The Repository (Upcharge/VR Experience)

[clash]

13 minutes ago, Cody said:

Okay, this was interesting. It's not a 100% VR experience, nor is it a traditional house or escape room. It's a somewhat unique experience that combines elements of everything.

 

The VR section is surprisingly short. You actually spend more time in the real world than in the alternate dimension, and you're limited in where you can go with the headset on by the size of the room. They do their best for immersion, though; the graphics aren't exactly photorealistic, but you wear headphones so you only hear what you're seeing and there are some physical effects that I won't openly spoil which help sell the environment. Also keep in mind that this is a very contact-friendly house; you'll be grabbed, dragged around, and generally have your personal space invaded regularly.

 

The few flaws I can immediately see:

 

1. The puzzles can be pretty difficult to solve in such a short time span. The first one with the safe at least lets you progress whether or not you complete it, but I found it virtually impossible to find any meaningful clues. The experience is only about 30 minutes long, so you only get 2 or 3 minutes to solve a puzzle. The final one was easier, but we were stymied in part by technical difficulties.

 

2. The house shares space with AHS and the noises of that one leak into the Repository. The headphones help with the VR section, but the rest of the house is still just as loud as any typical HHN house even during speaking sections. The actors with speaking parts even get microphones so they can be easily heard. The Repository could definitely use its own independent location away from other houses, where noise can be controlled.

 

3. The relatively short experience means that it's very rushed. Instructions are essentially yelled at you very quickly and the actors often have to repeat them several times to make sure you fully understand what's being thrown at you. There's very little time for story building, so the subtler stuff gets easily lost. And as I said earlier, the puzzles give you such a limited amount of time to solve them that you have little chance to stop and think. I'd honestly be surprised if anybody completed the safe puzzle at the beginning, since the room is so cluttered with false clues and papers that you simply can't figure out what has meaning.

 

Overall, I think the experience was worth the money but I'm hesitant to repeat without friends who are new to it. In such an abbreviated state, it doesn't feel like I'd get a ton out of a repeat play. That said, I did get the opportunity to speak with a creative team member at the end and he said that they're definitely planning on doing more interactive experiences like the Repository in the future. Hopefully this acts as a test bed for a bigger and better one.

 

can you do a spoiler review spoiling everything? (just because i will never go and want to know) 

[Cody]

Okay. This is everything as I remember it.

 

You enter a room in the Soundstage 19 and 20 offices commonly used for events. It has 8 numbered tables with waivers and pens at every place, TV screens showing a rotating Legendary Truth logo, and several displays in one corner. Upon arrival your Repository ticket and HHN pass are both scanned, and you're directed to the table for your selected time slot to fill out your waiver. There are alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available while you wait. The displays in the corner consist of information on the Repository and some of its artifacts, including faux-Wikipedia and faux-eBay screenshots displaying artifacts and history.

 

From what I remember of the backstory, the Repository was originally a Scottish armory built shortly before the American Revolution by Silas Grimslew. The armory was used to hold spoils of war, and its reputation as a secure "black site" for valuables grew until people began storing supernatural artifacts in it. After Grimslew died in a fire in the 19th century, his partner had the Repository transferred to the United States. Descendants of this family are now the only ones allowed to be the caretaker. The most prominent artifact is a temple of the dead that seemingly predates the Neolithic period and allows humans to communicate with the other side.

 

Intermittently, the screens switch to Ignatia Himmel of Legendary Truth and she explains some of your mission. You're LT agents being sent into the Repository to investigate a curse on the collection, and you have certain keys that you must find.

 

Shortly before you're ready to enter, you're given a safety briefing for the VR headsets at your table and given Legendary Truth passes on colored lanyards. You enter the Repository in groups of up to 12, but you're divided into groups of 2 to 4 for the actual experience through the colored lanyards.

 

You're taken outside to a fenced-off area, where you enter the actual Repository in Soundstage 19 through a side door. The facade for the brick building is located just inside, and you enter a room lined with shelves covered in artifacts of all kinds. There's the artifacts you saw in the displays in the waiting room (like a camera that was used to photograph murder victims, and bells haunted by dead Virginia coal miners), but also gas masks, Egyptian figurines, sculptures, boxes, and every other kind of knick-knack imaginable. The caretaker is furiously writing at a desk next to an armored guard, and he spins on his heel in anger at how late you are.

 

The caretaker talks to the group, trying to explain what the Repository is, before a phone at the desk rings. The guard answers it as the caretaker shouts that you aren't ready yet, but the guard won't listen and walks out. The caretaker takes one of the colored teams to a corner and whispers to them information about the keys before the guard returns and demands that they follow them. After they leave, the caretaker invites the remaining players to ask him about artifacts, which he explains the history of. He says that if the guard comes back and grabs another group, that team failed. Eventually your team is called and you follow the guard through the door.

 

He leaves you in a small room next door with some supply crates and a few more artifacts sticking around, telling you not to touch anything. A few seconds after he leaves, a crazy man in a patient's gown surprises you from behind a box. He motions at you with a flashlight to follow him into the next room.

 

The next room is covered in scrawlings on every surface and papers with similar messages are torn up and scattered around the floor and tables. Also scattered around the room are hundreds of keys of every size and shape on every surface. There are even keys rigged up in mousetraps. The patient giggles as he tells you to find his key, which he emphasizes is in a "safe place". There's an old safe in the corner with a dial built in. You're given about 2 minutes to figure out the combination from clues hidden around the room, while the patient harasses you by yelling, shining a flashlight at you, and even throwing keys at you. I still have no idea what the clue was, as I only found a few numbers among the writing. Whether or not you succeed, the patient undoes the chain on a box he's sitting on and opens it. Inside are 4 cubes, each with a light on top glowing a different color: yellow, green, blue, and red. Each one has the symbol of a different Legendary Truth faction on it.

 

A doctor comes in from the doorway and demands that you follow her into her lab. It's a sterile and high tech environment, and another man in a patient's gown is slumped in a chair behind her table. On the table are three patches of flesh carved from a body with the symbols of three Legendary Truth factions on them. She explains that the cubes you picked up are 4 of the 6 keys you need for the temple, and you need to find the other two. The patches of flesh she has were carved by the patient in the corner (her assistant) into his flesh when he attempted to travel to the other side. She wakes him up to try and find out where he went when he crossed over and he's able to say that he went to a mausoleum before attacking her. She fends him off with a stun gun and tells you what you need to do: your group will be separated and given headsets to let you cross over into the world of the dead. You'll see 3 colored symbols, which you must memorize before being pulled out. Once that's done, you need to find the other two keys. As she talks, her assistant occasionally recovers and attacks her or reaches under the table to grab your legs.

 

A guard physically drags you into the next room, where you're told to wait next to two doorways. The guard gives you basic instructions before the doors open and you're pulled into a simple, mostly bare room. It's about 20 x 20 feet with a sigil in the center of the floor and a table with equipment. The technicians inside (wearing hooded clean suits and surgical masks) take your keys to "affix them to a staff" while you get the VR headset and a pair of headphones put on. You're handed the "key staff" (actually just a tracker wand for the VR headset to detect your hand movement) as the headphones are put on over your headset. You initially see a digital representation of the room you're standing in, minus the people. A tall figure with glowing red eyes and a dark cloak appears in one corner.

 

The visor goes black, and now you're standing in a 19th century study. You see the staff you're holding as a rod with a cube on it, held by a skeletal arm. You appear to be able to see the other players on your team in the room with you, represented by floating white masks and disembodied skeletal arms moving around. Your staff acts as a torch (in later sections, a flashlight) illuminating symbols hidden around you. The symbols for three of the colors (either red, orange, and purple or yellow, blue, and green) are hidden around the room, and you need to find them and memorize them. You hear the Legendary Truth command trying to communicate with you over the headphones. After a minute or so of walking around, the room bursts into flames and goes black.

 

You're now standing on top of a tall stone tower in the middle of blasted wasteland, as lightning flashes in the distance and flocks of crows fly around. Off in the distance, you can see an identical tower with what appear to be other players walking around on it. Wind blows around you as you illuminate symbols on the cornerstones. Your connection to LT command dissolves into static, and you hear a voice whispering to you, trying to convince you to give up the keys. As it grows more and more demanding, lightning strikes the tower and blows away stones around the outer edge, shrinking the space you have available to walk. Lightning strikes the tower in the distance, collapsing it and sending the other players crashing to the ground. Finally, the voice grows tired of you and sends in a flock of crows to attack you. As the birds swarm around you, the technicians in the room surround you and beat you to make it feel like you're really caught in the middle of the flock.

 

Everything goes black again, and now you're standing in a fenced-off square in the middle of a cemetery. The symbols are hidden on gravestones surrounding you, illuminated by your flashlight/staff. Smoking skulls with devil horns fly around, at one point flying directly in your face, and as LT command comes back in your headset you see the robed figures from before surrounding you. They continue to get closer and closer, but just before they can reach you it goes black again. The technicians pull your headset and headphones off and hand you back your keys, trying to demand what you saw. Before you can tell them, another guard whisks you away at a run through the hallways.

 

At the end of the hallway, the guard tells you everything you have to do inside the temple of the dead: the other two keys (purple and orange) are hidden inside, and there are slots for them. You need to put the keys in the correct order (represented by the colored symbols you saw on the other side), which will cause a set of crystals to light up white. If you get the order wrong, they'll light up red and you need to rearrange them.

 

The final room is small and smoky, with the centerpiece being a demon face that occasionally belches fog. There are 6 cubical slots divided into two sets of 3 on the altar in front of it. The other two keys are hidden on shelves and in alcoves in the room, and after finding them you need to determine the correct order to put them in. The colored symbols you saw in the VR section indicate which side each set of 3 cubes go on (like blue, yellow, and green all go together on one side). The crystals don't light up until you put all 3 cubes down, so you won't know what's correct until you try a combination.

 

Whether or not you succeed (if you fail, the room fills completely with a cloud of fog) you're led out of the temple by another team member. You're given a green Legendary Truth sticker if you succeeded and a red one if you fail, which you can affix to your badge to keep. You exit into a tent next to the AHS exit, where another crazy patient wanders around to interact with players and take photos. A few crates are scattered around with artifacts, and there are tables and a small bar with drinks. You can speak with the creative team and discuss the house and solutions to the puzzle (they randomize the solution at the end so nobody can memorize it and come back), and there's a monitor with an infrared camera view of the temple where you can watch the teams after you attempt the puzzle. I got to see one group fail because they kept putting the keys in upside-down.

[criticalanalysis]

Thanks for the detailed write up. Thank god I didn't waste money on that!

[chris0matic]

I thought Repository was REALLY good. We went on friday night (the second night it was open) and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thought it was worth its pay. The guard in the first area was definitely brutal when we went in, kept grabbing us by the arm and pushing everyone around. It definitely set the hostile atmosphere for the haunt, which was well kept even when the rest wasn't so 'hands on'.

 

About the safe room, I'm surprised it took people so long to figure it out! Our group found the safe pretty quick but it took us a little longer to find the combination. My favorite part overall was definitely when you were on the stone tower. Watching part of your platform dissapear was INSANE in the VR and the vertigo feeling was definitely there.

 

Overall I loved the experience, would definitely do it again if it was different next year. Hopefully they upgrade the equipment (the VR hardware was a bit low-end) but other than that I was impressed. Good job universal, you succeeded at making an extreme house.

[Jediwhit82]

Absolutely amazing until the VR, after that it fell apart. I still throughly enjoyed it and thought it was worth it for the first sections alone. But there is no exuse for a Major Theme Park to charge extra money and have the graphics look like shit. If I can spend $1000 for a good PC, a copy of Outlast, and an Occulus and get better graphics then the multi-billion dollar company then that is pathetic. I did like physical effects mixed in. Also, the puzzle was just confusing and not well explained, and also a very anti climactic ending.

[Cody]

4 hours ago, Jediwhit82 said:

Absolutely amazing until the VR, after that it fell apart. I still throughly enjoyed it and thought it was worth it for the first sections alone. But there is no exuse for a Major Theme Park to charge extra money and have the graphics look like shit. If I can spend $1000 for a good PC, a copy of Outlast, and an Occulus and get better graphics then the multi-billion dollar company then that is pathetic. I did like physical effects mixed in. Also, the puzzle was just confusing and not well explained, and also a very anti climactic ending.

I'm going to have to step in to defend Universal here. Complex and realistic graphics are actually pretty challenging to make in a short amount of time and on a decent budget. SOMA spent 5 years in development, which is far longer than I would imagine the Repository's VR segment has been worked on.

 

Also, the puzzle at the end was pretty damn easy if you paid attention. The only reason we failed was that we didn't realize that we had to switch the two sets of blocks to opposite sides of the table from how we had them.

[criticalanalysis]

I'm going to have to step in to defend Universal here. Complex and realistic graphics are actually pretty challenging to make in a short amount of time and on a decent budget. SOMA spent 5 years in development, which is far longer than I would imagine the Repository's VR segment has been worked on.

 

This shows me they saw this as a cash grab. Nothing more.

[Cody]

On 10/4/2016 at 4:43 PM, criticalanalysis said:

 

 

 

This shows me they saw this as a cash grab. Nothing more.

Because they didn't spend a ton of money and years of development on making the VR look awesome?

 

Honestly it seems like you're trying to find any reason to dismiss everything this event does as a dumb cash grab while you're in the middle of handing them your money over and over again.

[Jediwhit82]

I thought the ending was anti climatic no matter which way the puzzle goes, but I didn't mean to be so negative, everything before that with all of the acting and storytelling was amazing.

[zombieman]

On 10/5/2016 at 2:09 PM, Cody said:

Because they didn't spend a ton of money and years of development on making the VR look awesome?

 

Honestly it seems like you're trying to find any reason to dismiss everything this event does as a dumb cash grab while you're in the middle of handing them your money over and over again.

 

+1 Cody.  

 

 

It was great to see HHN do their own escape room (which is what Repository really was).  First time I've seen VR involved with an escape room.

 

Cons about the Repository:

The LT tie in was pretty thin. 

Very expensive for the duration - an average escape room is 60 min for $35.  This is $50 for 30 min.

There are only two puzzles to solve and the first will be solved for you if you cannot solve it yourself.

 

For those who are planning to attend in the future, be aware:

To enter the Repository you will need to EXIT the event.  No need to get your hand stamped.  I know HHN has no re-entry.  This is the only exception.

As you exit, bear to the right - even before the globe.  Head toward Hard Rock Cafe.  Entrance for Repository is actually at Blue Man theater (just before Hard Rock).The exit of Repository is inside the park (you merge with exit of AHS house and take what seems to be a mile walk back to the event).

It is possible to go straight to Repository before entering HHN; you may want to book your timeslot early.  They ask to see both the Repository ticket and HHN ticket.   So as mentioned after you exit the upcharge house, you will be in the park.  In fact, doing Repository before entering HHN will save you time at security.

They let people go in in groups of 4.  You may be merged with a different group.

If they somehow have you in a group of three, I would seriously consider waiting until they can find a fourth to assign to your group.

It will be harder to solve last puzzle with three people and in the VR portion there will be a group of 2 and group of 1.  The group of 1 will have a tough time understanding what to do if he does not have someone to bounce ideas off of.

 

One more thing - in the waiting area you will be able to see a few exhibits and watch a video of someone from LT telling you what your mission is.  What you may not realize is that person she is talking to can be seen on the monitor on the OPPOSITE side of the room.  I just happened to notice it.  Most everyone thought she was just talking to someone off camera.  You may be in this room for 30 minutes or more.  They take up to three groups into the first area at a time, at about 15 minute intervals.  If you see two or more tables occupied, there WILL be time to order drinks before you go in.  If there are 5 or more tables occupied, there would be time for a meal at Hard Rock...  Timeslots don't really mean much.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2016 by zombieman

[Hhnsophmore]

On 10/5/2016 at 5:09 PM, Cody said:

Because they didn't spend a ton of money and years of development on making the VR look awesome?

 

Honestly it seems like you're trying to find any reason to dismiss everything this event does as a dumb cash grab while you're in the middle of handing them your money over and over again.

Welcome to his M.O.  

[chris0matic]

Yeah I was also upset with the VR considering it was the focal point of the experience. Being a 17 y/o 3D modeler, It wouldn't be hard to match, and or have more improved graphics than any of the scenarios in only a fraction of the time it supposedly took them (would probably take me 2 weeks at most if I worked regularly)*. I was upset with the scares more than all for the most part, a cloth monster spawning all around me half of the experience didn't do much for me. However the immersion and scenarios themselves were really good which I enjoyed.

 

Not going to lie though, I would be way more happy if the haunt was just 100% practical in the similar sense that it was before the VR. The whole 20 minutes at the start was one of the most nerve wracking experiences I've played part in.

 

*Just want to say I wasn't trying to toot my own horn, I'm just literally saying that anyone with more than a year of 3D modeling experience could match the quality of repository relatively easy in a much smaller timeframe.

Edited October 7, 2016 by chris0matic

[Jediwhit82]

That's what i was saying too, They should just go all out with the atmosphere and storytelling of the first 2 rooms.

[grimangel53]

Considering Cody's full spoiler review, I think this kind of interactive experience looks like it could be fun, with some improvements. Maybe make it a little longer. If only to make it so people have a shot at answering the puzzles. 

This review makes me sad that I'm not able to attend this year, cause I think I would enjoy this experience, if only for the experience itself. Plus more lore on Legendary Truth, maybe even having them come back in some capacity after they up and disappeared? I would hope they might return to Horror Nights proper, and possibly get use as more ARG elements and within the event as a house or some other asset.

Guess I'll hope for next year to be good as well, and then I can experience it for myself!

[hunnylvr]

We did this on Friday night, and I really enjoyed it.  I agree that the tie to LT was pretty thin, but most of the people doing this probably don't know what LT is anyway.  There were five us playing, so they split our group into 3 and 2, and we got paired with 2 people we didn't know.  They had no concept of what LT was.

 

Anyway, I thought the actors did a great job - they were loud, aggressive, sarcastic, funny, kind of "grabby" and stayed in character.  They were also allowed to be more "PG" about it, too.. mild cursing (like you hear in B&T) which made it more authentic for what it was.  I am scratching my head that people had a hard time with the first puzzle.  The answer was written multiple times right in front of you.  I don't get what was hard?  Or maybe I'm just used to doing escape rooms, and I know what to look for?  I don't know.  

 

The VR part was quick, yes, but I thought effective.  There are certain physical aspects to it that make it more immersive.  I think going forward, if they hone the logic a bit more for the VR part and create better tasks to solve a puzzle or clue, it will flow more smoothly as part of the game.  Again, I'm thinking of this as an escape game.. so my take may be different.

 

The last part of it had a spectacularly simple puzzle which required some luck and the ability to pay attention.  That's about it.  We got out no problem.  Still, the effects going off were a nice touch to instill urgency.

 

Overall, I thought it was a really fun first attempt at something like this.  I realize it was $50 for 30 minutes, and standard escape games are $30 for an hour.. however, standard escape games do not have VR, and they do not have live actors (mostly).  They also tend not to have multiple rooms of such a large size or set design that is that detailed (except OUR escape room has set design that detailed.. shameless plug - come see us at www.dare2escape.com).  Again, it's all perspective.

 

I am glad we had something very, very new and different at HHN, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I see this only getting better if they continue to do it.  Some people need to chill a bit and rethink the perspective before being so goddam cynical.

[CaptainCalibos]

This sounds like it went over fairly well. I didn't sign up for it because of the price point and it was announced a little too late for me to fit it into my budget.

 

If they do this again next year I may jump in.

[chris0matic]

^After we did it and we were talking to (some) of the staff at the end, they claimed that they were most likely doing it again. They were actually recording us as a way to gain information about what works, and what doesn't work.

[DarthSpielberg]

That was pretty fun. 50 dollars worth of fun is where I am having issues, but I don't regret doing it. I felt like the "haunt" aspect should have had a bigger role in the whole thing. Escape rooms and VR are fantastic and fun, but the concept of mixing them with haunt actors was what had me intrigued, and while there was some excellent interactions and I loved the physical aspects of it, I felt like there could be more. there was a section where we did a lot of walking towards the VR segement down a long hallway split into segements and I was like "They could have had actors in here trying to stop you from moving." and having an actor or two hidden in the finale to distract you from the task would have been terrifying. 

 

Still, I love the creativity behind it, and the cast of the house was doing some great work. I specifically loved the scientist in her labratory (she grabbed me by the face) and the young lady at the end who poses for photos. 

[Cody]

The best way to think of the Repository is a demo. I don't know of any other attraction that combines VR, escape room-style puzzles, and actor interaction into a single experience. It's still a concept in the experimental phases, and we're the beta testers.

[zombieman]

On 10/28/2016 at 4:11 PM, Cody said:

The best way to think of the Repository is a demo. I don't know of any other attraction that combines VR, escape room-style puzzles, and actor interaction into a single experience. It's still a concept in the experimental phases, and we're the beta testers.

 

Could not agree more.  Repository was a glimpse into the future of where the Haunt industry is heading.  Personally, I see AR (augmented reality) as the next step from here.  It's essentially a haunt version of Pokeman Go, but look at how that took off in just a year.  I've been predicting this for the haunt industry for several years. 

 

On the other coast, Knott's Haunt played with both VR and AR this year.

As most everyone is aware, the VR experience got shut down after week #1, because of unsubstantiated accusations that it made fun of mental illness.  There is an entire thread about that elsewhere.

But there was also an AR room that few people knew about.  When you purchase Knotts' version of an Express Pass it entitles you to not only skip house lines but also enter four stand-alone mini haunts scattered throughout the park.  These are not accessible by the GP; they are essentially exclusive upcharge.

One of these is called "Visions", and while it is by far the weakest of the four (and quite awful in fact), they incorporated AR.

I saw this technology two years ago at Scare LA, a Halloween tradeshow.  It is called Phantom Finder, where an app uses a device's camera as a AR portal.  When the camera detects and focuses on markers in the room, the app plays video corresponding to the marker.

So at Knotts you were handed a tablet and acted as a paranormal investigator.  You were put in a room where something terrible happened decades ago, and are to hunt for spirits to unlock a mystery.  As you focus the tablet on wall hangings, you see ghostly images appear on your screen.

Sounds cool, except Visions has a poor story, was only a couple of minutes long, and no one had any idea what they hell they were supposed to do...

 

But I imagine this working at HHN.  They have the whole backstory of Legendary Truth to work with.   After all, anyone can USE some technology in a haunt, but few can tell a scary and compelling story with it.  HHN is currently the best bet for that...

 

And people have been clamoring for a Ghostbusters house at HHN. Imagine if they incorporated this:

http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_house_forums/showthread.php?23118-Augmented-Reality-The-Future-of-Haunting

 

 

Edited October 31, 2016 by zombieman

[criticalanalysis]

On 10/5/2016 at 5:09 PM, Cody said:

Because they didn't spend a ton of money and years of development on making the VR look awesome?

 

Honestly it seems like you're trying to find any reason to dismiss everything this event does as a dumb cash grab while you're in the middle of handing them your money over and over again.

 

I go because I do enjoy it. It's not worth the money it used to be but they're smart - if I miss a year, I'll never see those houses again. I only spend a ticket for admission now and no longer spend money at the event like I used to. If I'm not hooked on a year, and I haven't been in awhile, then I won't buy the memorabilia, get food/drinks, and live it up.

 

And yes, that's the reason I know they used it as a cash grab.