Call me generous, pretentious, an altruist: I’m all about bringing phone larping to everyone. And whether you’re familiar with traditional larping or brand-new to it, phone larping can be a great way to get more larp experience at home, without ever leaving the house or, y’know, putting on pants.
There are so many great phone larps available, and since I don’t mind tooting my own horn, I thought I would talk about some phone larp alternatives to some really excellent in-person larps that are out there.
If you’re looking for a bit of magic in your life, something like Imperial Magischola ($695) is an amazing, full-weekend magical school experience. But if you can’t commit to an entire weekend (or just don’t want to) and you still want to taste some new-world wizardry, learn cryptozoology, and cast some spells, check out Gremlin. ($15, 20 minutes) All you need is a phone, a deck of cards, and a willingness to help out a frantic gremlin using your newly-acquired magical skills.
Set in a gorgeous, historic location that dates back to 1485, The Wild Hunt (£95/$135) delves into a world where the supernatural with the mundane, and even life and death itself, are blended and merged. Well, if you can’t make it to Hertfordshire for the weekend, try The Midnight Market ($40, 40 minutes). Bargain with the deceptively charming, elegantly dangerous fae, who offer you your heart’s greatest desire. Do you take it? The choice is yours…
For those interested in a glimpse into what happens when people give into their baser desires, and the cost of decadence, A Wicked Inheritance ($15, 20 minutes) draws players into a world of modern-day European decadence, while Conscience (360–420€/$440–512) is Westworld on steroids. Admittedly, for these two, the aesthetic is different, but the question at the heart of it is the same: What should you get away with when you can get away with anything — and what evil are you willing to do in order to fix a broken world?
If your interests tend more towards the stars and the final frontier our uncharted galaxy offers, you may have been interested in Outbound Hope. In this in-person larp, a decommissioned US naval vessel, the USS Edison, sets the scene for a sci-fi, space-faring adventure. If you can’t get to Bay City, Michigan, or the idea of climbing ladders and fitting through hatches isn’t your speed, Contact ($60, 2 hours) is an amazing (if I do say so myself) phone larp that explores questions about identity, space, and what happens when you make contact with the unknown.
Who doesn’t love a good murder-mystery larp? And honestly, there are so many great in-person ones to choose from. If a solid whodunnit is what does it for you, Outpost Omicron ($52, 90 minutes) sends you on the hunt for a murderer deep below the waves, without leaving your room. You’ve got just an hour and a half to interview witnesses, hunt for suspects, and (hopefully) find the truth about what happened… But if you can’t find the murderer in time, what then?
If you’re able to travel to Amsterdam, then Burn Bright Young Thing €200 ($243) is an extraordinary, immersive deep-dive into the relationships of the upper crust, the decadence of the 1920s, and the complicated interweaving of morality and mortality. Mirror World’s Fragile Recall ($49, 1 hour) brings you a glimpse into your past life, connecting you one-on-one to the past and asking you to steer the adventure in whichever way you choose. Whether you’re mourning the death of a friend during the party-hard 1920s or talking to a past life that might have lived during that period, the questions are the same: “carpe diem,” or “memento mori”?
Interested in giving Fragile Recall a go? We’re running a great special until the end of the month. You can use code TRYRECALL to get 15% off Fragile Recall ‘till June 30th. Maybe your past self has been waiting to tell you something for a while…
