We went down to Birmingham to experience the SandBoxVR Squid Game experience where you dress up in a full motion capture suit and are catapulted straight into experiencing your very own Squid Game in virtual reality.
This futuristic venue is built inside Grand Central and is located straight up the escalators within New Street train station on the second floor and it looks superb.
SandBoxVR is like stepping into the future and into your very own Ready Player One movie the second gameplay begins! There is plenty to see when you walk in and even the furniture has a space-age look to it and just on your right as you go in they have a robot bartender, but more on that later!
SandBoxVR have a whole host of games for you to play and each of these games comes with different peripherals for you to immerse yourself in the experience.
Check out our experience below over on our sister site Lift Hills and Thrills
The shooting games have you holding your very own motion-tracked gun and seeing other people play these games in the numerous arenas as we got dressed for our own experience instantly made me want to come back before our own Squid Game had begun.
We were then directed by a member of staff to attach our sensors which consisted of two wrist sensors, two ankle sensors and a vest. These sensors were used to track each individual within the arena using motion capture software because, unlike normal VR experiences where you’d be standing still, you have full mobility within a defined space.
You can walk, interact with your friends, high-five them and navigate a virtual space just like you would in real life and it’s quite astonishing how seamless it all feels.
The second the VR headset went on we were instantly transported into the colourful corridors from the series before entering the dorm room of Squid Game. My friend Jake was player 001, instantly I didn’t trust him (find out more about the real player 001 in Squid Game 2 HERE).
Immersive doesn’t even begin to describe this experience.
Normally with VR headsets, you’re very conscious of a big heavy screen on your head and that instantly detaches me from the experience but with full mobility at SandboxVR I was wholly immersed and I completely forgot I was wearing the headset at one point, it wasn’t that heavy.
You are wearing headphones but can communicate with your group via a microphone built into the headset the second the games begin.
From the classic Red Light, Green Light (slightly changed up due to the limited playing space) to a variety of other games that will have you ducking, diving and swatting bombs at each other they were all great fun mini-games that tallyed up a score for the eventual winner.
The games were great but I was hoping for more games linked to the series like the glass bridge crossing for example would have been superb because this game truly transforms you, to the point where my own fear of heights was tested.
Standing atop a virtual platform, I looked down and felt that vertigo feeling that I always get in real life. My brain completely forgot the room I was standing in was perfectly flat and had convinced me that I was high up and I certainly felt it!
This technology would be great for helping people to conquer their fear of heights. If the graphics were more life-like you could put people through their paces in a variety of immersive ways.
How accurately your motions are captured is superb and this step up from the standard VR experiences is certainly reflected in the price.
There was a group of three of us and navigating the space was no issue at all, no running into one another, no fuss and we worked as a team in some games and against each other in others.
It costs £32.50pp on the day we visit (prices do vary depending on the day of visiting) which is certainly quite steep but once you experience it for yourself you’ll understand and hopefully appreciate the extra quality you are being offered compared to a standing still VR experience.
Our 30-minute Squid Game experience flew by and once it’s over you come out and are given your own little booth to relax in whilst you watch your video highlights along with a complimentary bottle of water. Once again, SandboxVR going the extra mile because of the higher price you are paying for this experience.
It is here where you can walk over to a touch screen and place your order for a pair of robotic arms to make you a cocktail.
Priced at £7.50 for an alcoholic cocktail and £5 for a mocktail these robots go to work making your drink using an array of bottles above their arms and a variety of manoeuvres that dazzle and amaze.
The cocktail was absolutely beautiful and the second we had finished our video highlights had been emailed to me. Three videos (two landscape, and one vertical) landed in my inbox but sadly I didn’t think the videos were very good.
They were randomly picked highlights and whilst I managed to edit them into the VLOG embedded in this article the videos seemed far too random to be wholly appreciated or useful.
It would be nice if there was a way for them to capture your full game-time in the arena and full game-time in the virtual world but I can understand that two big 30-minute files probably aren’t the most efficient way of doing business.
Considering the cost of the experience I should think that a better souvenir/video reel could be provided for customers but I’m scraping the barrel with negatives here as the whole package was very impressive indeed.
I’ve stayed away from VR for many years after it makes me feel sick standing there whilst my character is moving in a VR game but the ability to walk freely eradicated that sickness for me entirely. I get dizzy very easily too but when the headset came off it wasn’t worse than it usually is so that’s a plus too!
In full disclosure, this review hasn’t been sponsored by SandboxVR in any way shape or form.
I loved my Squid Game experience so much that I just had to write about it and with Squid Game Season 2 out now and us covering a lot more Squid Game content currently I thought it would be a perfect time to review it.
Check out Squid Game VR and the other titles on offer at SandboxVR over on their official website
