A deliciously uneasy environment lies below the masks of a welcoming smile within the intensely unsettling Saint Jude. We’re right here to volunteer for an excellent trigger, however as we’re shuffled via eerie, medical corridors, it shortly turns into clear that nothing is because it appears.
Collaborating on this immersive, tech-centred present is like strolling right into a choose-your-own-adventure online game: ingenious and fulfilling, if a bit restrictive. We’re on a trial shift to be a “Information Star” for Saint Jude, a personal firm that purports to attach volunteers like us to “Sleepers”, folks within the depths of a coma. Our job, we’re informed by beaming clinician Stefan (Bryan Moriarty), is to speak to our Sleeper and dig up particulars that may assist them get up.
Created by Swamp Motel, the group behind the good Isklander trilogy of on-line escape rooms, the set-up is delightfully disturbing. We’re led to particular person cubicles with retro-futurist AI know-how, and with headphones on, we speak one-on-one to our Sleeper by way of keyboard and microphone. David Cumming’s feverish sound design pummels our ears with chants, clangs and hisses beneath a computerised voice asking for assist.
The story sweeps us alongside and the tech is surprisingly responsive, however the boundaries of what we’re allowed to discover throughout the story’s construction shortly turn out to be clear. House to roam is restricted because the AI firmly guides the best way, and I lengthy each for extra company within the sinister quest I’m shortly embroiled in, and extra warmth from the real-life interactions, which drop off as soon as they let the tech take the lead.
However, stress ratchets up as layers start to peel away, revealing why we’re actually being requested to mine strangers’ secrets and techniques, and what private particulars we, with out realising, have given away. With a sensible mix of slow-reveal storytelling and artistic know-how, Swamp Motel have created a dynamic and menacing expertise. Saint Jude will make you need to learn the small print subsequent time you contemplate signing up as a volunteer.
Saint Jude from Swamp Motel runs till 12 March.
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