Immersive Review Rundown: Center Stage Awaits You

You’ll find me, dear reader, at a loss this week to tie a thematic thread between our three reviews this week: the VR game Maestro, which turns you into an orchestra conductor, a walking game in London where you attempt to impress the fantastically clever Professor James Moriarty, nemisis of the “world’s greatest detective,” and an adaptation of the beloved British show Taskmaster.

For certain, I could explore the metaphor of Moriarty as a conductor of crime. The greatest the world has ever known. Perhaps contextualize the role of the judgmental Taskmaster as a kind of psychological shadow, ever mocking your failures and the futility of trying to bring order to an orderless world.

Oh. Did I give our game away, old friend?

It does seem I’ve just been distracting you from the plot all along, “great detective,” and have now stolen the one thing you can never get back: Time.

Your move, Holmes.

— Prof. James Moriarty

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Maestro — Wild Sheep Studio, Double Jack, and Creature
$24.99 — VR (Meta Quest, Steam, and Pico) — Available Now

Maestro is an interactive VR experience where the player takes the stage as a conductor of a major orchestra performing music from a selection of classical, well-known symphonies. The player directs the orchestra through rhythm beat gameplay, moving their hands to match directional prompts timed to the music’s beat à la Beat Saber.

While comparisons to Beat Saber are inevitable, I found Maestro to be a superior and richer experience. Firstly, Maestro’s gameplay is expertly designed, utilizing the full potential of VR. The directional prompts to hit the beats are clear, yet require more than simply waving one’s arms around. I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment when perfectly cuing a section of the orchestra by pointing or steadily guiding their volume with my palm, this combination of hand cues and movements making the gameplay challenging yet rewarding.

And when completely missing a directional prompt, the orchestra makes a horrific squawking or screeching sound. It’s dreadful to hear, yet empowered me to focus and pay closer attention. Failing in Maestro makes me cringe, compared to Beat Saber where I shrug off a miss, instantly forgetting the error occurred. Additionally when progressing through Maestro, the player unlocks different batons, orchestra outfits, and dynamic “distracting” stage backgrounds. I greatly adored these choices, being able to mix-and-match preferences to my own liking rather than staring at an unchangeable, pre-selected background.

And with such intentional focus on controls and details, Maestro achieves something truly magical — fostering a deeper appreciation of music and the talented artists who bring it to life. I struggle to carry a beat, so rhythm games are challenging for me. Yet when playing on Normal difficulty, I found both the controls and requirements to hit a beat extremely forgiving. It seemed simply making any effort was sufficient, as I struck beats too soon or (more often) too late. But this lack of extreme punishment allows the player to grow a great appreciation of not only the music, but the act of performing it. Maestro is about encouraging the player to master and appreciate music, understanding music is about moving body and soul.

Yet, I was disheartened to discover that the narrative and character elements within Maestro’s intro level are not ever-present. It’s an incredibly dynamic opening, where the player is mentored by the eccentric, French Victorian dressed Eric de Roch along with a large, eclectic cast of characters. It’s a STUNNING masterclass in quickly establishing characters and stakes. But only de Roch is constantly present afterwards, with everyone else either being regulated to written notes provided between performances or completely absent. I suspect the intro was designed in this manner to liven up teaching players how to play the game, and merely wished these elements were permanently featured throughout Maestro.

But ultimately Maestro is a thunderously engaging and rewarding orchestral experience. It’s a masterly designed rhythm game that wisely chooses to teach the importance of understanding a music’s beat rather than merely trying to conquer it.

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— Patrick B. McLean, Chicago Curator & Remote Experiences Editor

Moriarty’s Game- The Professor’s Invitation (Christmas Edition) — Hidden City
From £16,London, UK; Holiday Version runs until 3rd January 2025

“‘He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organised.” — The Final Problem

When Professor Moriarty, that “Napoleon of crime and organiser of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city” reaches out to invite you to join his criminal organisation, it seems rude to refuse. Especially at Christmas!

So my team meet in a pub and begin our work to impress the Professor, in a version of the show adapted to let us see some festive decorations. Over the next couple of hours we walk around Marylebone and the surrounding area, taking in the seasonal lights and window displays and solving puzzles delivered by text messages from the Professor. Get to a location, text the answer to a riddle and then onwards.

Throughout we are given chances to change our narrative strand. While we appreciate you sending us a text, Doctor Watson and, may I say, I am a big fan, we are in this for the, quote, “lovely crimes.”

The puzzles are generally enjoyable, mostly giving directions to the next clue. A couple of times there are more hands on puzzles that you obtain from bar staff which grant rewards of a discounted cocktail. Here you are allowed to pause to have a drink before restarting your adventure. “Order the antidote” a prize card says. But we have limited time. So no time for cures! At the end we are presented with congratulations and celebratory gifts, which might be poisoned.

The fact we end up in pubs and walk through Oxford Circus on a Friday evening is a bit worrying, particularly when we need to have our phones out at these points. To hear audio clues we have to go into areas that are less crowded and find spaces that have phone signal. A man shoves past me to the bar to get his pint. Does he not know I am holding a box full of poisons?

Apart from a demerit on our score towards the end, due to an unclear clue (describing a red fronted building when there were two a street apart), we have a lovely afternoon stroll around London.

Hopefully we impressed the Professor.

— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent

Taskmaster: The Live Experience — Avalon Entertainment
From £50; London UK; through 23 February 2025

What an absolute casserole.

No, not really — my companion and I are on the set of the Taskmaster live experience and are cackling with mirth as we bounce rubber balls, decipher unintelligible visual codes, throw potatoes, haul suitcases, and generally get up to all the no good that unsupervised children with an endless supply of juice get up to in an empty house.

No grown-ups anywhere to be seen on this Monday night: just a pack of 20- & 30-somethings with full license to be as silly and playful as possible. Though winning the most points does come with a lovely (tacky) prize and the right to sit on the Big Chair, losing doesn’t off-balance the amount of laughter we earn from each other as we bash through the tasks. Show hosts Greg and Alex follow along through some clever audio/visual projection work while our host “Little Little Alex Horne” physically accompanies us through the experience, offering light sardonic guidance and absolutely no hints how to excel.

Located in Dock X (previously home to Rumble In The Jungle: Rematch), there’s ample space for Taskmaster’s garden and house with two distinctive tracks: “Melon Buffet” and “Absolute Casserole”. The way it’s built is absolutely feasible to close one track for redesign while the other runs, certainly boding well for extensions, and though it’s true only two tracks may seem to scupper revisit value, most tasks themselves don’t get much easier (or less ridiculous) knowing what they are in advance.

The experience itself runs for an hour, but early arrivers & late stayers will have access to the expansive garden with food & drink offerings, a sample of “open” tasks to play while waiting, and the Taskmaster Museum boasting props and costumes from several seasons of the show.

Of course competing against a pack of professional comedians and being judged by quip-masters would be funnier, but Taskmaster: Live comes as close to the real thing as us mere mortals can hope for. The last time I had this much fun playing silly made-up games must have been when I was a pre-teen on a scout camping trip before the worry of romantic embarrassment set in, and the next time probably won’t be until my social group’s children get old enough to properly aim a rubber duck (rather than chewing on it).

— Shelley Snyder, London Curator

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