud and cool as it was, I couldn't help but think if it is safe for people's ears as mine were still ringing when I got home.
The final run back through the tunnel being chased by zombies and shooting frantically behind you was exhilarating and when you finally get out of the claustrophobic bunker you actually feel like you've survived a zombie apocalypse.
All in all this was one of the most enjoyable zombie experiences we've done and the minute we got out we were talking about returning with more friends. Its that good.
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