REVIEW: MACHU PICCHU - JOURNEY TO THE LOST CITY

BM
2 days ago
2 min read

We travel to the ancient Inca Empire in Peru for a breathtaking adventure

We travel 450 years back in time to the ancient Inca Empire in Peru, to experience the Seventh Wonder of the World without boarding a plane or time machine.

The extraordinary new Machu Picchu: Journey to the Lost City is the world’s first large-scale, free-roam VR expedition.

Our adventure begins when we place our headsets on, to be whisked worlds away from a futuristic space above the W12 Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

My daughter excitedly grips my hand, chatting to my avatar as she leads me across breaking peaks, through the Temple of the Sun, and high above the Andes, soaring with the condors.

We are guided by wise-cracking, flying robot, TERI - voiced by NFL legend Terry Crews - and befriend a cheeky Llama called Larry, who joins us through assorted portals on our adventure, brimming with history, adventure, stunning architecture and scenery.

We see the avatars of other participants in our group - even wheelchairs are visible - and real-world walls and columns are marked in red, to avoid collisions as we explore this exotic new world.

Five years in the making, snazzy cameras, drones, and LiDAR digitally captured every stone and summit during the pandemic.

Historians then ensured this stunning 4D reconstruction of life 450 years ago is authentic, accessible and educational in a way that appeals to all ages.

It gives an adrenalin-fuelled, and fully immersive taste of the magic you must feel, gazing out across that breathtaking scenery, and up at the starry expanse - without limits, cordons or altitude training.

At times, the experience feels so real, I have to stop myself from reaching out to stroke the llama, and we duck and dive to avoid the the flying serpent, as we teeter on a flying rock, high above the peaks.

This final scene is a dramatic climax, saying goodbye to poor old Larry as the skies turn blood red; we hurtle skyward on our flying rock and TERI shrieks for us to escape through the final portal, away from the serpent, who ominously circles us.

Thankfully, the peril isn’t too intense for my eight-year-old, and we are soon back in TERI’s office, laughing at the framed photos of our expedition, with Larry photobombing the ancient sites.

It’s a curious feeling, removing the headset after the breathless, 45-minute adventure. The friendly staff offers everybody a seat to acclimatise to our return to rainy Shepherd’s Bush in 2026.

As we chat through our adventure, while passing a grandad eating a Gregg’s sausage roll in the drizzle, my daughter says “can we go back?” And I can’t really blame her.

Machu Picchu: Journey to the Lost City. W12 Shopping Centre, Shepherd’s Bush Grn, London W12 8PP