Brand new for 2022 is The Core Fear at Avon Valley and what an introduction to the event’s line-up as it instantly shot to the top of the best mazes at the event in our opinion.
After the fall of the UK Government and years of national civil unrest, the New World Order has risen and the Republic of England stands victorious.
But a rebel alliance has formed, an abandoned power plant their base of operations. Hiding on the edge of society, they search for recruits to join the cause and reclaim all that was lost but unbeknownst to them, a far greater danger lies beneath their feet…
Will you join the rebels and journey into the core? Will you discover the truth?
The Core is part of the trilogy of mazes linked together via their storylines at FEAR. VITA NOVA and X4 make up the trilogy of mazes and The Core is the segway story between the two.
Guests jump into wet suits and are equipped with a workman’s torch (created by the guys over at Haunted Lantern) that would cut out and flicker at the perfect moments whilst these creatures stalked you through the sewers.
Wading through water in a wet suit with a torch is about as immersive and involved as a scare maze can get. You’re completely vulnerable to the creatures within the maze and I only wished the maze went on for longer periods or involved more maintenance-style tasks such as climbing a small shaft ladder or similar to fully immerse you in the characters you are portraying.
This full-bodied experience was an absolute joy to walk through and the creatures used the water to their advantage at every opportunity. I was waiting for an actor to be submerged before jumping out at us at any second but I’m sure for health and safety this was advised against although the jump scare would have been absolutely amazing!
All three mazes in the New World Order trilogy have unique selling points. VITA NOVA has you doing the maze on your own, splitting you away from your group as you enter. X4 has an incredible lift sequence that is unlike anything else I’ve witnessed in the UK before your maze begins and now The Core has this underwater-style experience of wading through sewers on a mission. They’re all beautiful mazes in their own right but for me, only The Core and VITA NOVA carry the immersion through from start to finish whereas X4 dies off fairly quickly into a very standard scare maze after the lift sequence.
The idea of having a maze like this is a testament to the team over at Fear At Avon Valley. They’re definitely not on the budget or scale of Tulleys but they still manage to create mazes that can compete at the highest level and for me even top some of the mazes at Tulleys because of their out-of-the-box thinking and maze design creativity.
You only need to look at our review of The Exorcism to know just how outside-the-box Fear at Avon Valley is when it comes to providing scare experiences. They absolutely smashed it and for me stand head and shoulders creatively over 99% of other scare events in the UK.
Mazes need to be immersive in terms of how they look but FEAR turn you into a character within the story, you’re embodying a patient, you’re embodying a worker tasked with searching the sewers. There are not many events like that in this country that provide that much character immersion for the guests.
The Core is a beautiful addition to the UK scare scene and if they’re conjuring up any more out-of-the-box ideas when it comes to mazes I certainly want to be the first to hear about them!
