Contrary to claims made by Bond author Ian Fleming, The Nudge’s in-house scientists have now established that you do, in fact, only live once.
It’s a reminder both that, on the one hand, you should be seizing all of life’s most thrilling opportunities and escaping the daily grind to embrace a life of international mystery and intrigue… but also how dangerous that would actually be.
Finally allowing you to realise your dreams of high-stakes espionage without significant risk to life and property is HiddenCity, the creative masterminds who push the boundaries of immersive experiences into a realm of unparalleled realism… by having them play out across the city itself.
They’ve collaborated with the Bond producers to create 007: Shadow of Spectre, an official ‘real-world adventure’ that sits somewhere between cryptic treasure hunt, escape room and live experience. Uniquely combining phone calls and text messages with tangible props and a real-time story playing out in the world around you, it gives you the genuine thrill of operating undercover while the rest of the city goes about its business.
You’ll gather a team of bright inquisitive minds, or failing that, your friends, and meet at a central location to receive your briefing: Bond has been mysteriously incapacitated, and it’s down to you to figure out why. As well as interacting with MI6 agents stationed across the city (who are skilfully disguising themselves as real bartenders and hotel concierges), you’ll need to collaborate with the likes of Q and Moneypenny as they navigate you through two to three hours of perilous undercover pursuits to trace the culprits, save Bond, and secure a really good position on the online leaderboard.
To give too many clues as to what you can expect would destroy the fun of the experience… as well as the illusion that this is, of course, a very real mission happening to you, right now.
However, you can expect to hoodwink unsuspecting shopkeepers into thinking you’re a devious SPECTRE agent; you can expect to intercept illicit dead drops hidden in libraries; and you can absolutely expect your puzzle-solving abilities to take a sharp decline once you’ve made use of the built-in pub stops along the way.
As with HiddenCity’s other games, there’s serious satisfaction to be had in solving the cryptic clues leading you around London’s backstreets. You’ll be taken on a route that – despite skirting some of Central London’s busiest thoroughfares – will feel unfamiliar to even the longest-standing London residents, taking you through hidden passages, lamp-lit courtyards and atmospheric alleyways that could genuinely feature in a Bond film (in fact, some of them already have).
But it’s the attention to detail on the props, the highly inventive puzzles and the moments that genuinely catch you by surprise that set this game apart. By the end, you’ll feel like Bond’s fate really is in your hands…
…so make sure you charge your phone.
NOTE: 007: Shadow Of Spectre runs daily across Central London. Tickets start at £20 per player, and you can book right HERE.
And afterwards… head to Dukes for the original Bond martini