New Scientist recommends real-world stealth game LANDER 23

Controls jam, data streams go haywire, smoke pours from every vent. Your Lander 23 spaceship has crashed in hostile territory. You must explore a treacherous world, refuel and return home. Radiation levels are high, time is short and something lurks outside…

If this sounds like a review of a new game, it is, sort of. LANDER 23 is a real-world stealth game from London-based company Punchdrunk, best known for its immersive theatre. Here, we are explorers for the Lander Division of the Centre for Astrobiology.

As we meet our fellow crewmates – a father and son – don tactical gear and test our comms, we become acutely aware we have only each other, and three lives, to get us through this mysterious and dangerous world. One team is in the field; the other directs from the lander’s relative safety.

Stepping into the alien world, I feel immensely responsible for getting our team home safely. Playing computer-style games has never been so tense, and so much fun.

David Stock
Head of editorial video, London