As 2025 comes to a close, it's hard to draw any broad conclusions that are not tied up with the general and personal malaise that loomed over this year.
On the world historic front the year will certainly be remembered, even as many seek to forget it down the line, and here in our immersive cosmos there's been changes and shake-ups as the entertainment and performing arts fields as a whole are forced to adjust to a world that doesn't seem to be changing for the better save for a very few people.
Yet we measure the world of art in decades and not in years, and 2025 is a year that has seen some long gestating projects come to fruition, Masquerade, Epic Universe, and Sleep No More Seoul all opened their doors this year and show no signs of slowing down.
It's a good sign that even when it's a bad year there are still works at every scale that are inspiring joy and wonder.
–Noah J. Nelson, Publisher
NoPro's End of 2025 Coverage
Kathryn Yu – Senior LA Reviewer
That’s Jazz Baby! – Spies Among Us
In That’s Jazz Baby!, attendees are whisked into a nightclub where several musicians have been kidnapped by an evil owner using hypnosis. The audience is then asked to trick the owner through a series of increasingly silly situations all with the objective of secretly setting the performers free. Naturally, the results are hilarious as participants must fake their way through playing instruments and one hops on stage and pretends to be a sultry chanteuse, tossing on a wig.
This charming short-form piece was part of the Los Angeles Immersive Invitational, presented by the LA LGBT Center and After Hours Theatre Company (with the support of The Immersive Experience Institute). During the Immersive Invitational, teams receive a prompt and a few constraints on Friday evening and then work all weekend to make a new immersive experience. Much like a 48-hour film festival, the teams aim to create a short piece that’s ready for small groups of audience members by Sunday at noon.
That’s Jazz Baby! is one of the best pieces to come out of the Invitational, period. It is a great example of how you don’t need a lot of resources to make an effective piece of playable theatre; the creative team managed to quickly establish stakes, give the participants an achievable goal, and deliver a satisfying payoff, all within the space of ten minutes.
It’s impressive that the Spies Among Us team was able to create a light-hearted, humorous piece which felt so polished within the accelerated time frame and won the Jury’s Grand Prize to boot (split with another exemplary piece, Stringed Instruments by Spectacular Disaster Factory). One can only hope for an encore.
The Matrix in Shared Reality – Cosm with Little Cinema and MakeMake
If you are anywhere near a Cosm location, The Matrix in Shared Reality is a must-see. This is a high-quality, theatrical event which blurs the boundaries between film and reality. First, I start by saying it’s just a goddamn delight to take in this iconic film on such a beautiful, huge 87-foot LED dome. Second, the new visuals created by Little Cinema and MakeMake not only extend above, below, and all around the original frame but they are effective and delightful in how they amplify the emotional impact of each scene. This experience manages to keep the audience engaged on multiple levels as they cheer during their favorite beats. And many attendees even show up in Trinity or Neo cosplay, demonstrating what a wonderful communal, social event this is.
Even for longtime fans, it feels like seeing The Matrix with fresh eyes; in the parlance of our times, the team “understood the assignment.” Every detail in The Matrix in Shared Reality, from the visuals to the sound, is meticulously crafted to support the film rather than overshadow it. The “frame” visuals echo the film’s most memorable environments—busy cityscapes, exploding bank lobbies, the serene training dojo—when appropriate while also shifting to abstract patterns (yes, even including the lines of falling green “code”) when it makes sense. Sometimes, the visuals move in opposition to the film’s camera movement, creating a dizzying sense of motion that’s used sparingly but to great effect, like when Neo is crawling between cubicles in an attempt to escape some agents who have infiltrated his workplace.
All in all, The Matrix in Shared Reality truly sets a new standard for enhanced cinema—one that’s going to be incredibly hard to beat in the future.
Ghost Town Alive! (2025) – Knott’s Berry Farm, Cedar Fair
I sometimes feel like a broken record proclaiming my love of Ghost Town Alive! from my soapbox, over and over. But here we go again: I believe that all immersive theatre fans should make a pilgrimage to Knott’s Berry Farm in the summer to experience the glory that is Ghost Town Alive!.
Included with park admission, Ghost Town Alive! is an interactive theatrical experience that transforms the entire Old West-themed part of the park into seven hours of action, adventure, comedy, and drama with a multitude of actors (I counted around 20 last time I was there) who are masters of improvisation. And every summer, there is a different town-wide storyline holding it all together so no two seasons are alike.
The cast members who make up the townspeople of Calico are experts at welcoming visitors into the action, regardless of age, and making everyone feel like they’re an honorary part of the community. Whether you’re passing a love note, delivering a package, or weighing gold at the assay office, there are endless ways to participate. As a plus, you don’t need to rely on a smartphone app or do any homework ahead of time—just jump in and let the story sweep you away. And who knows, if you make friends with Audrey, you might even get your name in the newspaper, which prints new editions multiple times a day!
This is the kind of event that builds truly lasting memories. I have memories with friends I know I’ll cherish for years to come, and I’ve had conversations with parents whose kids—now teens—still bring up moments from Ghost Town Alive! as a highlight of their childhoods.
Ghost Town Alive! is a shining example of what live, interactive and immersive entertainment can achieve in a theme park setting.
Corinna Kester, Correspondent At Large
Adventure Camp – Explorers Guild
Set deep in the redwoods of Mendocino, CA, this three-day gathering transformed the forest into a living, breathing world populated by magical creatures. The Explorers Guild delivered something rare—playful on the surface and quietly profound underneath.
Adventure Camp unfolded through puppets, puzzles, and songs echoing through the trees. Every activity felt intentional, inviting participants to collaborate, improvise, and rely on one another in unexpected ways. The range of games created a continuous stream of fun and challenge, reinforcing a shared sense of purpose aligned with the overall narrative of protecting the magical creatures. Each team of five followed its own hero’s journey through the world, while all participants periodically converged—whether for a ridiculous giant field ball game or a suspenseful debate over the fate of the magical realm that depended on us.
What truly set Adventure Camp apart, though, was its narrative ambition. Beneath the whimsy was a surprising and thoughtful story about how communities respond to narcissists with power. The plot twists were bold and earned, sparking real conversations long after the final reveal. Adventure Camp was not just entertaining; it was reflective, communal, and generous in its design. It is a standout example of how immersive play can become meaningful storytelling.
World Expo 2025 – Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition
Every five years, a country invests billions of dollars to host a global gathering unlike any other—a spectacle of innovative architecture, technically advanced art, and diverse cultural experiences. This is the World Expo, continuing a tradition that began in 1791 and spurred the construction of many cherished architectural marvels, including the Eiffel Tower and Seattle’s Space Needle.
Standout experiences from the 2025 Expo (in Osaka, Japan) included null2’s entirely silver, kinetic exterior and LED mirror room experience about the nature and future of humanity, the incredibly executed Under the Midnight Rainbow laser and water projection show, and the eerie but beautiful Future of Life pavilion, featuring an immersive world with humanoid robots.
The next World Expo is in 2030 in Saudi Arabia, and if this is a place you wish to visit, there will be no better time.
Patrick B. McLean, Chicago Curator & Remote Editor
Uncanny Alley: A New Day – Ferryman Collective and Virtual Worlds Company
While having seen many amazing live VR experiences from Ferryman Collective, Uncanny Alley is their tour-de-force masterpiece. Though set in a future dystopian metaverse where a small part of the populace fights for freedom and privacy rights, the narrative’s plot expertly and subtly parallels the audience's present day in 2025. It’s a perfect balance as Uncanny Alley is thoughtful and engaging without being overwhelming or depressing.
The experience is performed and crewed by only two people, which is no small feat. These performers are embodying an expansive cast of characters with effortlessly bringing each one to life, even when having to change roles quite quickly, making the entire endeavor all that more impressive as each character feels utterly unique. Additionally, the audience’s experience with being in VRChat has never been easier, as Ferryman Collective leveled up by smoothing out the last burdensome technical elements for audiences. The onboarding process is a breeze while set transitions between environments is unintrusive, as audiences no longer have to open up their VRChat menu to change instances. But it’s the company’s collaboration with Rick Treweek, AKA virtual worlds creator and digital artist MetaRick, that allows Uncanny Alley to truly soar.
Treweek pushed VRChat to its technical limits, creating stunningly massive yet meticulously designed environments that audiences will find absolutely spellbinding. If and when remounted, make seeing this experience a priority, as attending Uncanny Alley proves the immersive prowess and importance of live VR experiences.
The Case of the Curiously Correct Blueprints - Bluefish Games
Without a doubt, The Case of the Curiously Correct Blueprints from Bluefish Games is truly the most charmingly whimsical at-home box experience I’ve ever come across. The given amount of players are expecting the latest mystery novel from fellow bookclub member Mr. Hinks, but upon opening the bookshaped box discover a series of random, unrelated documents. Unfortunately Mr. Hinks destroyed the book, electing to provide several password protected audio summaries of it that can only be unlocked by reviewing the documents and the puzzle created with them.
This self-aware framing device is an ingenious and refreshing take on the box mystery experience, as it forgoes the tired, aged conceit of the given players being part of a detective agency. But the most beguiling element of Blueprints is that all puzzles (other than imputing the solution) don’t require an internet connected device. The only external elements required to navigate and solve each word based puzzle is a writing utensil and the players themselves, fostering an intensely rewarding tactile experience. Also, Phil White’s pleasantly endearing performance as Mr. Hicks is the cherry on top of all these other amazing elements.
Best of all, as there’s no ghastly murder to be solved, Blueprints is all-ages appropriate, expanding the audience to include the often overlooked all-ages and families demographics.
CATACOMBS – Dorothy/Whitney LaMora
As the most fantastically crafted experience I saw in 2025, CATACOMBS presented by Dorothy was incredibly impactful and dynamically daring.
In rushing to open the bar for evening service, an employee finds themselves not only instantly connecting with their work service app hire, but learning the two are reincarnated romantic partners, drawn together time and again throughout history. CATACOMBS’ script is wonderfully tuned as it’s perfectly paced and sensually steamy while being painfully human, presenting an honest depiction of what it means to be in love and be loved. And with being supported by such a terrific text, audiences witnessed the amazingly stunning performances of Haven A.J. Crawley and Wisterman. The chemistry between these performers was absolutely transcending, walking the fine line of being utterly unique yet palpable real and completely relatable.
Tying the entire experience together was the production team’s work, whose dramatic staging cleverly utilized and dynamically transformed the local Chicago lesbian bar. But ultimately, the greatest element to CATACOMBS is the important message that the LGBTQIA+ community has always been present in human history and will continue to be so loudly and proudly.
Katrina Lat, Toronto Curator
Ctrl + Alt + REBOOT – Escaparium
From its quirky cold open to its final crescendo, Ctrl + Alt + REBOOT is a maximalist sci-fi joyride in escape room format. Its secret weapon? A chatty robot named Loomo, live voiced and remote controlled by the gamemasters, who follows your party throughout the sprawling cyberpunk set. Loomo is one of the most memorable characters I’ve encountered in an immersive piece, and interacting with them - as a puzzle mechanic, story driver, and casual conversation buddy - was an utter delight. Add in a few third-wall-busting rock interludes, beautifully crafted sets, and satisfying puzzles, and you get an experience that had me relishing every single epic moment.
Sleep No More Seoul – Punchdrunk, Ms. Jackson
In January 2025, I said goodbye to the McKittrick. And in September 2025, I said hello to the McKithan.
Produced in partnership with Korean entertainment company, Ms. Jackson, Sleep No More’s Korean production marks a bold new chapter in the legacy of a show that helped shape immersive as we know it. This is Sleep No More at its most elegant. Every touchpoint, from the the spacious former-movie-theatre set, to the show’s posters and visuals, to its merchandise, is thoughtfully designed. In addition to the reimagined set, I noted several other differences from the NYC production, including changes to a few loops, brand new spaces, and modified 1:1s.
The last few times I saw Sleep No More in NYC felt more like I was playing a competitive sport than experiencing a moment of theatre. In Seoul, the wiki’s worth of hacks on where to stand and when doesn’t exist. Instead, the secrets are still being discovered, both by locals who are getting their first taste of that feverish magic and by “experienced” viewers like myself who suddenly find themselves gloriously disoriented. Without the pressure to chase 1:1s or “optimize” the experience, I found myself simply present. This was a rare chance to experience something familiar with fresh eyes, and fall in love with it all over again.
The Case of the Shadow Diamond - MIT Mystery Hunt, Death & Mayhem
As a first-time solver, I couldn’t have picked a better year to finally attend MIT Mystery Hunt. This year’s edition, a film noir caper, found 5,000 players across 220 teams tackling 170+ puzzles.
This year’s Mystery Hunt introduced the Gala, a space where teams gathered, “bartenders” served puzzles in exchange for key phrases, members of the “press” shared well-timed hints, and character actors helped progress the event’s overarching narrative. In addition to the live cutscenes that we unlocked after completing specific puzzles, these character-filled spaces injected the event with a sense of theatricality.
Over the course of 2.5 days, I performed the Star-Spangled Banner on a custom-built radio-turned-instrument, clocked 70,000 steps speedwalking across MIT’s campus, and donned a Groucho Marx disguise… all in service of the hunt. The entire event is volunteer-run, with each year’s winning team taking on the massive task of designing the next year’s event. It’s an astonishing labor of love, and one of the most creative and community-driven events I’ve ever experienced.
Martin Gimenez, Correspondent At Large
Masquerade – LW Entertainment Ltd.
The immersive remix of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s maximalist gothic musical at the same time wows and frustrates. There are moments of utter brilliance in some of the best immersive environments I’ve seen designed, which are undercut by watching major Broadway talents hamming it up to musical theatre karaoke. This high budget experience vacillates between these two poles yet it never bores despite its almost two hour runtime and need to process almost all of the plot of one of the most viewed musicals of the past forty years. Despite these quibbles, it’s fun as all hell and it would be remiss to not include this, one of the most high profile (and somewhat successful) immersive experiences of the year.
Dark Universe @ Epic Universe – Universal
The Universal Orlando Resort’s newest theme park, Epic Universe raises the bar of what an immersive theme park could be. Holistic story telling with single IP based lands is brought to the fore through a blend of high tech rides, custom food and drink offerings, cohesive narrative and street performers who all know their part in the narrative. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Village of Darkmoor.
Under the family manor of Victoria Frankenstein which looms over the entire area, all of the classic Universal Monsters have a home that feels lived in and connected, heck if you loiter in one place long enough, you’ll encounter the Invisible Man or Igor roaming for body parts. Culminating in the incredible Monsters Unchained ride, which is my favorite narrative ride in Orlando now, and you’ll understand why the next arms race in the theme park industry will be hyper realistic lands and not the biggest, fastest roller coasters.
Bring Back the Happening – Nineties
Few pieces I’ve seen this year had me as euphorically giddy as I was while having a dance party wearing an inflatable dinosaur costume. This was the simple pleasure of the Nineties deceptively simple piece harkening back to earlier days when performance art had little intention other than to delight. As a collaboration between the Dutch Collective and a local San Diegan actor, the care the ensemble took to prepare an audience for a series of collective tasks, and then for those tasks to reveal the true core of the experience was surprising and just plain fun. Interactive and collective, bringing joy to all who encountered it.
Shelley Snyder, London Curator
ETERNAL – Darkfield Radio
Already primed with the memory of the intimacy of this show from the solitude of my own bedroom back in 2020 lockdown, the vulnerability of experiencing it lying down alone on one of twenty metal beds in a pitch-black basement hall absolutely leveled me. It’s just audio… isn’t it? Nothing actually touches anyone and nothing can be seen, and yet I felt inches from doom the entire time. Masterful first-time staging for an interpretation of an originally at-home experience; there’s nothing like Darkfield’s skill at curating isolation in a room full of people.
Alibi: Dead Air - Tom Black & Dean Rodgers
There’s nothing quite like being allowed to touch everything in the room. With the continued popularity of crime documentaries and the rise of jubensha games over the last decade, this show put every player in their own character’s driver’s seat and let us loose on what swiftly became a destruction derby of subterfuge, accusations, and evidence tampering. Admittedly my session was top-loaded with experienced LARPers and immersive actors so our playthrough was probably more charismatic than the standard cross-section of audiences, but this had nothing to do with how elaborate the props and character briefs were, nor how deeply we were affected (read: infuriated) by one cleverly yet casually concealed piece of proof. A blast to play — just bring your favorite roleplayers to stack the deck.
Noah J. Nelson, Founder & Publisher
HAG — The Queen’s Fools
A delightful throwback to the way things used to be in LA before the dark times, HAG takes everything I love about the theatre side of immersive and puts it into a tight 20-ish minute package.
The production centers everything in the interplay of the actors & audience delivering deliriously delightful beats one after another supported by buttoned down tech that doesn’t overwhelm the fantastic performances.
That it all hinges on playing with Shakespeare’s characters and text from the Scottish Play is icing on the cake for me.
I’ve always been delighted by The Queen’s Fools work, but this is a piece I will always love.
Back To The Future @ Universal Fan Fest — Universal Studios, Hollywood
If you had told me at the start of this year that one of my favorite works would be a recreation of key scenes in Back To The Future staged on the back lot where some of it was filmed I would have said:
“They’re doing what? Where?”
Universal Fan Fest’s BTTF pop-up was one of the best crossover events for immersive theatre— yes, theatre with all the actors firing on all cylinders as they delivered a cut down version of the story that was authentically embodied — that I’ve ever had the honor of watching hundreds of people experience at once.
Best of all it was just simply delightful. Whether it was an actress playing Loraine being incredibly sweet to a little girl, or just the whole of the cast committing to the bit, there was just a joy to the whole affair. In a year as hard as 2025 turned out to be a bit of joy goes a long way.
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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