NoPro’s 10 Most Anticipated New Immersive Works of 2024 (Part II)

Ten experiences that can’t get here fast enough

NoPro’s 10 Most Anticipated New Immersive Works of 2024 (Part II)
DARKFIELD’s COMA will arrive in Denver this July. (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

It’s the perennial question we get at NoPro: “What are you looking forward to?”

This year that question has gotten easier to answer with every passing month, as more projects get announced further and further into the future. (Our own internal documents are tracking for 2026 already.) All of which means these Most Anticipated lists are going to get harder and harder to make as we whittle down the release lists to just what we’re hyped on.

And the back end of 2024 has plenty to be hyped about.

This time out we’re headed to:

  • Chicago
  • Denver
  • Houston
  • Las Vegas
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • New York City
  • Virtual Reality

Check out the first part of our 2024 Most Anticipated, released in January.

For this edition, we’re going alphabetical by city/category.


CHICAGO

Eden Creek — Birch House ImmersiveRuns October 17th through November 2nd

Running mid-October through early November, Birch House Immersive’s latest experience Eden Creek is already teasing a great many things. A post on Instagram describes a town that’s succumbed to constant loss that’s described using water imagery. But it’s the experiences sub-header of being “A Musical Eulogy” that intrigues me greatly. Music is always ever-present in Birch House’s experiences — it’s one of the company’s most versatile tools and they always masterfully wield it with dramatic subtlety for maximum emotional effect. For music to seemingly play such a key focus in Eden Creek has me incredibly excited for Chicago audiences this fall.

– Patrick B. McLean, Chicago Curator and Remote Experiences Editor


DENVER

COMA, SÉANCE, and FLIGHT — DARKFIELDOpens July 11th

DARKFIELD’s arrival in Denver with three of their renowned immersive audio experiments is the continuation of one positive pattern and we hope is the beginning of another. More on that in a second.

COMA, SÉANCE, and FLIGHT each follow DARKFIELD’s unique formula: create a space evocative of a story. Say, the cabin of an airliner. Invite the audience in and give them a pair of headphones. Then plunge them into darkness and let the story unfold in their mind’s eye thanks to the masterful binaural audio artistry of DARKFIELD’s producers.

Your mind does the rest of the work, placing the sound into the space that’s all around you. You know, the one you saw before the lights all went out. The effect is thrilling and chilling, with DARKFIELD proving how we’re all rigged to make sense out of the seemingly impossible.

Now about those patterns: the DARKFIELD residency is thanks to the efforts of the Denver Center of the Performing Arts’ Off-Center division. That’s the one that’s produced Third Rail Projects’ Sweet & Lucky, and Lonnie Hanzon’s Camp Christmas. Recently they hosted Felix & Paul’s The Infinite, and DARKFIELD marks the second international experiential tour of the year for the DCPA. Later on they’ll be hosting the launch of the U.S. tour of Monopoly: Life-Sized, bringing even more overseas hits to the states.

That’s the pattern that’s been running, our hopes is that this stint of DARKFIELD will be the beginning of a stateside tour for the audio experiences. Something that is long overdue.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher


HOUSTON

Source: Strange Bird Immersive

Lucidity — Strange Bird ImmersiveOpening Date TBA

As the creators of one of the escape games consistently ranked as one of the best in the world, Strange Bird Immersive’s follow up to the long running The Man From Beyond is easily one of the most anticipated of this here most anticipated list.

The story revolves around a “Shared Lucid Dreaming Experiment” with guests entering into the dreams of one Dr Riley Newmark. Surely nothing will go wrong with an unproven dream research project!

Strange Bird’s signature blending of escape game puzzles and actor-driven theatrics is set to be on display again, adding what we hope will be another can’t miss attraction to a soon to be very hot Houston immersive scene.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher


Meow Wolf Houston
Opening Date TBA

At last check, the fifth permanent exhibition from Santa Fe’s prolific purveyors of immersive art is scheduled to open in Houston’s Fifth Ward before the end of this year. Once they do, we can at least expect another large scale art playground as the attraction becomes the anchor tenant for a 120,000-square-feet mixed use property in a part of the city which has a rich history of African American arts & culture.

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The theme so far seems to be tied up with a KNEW5, a news station whose tagline is “Eye On Meow Wolf.” While this could be something broader with the brand, this news station bit is novel and a fairly recent one at that. Which suggests that maybe it will be a running gag in the new exhibition, or maybe even a key part of the theme.

With the drums finally beating, we expect to get some theme announcements soon and possibly even an opening date.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher


LAS VEGAS

Jane Austen’s EMMA — Majestic Repertory Theatre
Opens July 11th

The Regency era is so hot right now, with Bridgerton parties being a real attraction for both Netflix and unlicensed pop-ups all over the country. So why not just cut to the quick and go straight to the source: Jane Austen.

That’s what Majestic Repertory Theatre, hot off their SCREAM’D The Unofficial Musical Parody going viral, is doing with an immersive version of EMMA. The show is structured around four parties thrown by matchmaker Emma Woodhouse, which will invite guests to either soak up the vibes or insert themselves into the lives of Highbury’s most eligible and “become besties with Emma” as writer/director Troy Heard describes it.


LONDON

Taskmaster — Avalon Entertainment
Opens October 2nd

Based on the UK gameshow which has a panel of celebrities, usually comedians, made to do various tasks and judged for their performance by the titular Taskmaster. The TV show, inspired in part by the legendary The Crystal Maze series, celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2025 but before then the creators are unleashing a live event that allows fans of the show to become players of the games.

The live event offers up two distinct paths, which are separately ticketed. The “Absolute Casserole” set emphasizes being observant and sneaky, while the “Melon Buffett” is a mixes of brawn and brains. One thing is for sure: our UK team is buzzing about this, and the Brits definitely know a LOT about creating absurd challenges and making them exceptionally fun.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher


LOS ANGELES

Source: Mister & Mischief

Escape From Godot, Mister & Mischief
Opens August 9th

Some productions slip make a splash and then slip into myth, and such was the case with the original run of Escape From Godot. Popping up for just a day (or was it two) in the Hollywood Fringe Festival years ago, this remix of the famously un-remixable play into an escape game was the work that announced Mister & Mischief as ones to watch on the LA immersive scene. Since then they’ve lived up to that reputation, and we’ve been graced with a very few pop-ups of Godot, usually linked to a larger event. In this case the arrival of RECON, the escape game convention, in LA what leads to those who missed out on the show having another chance.

The premise is simple: you’ve been invited a performance of THAT SHOW by one of your friends. Only the Beckett Estate has caught wind and is on the way to shut it down and sue everyone in the building. There’s just an hour left to run the show, and the stage manager has quit. It’s up to you and the other members of the audience to piece together the clues and call the show. It’s hilarious. It’s brilliant. It’s not to be missed.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher


NEW YORK CITY

Life and Trust — Emursive
In Previews Now; Opens August 1

It almost feels like cheating to put Life and Trust on this list. After all, there are plenty of videos and other impressions already hitting social media about the new show, positioned by producers Emursive to be the NYC successor to Sleep No More. Instead of Chelsea, its the Financial District. Instead of Macbeth and Hitchcock’s Rebecca, it’s Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Instead of somewhat uncomfortable white masks, there’s more uncomfortable black masks. There’s still lots of dance-theatre and scenes that super fans have referred to, positively, as being “more unhinged” than Sleep No More.

But technically speaking Life And Trust is NOT open. It’s in previews. For the full month of July, there’s still plenty that could, and from the sounds of things with the masks should, change. What’s clear from some early reactions is that this one is going to breed some super fans of its own. Will it enjoy the same decade-plus run as its predecessor? Only time will tell. The official start of the run is August 1st.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher


VIRTUAL REALITY

Alien: Rogue Incursion — Survios
Holiday 2024 — Meta Quest 3, PSVR 2, Steam VR

This holiday in my condo building, everyone will hear me scream. After years of video games that focus on the equally iconic sequel, Alien: Rogue Incursion from game developer Survios is taking the horror sci-fi franchise back to its roots. In the most recent trailer, VR players will be able to go toe-to-tail with a xenomorph in dark and moody settings. It’s all those iconic sounds that already have sweat dripping from my forehead without even having the “light hot brick” on my head. So, for those who do not have a VR headset currently, well, you have my sympathies.

– Patrick B. McLean, Chicago Curator and Remote Experiences Editor


Batman: Arkham Shadow — Camoflaj
Release Date TBA — Meta Quest 3

The Arkham series of games began as a pleasant surprise — oh, look a good Batman video game — and became a genre redefining juggernaut that has had more than its share of ill conceived spin offs.

That said, one of the first VR projects to catch the popular imagination was a short interactive Batman: Arkham VR, which let players don the batsuit and step into the vision of the world’s greatest detective. Now, years later, the series is getting a full and proper VR game from the Camouflaj, a studio that we’ve been tracking since their first project, the cleverly diagetic game République, a mobile game that cast players in the role of the protagonist’s helper viewing the story through surveillance cameras.

Which is to say: Camouflaj studio head Ryan Payton has always thought a lot about user interface. This isn’t the studio’s first foray into VR, either, with the successful Iron Man VR under their belt.

Players will play the Arkham Batman at a point earlier in his career, before Harley Quinn was the Joker’s moll and as the city faces a crisis seemingly centered on one of the more minor parts of Bruce’s Rogues Gallery: the Ratcatcher, who is either leveling up his game or answering to a bigger bad.

The Arkham series is a big swing, but that also means its status as not compatible with Quest 2 devices might just move some hardware this holiday when and if Camouflaj delivers. Between this, Alien: Rogue Incursion, and Skydance’s Behemoth, we’re looking at a pretty exciting season of VR gaming.

– Noah Nelson, Publisher and Podcast Host


Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.

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