For those curious about trying out zombie airsoft events, we recently attended Zombie Uprising’s Stockport based event, “The Barracks”.
At the venue, there were lockers in the ‘briefing room’ for you to leave your personal belongings. In order to play, you were given a drawstring bag, a small torch and an airsoft gun (plus eye protection).
The event ran for 3 hours in total; this comprised of an hour briefing and one 10 minute break in between ‘missions’. As a group of around 20+ people, we were divided into 4 teams. The ‘missions’ were retrieving items while trying to avoid zombies.
Gameplay
Much like my first couple of hours into playing Dying Light, I was way too scared to do anything. So I felt a bit useless running about and trying to find Oli in a dust cloud in the first few (most) rounds. Eventually I stopped panicking as much and was able to locate items.
As a player, you were immune to being infected by zombies. The narrative kind of had a RE vibe to it. Most zombies could be temporarily immobilised, but there were other elements such as the “Titan” who could not be immobilised at all.
I did not opt for a weapon upgrade, so I was using an airsoft pistol that you needed to rack the slide for every shot.
Along with the fact this weapon was slow to operate when someone was running at you, with each round, zombies get faster and take more airsoft bullets to fall down. Thankfully the rest of our team had Airsoft rifles. So, this wasn’t the end of the world… when we were all together. Which was about half the time.
Your team scores are tallied at the end of the event from what items you managed to retrieve. The competitive element was of no interest to me (it rarely is), as I knew I’d be too nervous to properly contribute. ?
Was it scary?
Actually, yes, and I’m not just saying that because this was my first time at this type of event. There were areas of the unit that were dark and genuinely creepy to investigate. Plus the actors were all very energetic (there were around 7 ‘zombies’), so we were constantly on our toes.
As you’d imagine, all of the actors were in masks. They did a fantastic job, and in no way did them wearing masks detract from the experience or make them seem less scary.
Health and Safety
Do you need to make sure you’re in fine fettle before attending? Well, yes. By nature these events are quite physical. You will be running about, although it’s not the end of the world if you have to power walk by the end. Other than the looming threat of Titan taking your drawstring bag.
Being caught won’t affect your experience, which did make me wonder why I’d busted up my hips trying to run away from zombies. Initially we were told during the briefing that there were ‘consequences’ to being caught, but it transpired out there were none. I think this element could be changed up to improve the event.
A few differences I noticed after reading past reviews; health and safety regarding eye protection was good. There was no running up and down stairs, as someone had complained about prior. This could be due to the venue change, as there were no stairs in the area you ran around in.
Yes, there were a lot of airsoft pellets littering the floor which were a slip risk, but as long as you were careful it was not a problem. Some folks were too enthusiastic trying to avoid zombies, which was occasionally a problem. Both of these things were highlighted in the briefing, however – the staff did ask participants not to push each other.
It is a case of other attendees remembering it’s not real or worth hurting someone else to get away. Though I guess it’s a testament to how immersed they were?
Customer Service
The only thing that let this company down was the lack of updates prior to the event. It’s a shame because all the staff seemed explanatory & friendly enough on the day we attended.
The fact of when I booked to when I attended an event was drawn out over 7 months is not the fault of Zombie Uprising. The Facebook posts from Zombie Uprising urging customers to book on to events with limited numbers, only to not answer emails, was in their control. For such a drawn out period of time, this was not fun to negotiate so we didn’t miss when we could book in.
Other than that, when I originally ordered a voucher, it arrived quickly. I also thought it was a nice touch to have the voucher sent in ‘biohazard’ style packaging.
Overall?
All in all, this was a fun introduction to zombie airsoft events. With some tweaks, it would be great.
Due the poor communication, sadly it’s hard for me to recommend booking with this company. They referenced staff being on furlough in regards to no one answering, which I can empathise with. But this could have been managed a little better.
Consistency in updates that are being shared is really important. As is finding the time to tell customers what is going on, particularly if you’re still updating your Facebook about other upcoming events. Hopefully this is something that is improved upon in future.
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