I’ve never used a VR headset and I don’t play video games - will I like this?

It was June 2022 when I first registered VR Escape Ltd at Companies House.. At that point I didn’t have the license for the games, only the idea. My thought process went like this:

-> I want to do something that I love

-> I love watching people try Virtual Reality for the first time

-> I should do something that lets me watch people try VR for the first time.

From there the idea progressed to :

-> I like escape rooms.

-> There are no VR escape rooms near me.

-> I just about have the space to fit a VR Escape room into my barn…

Since then it’s all got a little out of control.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, the motivation from the outset was to watch people using VR for the first time. Introducing people to the experience that I love. It’s great that gamers and people with VR experience do come back to play our escape room games but they have no advantage over non gamers or those who’ve never tried a headset. VR Escape wasn’t built with gamers in mind. It was built with people who haven’t tried VR in mind.

So yes, you’ll like this :)

When you arrive you’ll be met by our host (Lauren, Harry, Sophie, or if you’re really unlucky - me.) They’ll ask you a few questions to get an idea of your experience level, and based on that they’ll talk you through how the VR Escape room works. If you’ve played a normal escape room you’ve probably had a similar briefing albeit about how to use certain padlocks and what to touch and not to touch. Ours is the same except we talk about how not to run into walls or try and climb on anything, The safety part of the briefing is a little different, and once in the arena we’ll guide you as to how to comfortably wear the headset and how the handsets work.

You will only use one button on the handset in the entire time you’re playing. This is not a video game. You are not using a controller in the conventional sense. No array of buttons. No joysticks etc. These games are designed so that a 15 year old xbox or playstation fan can enjoy them but have no advantage over my 70 year old mum (who has played all of the games and loves them!) The are as much escape rooms for date nights and groups of friends as they are escape rooms for families.

I can’t tell you the average age of our players but when we have a booking for a group of six it’s just as likely to be three generations of the same family as it is a group of friends, a hen do, or a teenager’s party.

I’ve worked to make VR Escape the best introduction to VR I can. If you’ve never picked up a headset you are my target customer. This is designed for everyone, and walking around a virtual world with your friends or family has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.