Otherworld VR, Transportation to Another Dimension

LittleBird’s Alex was invited to experience Otherworld, London’s newest VR experience! Read on to find out how she got on…

Not yet indoctrinated into the world of Virtual Reality, I had literally no idea what to expect when we booked our family session at Otherworld, London’s newest VR arcade and bar. Nestled in an old railway arch in central Haggerston, a parallel portal beckoned and we went along with open minds to experience this virtual playground for ourselves.

On entering this futuristic hub, we were warmly greeted by our hostess and taken to a central bench flanked with pods for orientation and a briefing. It was explained that we would each have our own immersion room, adorned with state of the art VIVE headsets and handsets and released at the peak of a mountain on our virtual island to explore and play up to 16 of the games on offer. Briefed, versed on the controls and commands, we were ready.

Entering each of our respective pods, we donned the equipment, the door closed and our experience started. There were four of us, each in our separate immersion rooms but as we became virtual copies of ourselves, albeit in futuristic outfits, we could see, hear and talk to each other in our virtual world, comforting when knowing we had small children on the loose in another portal!

From striding the earth like a giant in google earth, being a fruit slashing ninja to adventures with a tiny mouse; to fighting a zombie apocalypse in the wild west, becoming an intergalactic DJ superstar or hurling slingshots of Angry Birds, there is a game for everyone. The graphics were quite literally out of this world. You can play as many games as you like – our only complaint that you literally need more time as it is all so much fun and there is so much to do!

The concept is inspired and you just feel like you are actually inside a video game. With the extra sensory effects, you can also feel the heat, feel the wind in your hair and smell the sweet scents too so the whole experience is so very real.

After our 40 minutes in our parallel portal, the experience came to an end and we were pinged back to reality. Courtesy of the well-stocked bar, the children opted for hot chocolates (which we ordered from ipads, very cool) whilst my husband and I sampled the refreshing craft beers on offer. There is also an extensive pan-Pacific kitchen from Lords of Poke to enjoy as well as an eclectic cocktail menu and private dining area, perfect for group get togethers.

I would just like to extend my thanks to the amazing staff at Otherworld, they went above and beyond to support and help the children with their questions, put on and take off equipment for them and guard their immersion rooms for any escapees! A big thank you too for the in-game support on our headsets, from helping us with controls, to launching us into different games and ensuring the younger children stay out of more difficult games areas. Sekura (Otherworld’s Siri or Alexa….) you were very well used and very patient.

It is worth noting that Otherworld is also right next door to The Board Games Café and there is also the lovely Stonebridge Gardens next to the Haggerston overground line just a one-minute walk away too – perfect for a family picnic with lots of state-of-the-art play equipment for the children to enjoy.

So there it was, our experience at Otherworld. For the last six months, we have fended off daily requests from our two children to “please, please, please” buy them a Nintendo Switch, as they are “soooooooooo cool Mummy” and “I will be good forever Mummy”…… However, in the space of one exhilarating experience at Otherworld, this has all changed. Nintendo Switches forgotten, they would now like an immersion room and a VR set. In their bedroom. Each. And they want to “live” at Otherworld. Failing that, they want to come to Otherworld every weekend (and so does my husband)…. and do you know what? We just might!

Thank you to the team at Otherworld for an amazing experience, it was quite simply Otherworldly.

Try out Otherworld for yourself with our super 40% off saving here on LittleBird.