A hand grabs my ankle and a veiny arm slips back into the darkness. My lights turn yellow. I have 90 seconds to find a healing station or I’m dead. I sprint up the narrow staircase and just make it, only to miss out because of the polite queue waiting to be resurrected.
This new, immersive zombie survival game is framed by a tale of scientific experiments gone wrong. More theme park than theatre, it survives on novelty and adrenaline. Essentially, it’s an elaborate game of laser tag.
A paper-thin plot casts us as guinea pigs in medical trials. However, as we run around the blood-splattered building with zombies hiding in creaky cupboards and throwing themselves backwards when we shoot at them, plot quickly takes a backseat. Player objectives are simple: avoid the creatures and gain points by holding medical wristbands to glowing touch points.
Nothing changes during the 90 minutes and we quickly find ourselves running in circles, fear and exhilaration diminished. A lacklustre set of puzzles baffles everyone, and, after a sensationally odd poetry recital into a mirror, we give up. We’re encouraged to rummage around, but look too closely and the illusion starts to fall away; empty files, unfilled patient forms and charity-shop price stickers still stuck on.
If plot and game mechanics are limited, the adrenaline – for a while at least – delivers. It’s hard not to have fun, and you should try not screaming when a drooling zombie hurtles at you in a pitch-black room. My friend and I leave dusty, sweaty and – in second and fourth place – pretty pleased with ourselves. But as we leave the building, I start to feel a bit faint. Is that a bite mark on my leg?
• At 39 New Oxford Street, London, until 31 December.
