NoPro’s Most Anticipated New Immersive Works of 2025 (Part I)

Twice a year we poll the NoPro team to see what they’re looking forward to the most, and then we assemble a list of the ten hottest tickets on the horizon.

This year is no different, and to be sure, it is bringing some life back to these old bones to spin through the list of everything that’s opening—all the potential game changers, all the ambitious projects.

Make no mistake: 2025 will be a big year for immersive entertainment.

In fact, it’s so big that we’re breaking format, and starting off with a quick hit of Returning Faves & Fests, for those who want to get up to speed on what all the immersive insiders already know to look out for.

With that in mind, here are all the places we’re going for NEW & RETURNING — or Both — work this time:

• Warwick, RI
• New York City
• King of Prussia, PA
• Orlando
• Rothbury, MI
• Dallas
• Las Vegas
• Portland, OR
• San Francisco
• Mojave Desert, CA
• Los Angeles
• Buena Park, CA
• San Diego
• Shanghai
• Seoul
• London

And rest assured, we’re already working on Part II. In fact, we saved a few things for next time.

Returning Faves & Fests

Before we get into the NEW NEW, we wanted to get on the record the perennial favorites and festivals coming up this year. While every diehard immersonaut is familiar with these, many of them make great starting points for those who are new to the world of immersive experiences.

Here’s a quick rundown of what, where, and when for our returning favorites.

• Intercon, Warwick, RI, February. The multi-genre live-action role-playing convention continues its 26-year-long tradition of bringing inventive larpwrights and the gamest of game players together. Those who want to take a deeper step into the realms of LARP will be right at home here.
• Neotropolis, Mojave Desert, CA, April. The cyberpunk festival with its own interactive narrative layer takes things up a notch this year. Perfect for those who love the cyberpunk aesthetic and want to scratch their itch for the kind of emergent play that Ghost Town Alive still gives and the Galactic Starcruiser once offered.
• Without Walls Festival, San Diego, April. Not only is WOW the most significant non-traditional venue performing arts festival on the West Coast (if not, indeed the whole of the U.S.) its also FREE for the vast majority of events and a great place to get your feet wet in the wider world of experimental site-specific performance and theatre-forward immersive experiences. A can’t-miss for those in SoCal , including newbies, featuring an international draw of artists.
• Immersive Invitational Cycle, various cities, starting Q2 in LA. The award-winning event series, which had editions in LA and Denver last year returns, kicking off with the original LA Invitational. Great for those who want to check out the emerging voices on their local scene.
• Ghost Town Alive, Buena Park, CA, June. Some call it “the best piece of immersive theatre on Earth.” And I’m not talking about the easily impressed but those who have spent their lives working in this field. Every summer Knott’s Berry Farm takes the oldest part of their park and turns it into a living, breathing world of train robbers, star-crossed lovers, and other fun Western tropes enjoyable by kids of all ages. Perfect for: just about anyone, it’s worth the very reasonable admission to Knott’s all on its own, plus you get a whole theme park to boot.
• Voidspace live, London, June. The expanding festival of experimental works returns with an ambitious agenda over two days at Theatre Deli. A good starting point for those looking to explore the creative frontiers of immersive in London.
• Electric Forest, Rothbury, MI, June. The jam band fest that takes over the Double JJ Resort every June has become an exemplar of interactive entertainment, with installations and experiences from some of the most accomplished members of the immersive creative scene. If the music is right and you dig camping, then heed the call of the Forest.
• San Diego Comic Con Activations, San Diego, July. The eyes of the pop culture universe shift to SDC every June, and the studios and streamers break out their marketing budgets to impress the tastemakers of the nerd world by setting up often elaborate pop-ups to showcase their latest offerings. These experiences are often created and staffed by the creative teams of some of the most beloved SoCal indie immersive experiences. Perfect for those with patience, luck, and who were already drawn to SDCC.

The New Works

John Wick Experience
Feb. 14, AREA15, Las Vegas

Aside from the chance to enter the ulta-cool John Wick universe, with its stylish assassins and secret orders, the thing that we’re most excited about is that we know that some steady hands are at the till of the ship here. The Las Vegas Continental is opening its doors soon, adding the first of many major attractions to AREA15 slated for this year.

Mystery Ave — Meridian Adventure Co.
Early 2025, Portland, OR

The pedigree here on this jubensha-inspired experience is so solid, that we’re going to let the creators speak for themselves:

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“From the creators who brought The Traveler’s Guide to Little Sodaburg to your screens, The Wandmaker’s House to Portland, Oregon and Planning Your Escape to your bookshelves.

“Mystery Ave. is an in-person crime scene investigation game that takes inspiration from jubensha tabletop games and Korean murder mystery television shows. Investigators will try to solve the mystery of who killed the world’s biggest video game streamer: was it his desperate manager, seething assistant, an obsessed fan, or one of multiple other suspects? You and your team will visit the crime scene and relevant locations, uncover evidence and interrogate the suspects to try and determine the identity of the murderer. Everyone has secrets to hide, but only one of them is the killer.”

Immersive Phantom of the Opera
Spring 2025, NYC

Rumored for years now a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera appears to be on track for a Spring 2025 debut. How immersive will it be? That’s deeply unclear but rumors talk of multiple casts and a structure that sounds more like an “attraction” than a traditional musical production. If it hits, it could be a game-changer, much as the original Phantom was all those years ago. But will name recognition play in the show’s favor, or lead to expectations that shouldn’t be subverted? We may not have long to wait to find out.

Universal Epic Universe
May, Orlando

A whole new theme park is joining Universal’s suite of parks in Orlando, and this one is aiming to be the most immersive park Universal has designed yet. Which is saying something considering the work they’ve been doing over the past decade. An expanded version of the Super Nintendo World, one bigger than the lands in Japan and California, is one of the major attractions, but easily the most intriguing is the Dark Universe. This takes the branding Universal was trying to use for a cinematic universe made up of the classic Universal Monsters and turns it into a playground for horror heads, complete with ghastly makeovers. Yes, you can pay to be a monster in Orlando!

Darkness Emergent: Los Angeles
May, Los Angeles

Speaking of the dark: By Night Studios is bringing its Vampire: the Masquerade LARP series Darkness Emergent to LA’s historic Biltmore Hotel for the Memorial Day weekend. This marks the fourth edition of the series of weekend-long blockbuster LARPS that share a universe. Special guests from the Vampire actual play community will be part of the mix, as the World of Darkness revival continues.

Sleep No More: Seoul — Punchdrunk
Summer 2025, Seoul, South Korea

The McKittrick may have closed its doors in NYC, but a new edition of the beloved show, which is also getting some kind of refresh for its Shanghai version this year, is coming to South Korea. Details are scant at present, but superfans are keeping a close eye on this one to see what twists are in store. The Shanghai version had a whole subplot that was unique to the show, and that’s set an expectation for some differences between this latest edition and the original version.

Arcane — Punchdrunk/Riot/Tencent
Dates TBA, Shanghai

We don’t know a lot about this one, but given Arcane’s status as a global phenomenon — on top of the already huge League of Legends following — and the fact that Punchdrunk is putting this together in a city it already has a decade-long history in with a fanbase to match… well color us annoyed that teleporters don’t exist so we can’t just slip over and catch opening night for ourselves, whenever that might be. The image is from an LA event produced ages ago by Secret Cinema, for the record, but we expect the vibes to be maintained.

Netflix House — Netflix
Opening TBA, King of Prussia, PA & Dallas, TX

Netflix has done for immersive experiences what Disney did two generations ago for theme parks: brought the production values up and took the work to the masses. From Stranger Things to Bridgerton to Squid Game, the Netflix streaming model has created an opportunity to expand the worlds of these shows into new formats that keep fans excited as they wait for new seasons to drop. With successful tours and pop-ups like the Netflix Bites series, soon to have a permanent spot on the Vegas strip, the company has set the standard for entertainment experiences. Now they’re set to bring these under one roof, transforming former anchor stores at major malls into the Netflix House, where experiences have time to settle down and fans know exactly where to head the next time there’s a new one. Is the movie theatre of the 21st century an immersive theatre run by a streaming platform? Maybe. Just maybe.

Interstellar Arc — Felix & Paul Studios
October 2025, AREA15, Las Vegas

One of two major anchors of AREA15’s District 2 expansion in Vegas, Interstellar Arc is taking everything Felix & Paul Studios has learned as pioneers in virtual reality storytelling from their successful touring show The Infinite and leveraging that for their first destination location. The Infinite, which transports guests to the International Space Station thanks to footage filmed there, has wowed guests around the world, and Felix & Paul Studios have been the ones to beat for 360 storytelling since the start of the XR renaissance over a decade ago. A huge win for AREA15 and a day-one visit for us.

Pompeii — Detour
August, San Francisco

Dance company Detour has made our lists two years running thanks to their commitment to creating work that feels transportative and has a real voice. This year’s offering features “Fosse-inspired choreography, drag, and theater” set “across multiple floors” promising “an opulent night of revelry on the brink of destruction.” Mark your calendars.

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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