Hey everyone, Blake here with my latest adventure! This time I’m trying out a virtual reality gaming center – the HIVE VR location in Shoreline, WA, just north of Seattle. As my faithful readers know, I’m a total gaming and VR nerd. So, I was really jazzed to check this place out, especially since they bill themselves as having “top-of-the-line hardware” and “highly immersive” experiences. I dragged the whole fam along – my wife, Patty, and kids John and Jenette – because we all love playing video games together.
We showed up last Saturday afternoon, not knowing what to expect. The place is located in a business park area with a pretty nondescript office-type building exterior. But once inside, we were greeted by colorful lighting, gaming posters on the wall, and a modern, funky interior design with lots of neon and cool lounge areas. The whole place just had an awesome vibe that got us even more excited to jump into VR.
After checking in at the front desk, the staff helped get us set up with gear. They gave us an overview of the various multiplayer VR game options to choose from, like a prison escape room, post-apocalyptic city adventure, and ocean wreck diving. We couldn’t decide at first with so many great choices! My wife was even down to play, which says a lot since she usually shies away from highly intense games. Ultimately, we settled on the cyberpunk game since it worked well for our age range. Also, we just watched the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime and were feeling that vibe.
Our Experience With the Cyberpunk Game
Once we chose our game, the staff directed us to our reserved VR playroom. As we strapped on our VR headsets and gear, I couldn’t help geeking out over the high-end equipment they were using – not just consumer-grade stuff, but legit commercial entertainment rigs like haptic vests and pro-spec PC towers pumping out crisp graphics to the headsets. We could tell this was going to be an experience far beyond just playing VR at home.
As the game loaded up, we found ourselves standing together on a neon-bathed downtown street corner in a futuristic city, surrounded by flying cars and holographic advertisements. It was incredible how immersive it was – I actually felt like I was inside a big-budget video game! As we looked around awestruck, a shady-looking dude in a trenchcoat approached us and offered up a dubious mission to infiltrate the headquarters of an evil corporation that rules the city. My kids ate up the whole cheesy cyberpunk plot. We all enthusiastically agreed – time for the Pierce family to become virtual badasses!
Our guide NPC then directed us down a back alley (the play space was set up with physical props and walls to make movement more realistic). Here we uncovered a secret access tunnel clipped into the city’s infrastructure. Crawling through ventilation shafts and hacker-filled basement rooms, we finally reached an elevator that took us up into the heart of the corporate HQ. This part was super immersive – when the elevator doors opened, we actually felt our ears pop!
Making our way to the records room, we had to evade roving guard drones using cover and misdirection. At one point, a drone spotted my daughter and began chasing her down the hallway, firing lasers. She freaked out and yelled, “Help, it’s after me.” So of course, her brother thought it was hilarious to take potshots at the drone with his virtual pistol, nearly hitting his sister in the process! Hey, we never claimed to be a graceful stealth team here.
Eventually, we secured the secret plans in a climatic showdown against the corporation’s cyborg ninja security chief. Despite getting our butts kicked a few times, my kids and I managed to distract him long enough for my wife to grab the briefcase and make a daring leap off the 100th-story balcony using a hang glider (physics in the VR world is decidedly more flexible!). Landing safely on the city streets, we proudly high-fived each other as the game ended. What an absolute blast!
The Verdict
As we emerged back into the real world and shed our gear, we all had ear-to-ear grins. The staff helped retrieve our items from the lockers and sent us on our way. Chatting excitedly on the drive back home, we unanimously agreed that HIVE VR is an absolute must-try, especially for gaming fans, but also for anyone looking for a uniquely fun group outing.
Here’s a quick pro/con breakdown of our experience at HIVE Virtual Reality in Shoreline:
Pros:
- Cutting-edge VR hardware that delivers truly immersive experiences far beyond gaming at home – feels like you’re inside AAA video games!
- Fun, creative multiplayer game worlds to explore that allow for hilariously chaotic family/friend interactions
- Appealing aesthetic and interior design that gets you hyped to game
- Helpful staff to get you oriented and set up with gear
- Reasonably priced tickets compared to high production value
- Sanitization and pandemic protocols to keep things clean
Cons:
- Game time felt a bit short for the price, about 50 minutes in our session
- Limited food/beverage options onsite
- Rooms are small for a maximum of 6 players – and bigger groups would have to split up
- The location is somewhat hidden in an office park area
So, all in all, just minor nitpicks on an otherwise fantastic VR gaming center. For 20-something tech nerds like me or families with kids, this is an absolute no-brainer for a fun group outing. HIVE VR turned out to be every bit as awesome as advertised…we’ll definitely be repeat customers! I might even use it as a team-building activity for my department at work.
The kids in particular had an absolute blast with the whole futuristic city adventure. Though now they won’t stop pestering me to get our own VR setup at home. Not in the budget right now guys! But no worries, I have a feeling we’ll be making many more trips to HIVE VR in Shoreline to get our fill of virtual worlds.
So, if you live in the Seattle metro and are looking for a killer time in shared VR, be sure the check out HIVE Virtual Reality. This place should be on your radar along with all the other awesome things to experience around town.