⚠️ This review relates to an experience that is no longer running. Lander 23 existed for a short run in late 2025 and early 2026. If it runs again, we’ll update this review. ⚠️
Lander 23 is an intense, sci-fi live action video game produced by immersive theatre giant Punchdrunk which makes use of a massive explorable set, futuristic technology and a huge dose of teamwork…
Contents
What are the tape players/drones/artefacts in Lander 23?
Lander 23 Practical Information
What is Lander 23?
Lander 23 is an immersive live experience where you take on the role of interstellar explorers landing on an alien planet in order to steal supplies of a precious resource known as “Radiance”.
It’s played in teams of four. These teams are further subdivided into pairs. One pair (the “Fielders”) goes down onto the planet to explore, while the other (the “Drivers”) stays behind on the ship to provide directions using a two-way radio and a live mini-map.
Down on the planet, the Fielders have to:
- Avoid being sighted by hostile locals
- Follow directions from the Drivers to find Radiance
- Navigate a post-apocalyptic alien city
- Find cover and hide from hostiles when necessary
On the ship, the Drivers have to:
- Watch the mini-map
- Direct their teammates away from hostiles and towards Radiance
- Play a minigame to collect Radiance when their teammates get close enough to it
At the halfway point (after about 30 minutes) the pairs switch places; everyone gets a chance to go down to the planet, and everyone gets a chance to give directions from the ship.
The amount of Radiance a team collects is effectively their score, and you can see a leaderboard in the lobby at the end of the game.
It’s worth noting that unlike previous Punchdrunk productions, Lander 23 is a competitive game rather than a theatre show.
There are no scenes, no actors and no story to follow, and instead the focus is on having a fun and atmospheric experience, and competing with other teams.
Some reviewers say that playing Lander 23 feels a bit like playing a game of lazertag. It’s up to you whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing!
The Good Stuff
➕ The gameplay of Lander 23 is completely unique. It’s a lot of fun – especially when you’re down on the planet evading hostiles and searching for Radiance. This part of the experience is extremely fast-paced, tense and exciting.
A standout part of the game during our visit was finding ourselves trapped in a room with hostiles right outside. We all hid behind various bits of scenery while our Driver teammates hissed in our ears to stay out of sight. It was immense fun, and pretty scary too!
➕ The theming and set decoration throughout is excellent. The arena is huge, and has many nooks and crannies to explore. The lander itself is an excellent, chunky sci-fi environment with lots of buttons and switches and ducts and screens. It looks and feels superb.
➕ The technology which underpins the game works impressively well. Even when there are loads of people running around in the arena, the mini-map stays up to date, and communications are pretty much flawless. This, in and of itself, is a pretty incredible feat.
The Bad Stuff
➖ Lander 23 feels smaller and cheaper than other Punchdrunk shows. Many fans of the company were disappointed that it re-used a set from a previous show (The Burnt City) with a few white plastic tents thrown in. The hostiles are actors with torches, minimally costumed, and it overall just didn’t have the depth or grandeur of other shows from the same company.
Lander 23 is definitely an experiment for Punchdrunk… but it also feels as though it’s been quickly thrown together to fill a gap between Punchdrunk’s “full” shows.
➖ There isn’t much of a story to Lander 23. Yes, there’s a vague sense of a narrative underpinning the game… but it feels nonspecific and poorly-developed compared to the gameplay. You never really know why you’re gathering Radiance, who the hostiles are, or what organisation you work for.
There’s not really much more to Lander 23 than the simple premise of sneaking around stealing resources on an alien planet.
➖ Some elements are broken or poorly-executed. There are a number of extra elements (the tapes, the artefact, the drones) that felt poorly thought-out and poorly executed. They just didn’t work, either because of broken equipment, or issues with how they’re implemented (the tapes, for example, were just too quiet to actually hear when in the noisy arena).
It feels like these elements were added to the core gameplay, and then abandoned without being properly fine-tuned.
As they stand they constitute only an annoying and confusing distraction. This is particularly bad because the pre-game instructions focus heavily on these elements, making you think they’re going to be important… when, in fact, they’re not. More on this below.
➖ Being a Driver is less exciting than being a Fielder. Players find themselves on the ship giving directions for half of the game. This is inherently less exciting than being down on the planet… and is also really a one-person job. There’s not enough to do on board the ship to occupy both players during the “Driver” portion of the game.
➖ The instructions provided to players were confusing. At some key points it wasn’t really clear where players were supposed to go, or when. This was particularly noticeable at the start, the end and during the handover (when Fielders and Drivers switch places). During these times there were lots of people milling about and trying to work out where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to do.
Punchdrunk appear to be aware of this issue, and have stationed ushers at certain points where players are likely to go in the wrong direction or do the wrong thing. This does help… but being directed by an uncustumed, out-of-character theatre usher does somewhat diminish from the immersion of the whole experience.
What are the tape players/drones/artefacts in Lander 23?
Lander 23 includes some extra content beyond the core game of finding Radiance and avoiding hostiles. Here’s what that extra content is supposed to look like:
The Drivers can launch “drones” from their console in the Lander. When a drone is launched a small screen plays a pre-rendered flythrough of the arena, ending in a particular area. There’s no indication of what’s to be found there… but if the Drivers take a chance and send the Fielders to the locations indicated by the drones, the Fielders will find an analogue cassette tape player and an ink stamp at each location.
The Fielders can play the tapes and listen to a pre-recorded bit of background lore that adds some story to the game. They then need to use the adjacent ink stamps to stamp four quadrants of a map onto a piece of paper. Once they’ve fully assembled the map, they can follow it to a secret door hidden in the arena.
Using a code hidden in the map, the Fielders can open up the door, and find the Artefact in the room on the other side. They physically pick up the Artefact and take it with them out of the arena… where it can be traded for a drink in the bar after the game is over.
That’s how the extra content should work, in theory. Many reviewers, however, note that this extra content is only partially implemented.
The tape players are mostly broken and are too quiet to hear in the noisy arena even if they do work. In the dark and confusion of the arena it’s also impossible to correctly orient the ink stamps in the correct order on a piece of paper to assemble a meaningful map.
Additionally, a briefing at the start of the game suggests that the Artefact is just a crumpled sheet of paper. There are many crumpled pieces of paper in the arena. We assumed we had found the Artefact the very first time we stumbled across a crumpled bit of paper – we pocketed it, and stopped looking. Only after conducting further research online did we realise that we’d just nicked a bit of the scenery.
Nobody ever checked to see if we had the Artefact, and it was never mentioned or seen again after the initial briefing.
The extra content felt tacked on, and as though implementing it was an idea that had been abandoned midway through. It was almost universally ignored by other players. If you’re playing Lander 23, we recommend completely ignoring this content and focusing on the core gameplay.
Lander 23 Practical Information
The drones, the Artefact, the tape players and the ink stamps are not important parts of the game, and can be safely ignored. There’s no reward for pursuing these extra game elements… although you might wish to explore these elements if you’re making a return visit.
If you come with a group you’ll usually be able to be in a team with the people you came with. There are four people in each team, so you might be split up if you have an odd number of people in your group.
They warn you before the start of the game that you’ll be warm in the arena. They’re not kidding. You’ll get very hot running around as a Fielder, and similarly when crowded in the landing vessel as a Driver – it’s best to leave all but a single layer in the cloakroom.
You’re advised to arrive thirty minutes early… but you really don’t need to. If you’re not in a group of four already, you’ll be matched up with strangers to make up a team of four. When playing with strangers it’s good to have some time to get to know your fellow players before the game begins. But there’s already fifteen minutes built in so you can sit in the bar and do this at the start. Therefore, unless you want to spend 45 minutes sitting with strangers, just arrive a few minutes early.
⏱️ This review relates to an experience that is no longer running. Lander 23 existed for a short run in late 2025 and early 2026. If it runs again, we’ll update this review. ⏱️