Review by Daz Gale
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Canada Water is proving an unlikely yet exciting new location for immersive experiences. Nestled on the Jubilee line between Waterloo and a trip to the o2 at North Greenwich, I previously reviewed the newly opened Taskmaster Live Experience at DockX there, but that isn’t the only adventure you can have in the area. Heading directly behind it will take you to the mysterious world of Phantom Peak who are now celebrating the festive season known (to them) as “Wintermas”. Having heard nothing but amazing things about the experience, I had always longed to check it out for myself – and now was my time. Would this immersive adventure capture me from start to finish or would it peak too soon?
If you are unfamiliar with Phantom Peak, it is a fully immersive, open world experience. Once you enter, you will find yourself in a living, breathing town full of history and some eccentric townsfolk. There, you have the opportunity to uncover mysteries, solve riddles and go on quests around the fairly vast town. While the town and its residents remain all year round, the themes change seasonally, with four seasons (funnily enough) each bringing their own adventures. The current season is called Wintermas – a winter wonderland full of decorations, snow and even the real Father Platmas (not to be confused with any similar named Fathers at Christ… I mean Wintermas).
The key with Phantom Peak is it is an open world adventure. You are free to roam however you like through the four hour session, with the only universal structure an opening and closing ceremony. In-between those, you have a full three hours to wander around, take in all the sights and meet all the weird and wonderful characters who reside there. To get the most out of the experience, however, you are encouraged to go on quests using your phone to head to a website and type in the password. Each season features ten different quests ranging from mystery and adventure. These will usually encourage you to find an item or discover who is responsible for whatever strange thing has happened there.
There is no time limit to complete the quests (as long as you are done before the closing ceremony) and you can work through as many as you like throughout the experience. I managed to get through three of them in my time there, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour each time. Having treated the first quest as a race, I realised it was far more fun to work at a leisurely pace and work through the areas methodically – teaming up with other people on the same mission as you as you come across them. These quests are a great way to discover all the hidden treasures buried around Phantom Peak and make sure you visit as many of the locations as possible, as well as receive a collectible trail card upon completion. You gotta catch em’ all… no wait, that’s another franchise.
My one negative on these missions is that they proved to be a bit inconsistent – while all 3 of the ones I did were enjoyable enough, some were definitely more entertaining than others and did prove to be slightly repetitive at times, though the overall variety of them did impress me. As there were 10 different ones to do, there is a degree of randomness to it all and at times I did get a glimpse of what other groups were doing and experienced extreme FOMO at how much more fun their one looked – though this may speak more for me as a person than the experience itself.
The scale and design of Phantom Peak was what proved most impressive to me. There wasn’t an opportunity to feel bored in my four hours there as there was always something new to explore. A walk up to some nondescript stairs suddenly saw me crawling through a dark maze of wires before jumping in a ball pit, while a trip outside saw a picturesque canal and some great photo opportunities. The meticulous detail in the design and the mix of permanent essence of the town and the new aspects that transform it each season created a wonderful world that would make repeat attendance not just tempting but near impossible to resist.
Technology proves a key part of the experience too with the need to enter codes on various screens around to watch relevant videos, all impressing in their abilities. You can’t beat live performance though and it was the interactions with the townsfolk that provided the most entertainment. Meeting the Mayor, Father Platmas himself (I was starstruck to say the least) and everyone else who resides there led to some fun interactions. You do have to be willing to let yourself go to get the most out of this experience. Leave your inhibitions at the door and feel free to accuse somebody of stealing – have fun with it yourself and you will get the most fun back.
As Phantom Peak is a living town, it is more than simply an adventure, and any trip there needs a trip to the saloon to experience their drink offerings – many of them festive based for this Wintermas season. A shot of festive cheer will do just that, though I’m not sure if the sugar rim on my spicy margarita was an accident or a bold (but very wrong) choice. You will also find food stands and a shop. It is the open-world quality of this place that guarantees hours of entertainment with the lack of a rigid structure allowing everyone to tailor the experience to what they would enjoy most. For that, it works fantastically well.
The closing ceremony did lessen the success of it somewhat. Slightly chaotic, it lacked the quality that had been experienced in the previous few hours – though perhaps one or two more spicy margaritas may have made me enjoy that bit a lot more. This is a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things though, and while I will always appreciate being snowed on at the end of a night, I can’t say this ceremony was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the overall experience.
I had been excited to experience Phantom Peak from hearing about it in previous seasons and my turn to attend certainly didn’t disappoint. A brilliantly designed and well thought-out self-contained world leads to one of the most fun immersive experiences I have had the pleasure of doing. Its greatest attribute is the ability to choose your own adventure and spend the time in that world doing whatever you like (within reason – there are rules, of course). If you are looking for a fun activity to do with your friends, partner or arch nemesis this festive season, I really couldn’t recommend Phantom Peak enough. My first time will certainly not be my last – I can’t wait to see what mysteries await me there next time. Merry Wintermas everybody!
Wintermas runs at Phantom Peak until 19th January 2025. Tickets from www.phantompeak.com
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