COMING SOON: Neotropolis

Listen, choomba, you’ve been eyeing the off-world colonies forever. Well I’ve got a gig right here that will give you a taste and the worst that can happen is that we have to restore you from backup when it’s all over.

But the best that can happen? That’s up to you.

Or you could just hit up this year’s Neotropolis, where that little scenario and two thousand others just like it play out across the multi-day festival that celebrates the style and storytelling of cyberpunk stories. Hard edged music, bleeding edge original cosplay, and for those who want to go deeper an evolving story brought to life by Neo’s emerging factions.

Neotropolis returns to Edwards, CA on April 23rd for the five day fest, with tickets now at $395/person, which includes camping rights.

We checked in with Neotropolis creator Jared Butler about this year’s event.

This is No Proscenium’s COMING SOON, a look at ongoing immersive experiences & events. To learn more about how your event could be considered for the feature check out How To Get Covered By NoPro.

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NO PROSCENIUM: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?

Jared Butler: Neotropolis is an immersive sci-fi and cyberpunk-themed event that is part music festival, part desert campout, and part LARP from the godfathers of fully-immersive festivals, Wasteland World.

A unique hybrid event, the 5-day festival included live bands, quest missions, DJs, laser tag battles, retro video gaming, hacking, camping, bartering and selling of themed goods, sideshows & burlesque, tricked-out cyber cars, technology displays, food vendors, robot battles, FREE alcohol (thanks to the BYOB event policy and community bar servers), costume contests, fully-immersive interactive environments, and much, much more. Approximately 2,500 people attend.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

JB: Neotropolis, like the cyberpunk genre itself, was inspired by numerous films, games, tv shows, video games, and books.

More specifically, it is an attempt to create a retro-future fantasy to live in for five days.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

JB: Requiring ALL attendees to wear at least a basic costume to blend in creates an atmosphere that feels like living in a video game or movie, even for those who don’t engage with the mission/LARP/immersive theater elements. And the ability to camp on site and stay in the world for the entire run of the festival creates an other-wordly experience.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

JB: Along with the main storyline and quests created by the event’s team, there are are user-generated experiences brought out every year (there is a vetting process by staff) so there are always amazing creative surprises. It has surprised us how quickly and completely many of the event attendees have jumped in to the world and its lore, keeping the growing Neotropolis community alive all year round.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

JB: Our website has a lot of info for what to expect (and how to prepare) from costume tips (with links), backstory on the fictional world, guides for how the LARP elements work, photos from previous years, and schedules for the live performances and other events.

Additionally, our official youtube channel has highlight reels from past events as well as short overviews of what to expect:

https://www.youtube.com/@neotropolisevent

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