REVIEW: MINECRAFT EXPERIENCE: VILLAGER RESCUE

We become heroes in the European premiere of the BLOCKbuster VR quest

We block out an action-packed afternoon to review the European premiere of the brand new Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue.

Housed in Canada Water's’ impressive new Corner Corner venue, the 45-minute quest invites fans of all ages to team up and become heroes, rescuing a village under siege from zombies, in an interactive adventure through seven Minecraft zones.

On arrival, we are presented with our confusingly named, but deeply satisfying orbs - glowing, vibrating and colour-changing blocks, which we will use in our quests to gather vital ingredients for a life saving potion to save villagers; battle blocky Creepers, and craft buildings.

We kick off the adventure in the forest, which is like stepping through the screen into Minecraft, surrounded by blocky trees, bees and animals. Here, the characters Tobin and Dayo teach us how to use the orb, leaping across the floor to collect apples, battling Creepers on interactive VR screens which wrap the walls, and tapping our surroundings with the orb.

When the orb glows green and vibrates, it’s time to move into the village, where we team up with other Minecrafters on a scavenger hunt, tapping orbs onto crates to collect metal, wood and other materials to build with.

Things get more sweaty and blocky in the next room, where we charge around, opening treasure chests, collecting apples, going underwater to gather fish and battling more pesky Creepers.

From here, it’s a high octane adventure through assorted biomes, with our favourite being a real-life “the floor is lava” game, leaping across molten magma to reach the fort, where we ditched the orbs and threw good, old-fashioned balls at baddies who burst onto the walls around us.

At the end, we celebrate our heroism by placing our orbs onto pedestals. The vital ingredients collected on our quest - apples, mushrooms, fish - rain down on the screen and are collected in blocky jars on the pedestal, to create the villagers’ life-saving potion.

Our orbs and pedestal glow and pump out colourful smoke, while block shaped fireworks and celebrations dance around on screens, along with our scores. I feel like I’ve achieved something, today.

It’s a must for Minecraft fans and appeals to all ages - my seven-year-old daughter grasped most of it and enjoyed leaping about and shaking her orb, like Bez with his maracas - and there is plenty of support from the friendly staff for younger visitors.

Be there, or be square.

Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue. Corner Corner, Maritime Street, London, SE16 7LL. Tickets from £24. Duration 45 minutes. Until 29 June 2025