Lockwood Immersive Blog: September 2026

Fall is finally here, dear readers! Can you feel the chill in the air, or did someone leave the refrigerator open? It doesn’t matter - we’ll take any excuse to put on our coziest sweaters and curl up with a good blog.

Updates

The start of September was a busy time for us! Our run of the Enchanted Forest at the CNE ended on Labour Day. After 18 straight days of sending players on quests, stamping cards, and bringing magic to the CNE, we were exhausted (and our hearts were full). 

It was amazing to see kids and their families have fun interacting with the cast, completing quests and puzzles together, and making memories - all outcomes we strive for in our work. By our count, over 2000 players took on quests in the Enchanted Forest across the CNE, and we couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of the event.

We made little kids laugh and smile! That can be our good deed for the year.

But even while we were finishing up our time in the Enchanted Forest, another forest had some of our attention as well - we were back in High Park to run the Hunt for the Brightwing Butterfly!

This year the launch of Shades of Grey delayed our Brightwing run to September (we wanted to avoid potential midsummer issues like extreme heat or wildfire smoke, which are sadly becoming more common hallmarks of Toronto summers). Luckily, September proved mild and sunny, making perfect weather for running the games.

The games went well, friends were made, and the Lockwood Naturalist Society gained dozens of new members. We were excited to see guests who had played Shades of Grey join us in High Park, and we hope those who helped find the Brightwing Butterfly soon visit us on Bering Ave.

When - and where - will Sir Charles return?

Lastly, we spent some of our time this month working on some odds and ends at our HQ. In addition to preparing for some upcoming projects, we continued to tinker with and improve some items on our Shades of Grey list. (Some light spoilers for Shades of Grey ahead - scroll with caution!)

For example, we’d been hoping to find the time to improve this coffee cup prop from the game, and with a bit of time set aside in September, we visited Sculpture Supply Canada, whose studio is just up the road from us! We consulted the knowledgeable and helpful staff there for some advice, and then we got to work with some epoxy resin.

This kind of material is very common in all kinds of set design, including escape rooms, for its durability and simplicity, but we only had limited experience working with these materials. After a bit of experimentation, we were able to create an upgraded version of the prop that communicates the vibe much better.

A damn fine cup of coffee, if we do say so ourselves.

She spilled.

More tweaks like this are happening all the time across all our projects, and we’ll probably have more to share next month!

Extracurriculars

We were very excited for a field trip this month to the Changeling Gaming Board Game Arboretum in Liberty Village - only a stone’s throw from the CNE grounds, as it happens. Changeling Gaming recently opened this gorgeous space as an anchor for their various gaming escapades, and it’s clear a lot of time and attention as been put into creating a fun, inviting atmosphere.

Oh, I get it! The trees are board game hexes!

It feels like a cozy board game room at a cottage - times one thousand.

We’d come to the Arboretum with a gang of friends to play Blood Moon Pact, a newly-released English-language jubensha from Twist n Turn Studios. Friend of Lockwood Mai had booked out the private room at the Arboretum and set up all our supplies to lead us through a cunning and curious murder mystery.

Now that we have a few jubenshas under our belt (see May’s blog), we had a better understanding of what to expect, and we could compare this game to others we’d played. Blood Moon Pact was not only a fun experience with a good story, it had a lot of helpful structural elements and clearer explanations of jubensha mechanics than other scenarios we’ve tried. No one was lost or confused during the game, everyone understood what they needed to be doing, and the intro and outro felt comprehensive and satisfying. Two thumbs up from us!

We had the Kickstarter copy with bonus stickers!

We get very, very into character.

Later in the month, we also had a chance to visit some of the immersive programming at TIFF. Attending talks on the future of immersive experiences, and the process creating works with large IP were inspiring and interesting, and the festival even had some demos set up, like Later in the month, we also had a chance to visit some of the immersive programming at TIFF. Attending talks on the future of immersive experiences, and the process creating works with large IP were inspiring and interesting.

Katrina Lat shares insights on the future of immersive experiences.

The festival even had some demos set up in their Innovation Hub. The first standout was the mesmerizing Mekwâc: “Now Is Good” where we entered a psychedelic room inspired by Cree teachings which provided a space to reflect on the intersections of land, memory and each other.

The second standout was Body Proxy, a gamified experience where we had to prove we were the best humans on auction to be purchased by AI overlords. We increased our value by completing zany tasks that the current state of AI still requires the use of humans for (hold a hand for example).

The weird and wonderful world of Body Proxy.

Recommendations

Jesse recommends 20 More, Somehow Even Smaller Mazes:

Can you believe it’s time for another FLEB drop? The puzzlemaker is back with a new bite-sized offering that’s available for free. If you haven’t played previous entries Strange Jigsaws or 20 Small Mazes, the title says it all: chill out and solve a series of weird, wacky and meta-y puzzles that offer playful variations on standard puzzle formats. Smaller Mazes can be completed in less than an hour, so clear your lunch break and dive in.

Bryan recommends  Cryptmaster:

If I had a nickel for every dungeon crawler based on the mechanics of hang-man / a typing tutor I’d have one nickel and I’d spend it on another copy of this game. In this game you control a party of 4 deceased heroes within the thrall of the hilariously dreadful necromancer “The Cryptmaster”, fighting your way back to the surface realm. Every combat experience, puzzle, and riddle is determined by your in real life lexicon. You have to type your way to glory by unlocking words that grant your characters abilities to hit, zap, and sing your way out of many cavernous mazes.

This is a delightful stylized experience with a tremendous VO script that reacts to most words you input into the game. Be warned: Some of the riddles in this game are obtuse and challenging, but the script is so fun you’ll be sad to put this game to eternal rest after 3 or 4 sittings. Highly recommended if you want to be charmed by an undead sorcerer and want to improve your overall typing skills.