editor's note. Do not miss the list of links at the end of the article...

Today, when we talk about role-playing games, it is rather the digital notion that comes to our mind, the "online" games with many connected players (MMOG or Massively Multiplayer Online Game) collects the attention of a huge majority of people who find themselves together and participate in real time in an adventure (usually a war...) game.
However, a new trend is emerging, and contrary to all these virtual platforms that keep you safe in front of your screen or behind your virtual reality headset, we see more and more offers of "live" role playing games, especially in big cities around the world.

Originally, it is in New-York in the 80's that this type of urban games which plunges you in real in an adventure to live in the city was born.
The "Killer Urban Game" is the game and the original model of these role-playing games where the participants go through the city looking for clues or use many predefined ways to "kill" or "eliminate" a participant.
So of course, we don't really kill, but in this case, there is for example a massively endowed urban game that takes place in New-York with several hundred participants over several weeks. The main idea: your mission is to find someone, and to eliminate him using several "techniques" as for example, you call him on the phone, he answers, you say "you are dead" and he is eliminated (as much as to say that during the period of game, the participants only very seldom answer their mobiles!).
You can also sneak up behind him and stick a Post-it with the words "You're dead", etc... there are many options available and once eliminated, the participant must indicate his target, which you must eliminate, to finally be the only survivor of the "Killer Urban Game" and collect the reward which can sometimes be very large!
At the end of the 90s, a member of our team took part in a large life-size role-playing game, with horses(!), actors and a complete scenario which prepared you several weeks in advance to live the experience. The game was called Sarbacane and each participant had a role and a title, as well as a place and a story in the global story and above all each received a weapon to be able to slow down the other teams (on horseback, you had to be a good rider to participate ...).
The weapon in question was therefore a blowpipe with which you could send a dart in glossy paper (50 darts available) at your competitors, the rule obliging each person affected to stop 10 minutes on the spot and... waste precious time .
Another example of urban game that is on the rise, the games that use augmented reality in the city. Some time ago, Niantics Lab (Google grp division GEO) proposed an urban adventure to more than 600 players with its game "Ingress" which uses mobile, StreetView from Google and augmented reality to make appear a little bit of anything and guide you in an adventure to make you discover or rediscover the city by following a scenario that takes place on your mobile and in our streets.



Brussels offers an increasingly diverse range of urban games, 100% live or with augmented reality. "Murder Mystery" is a perfect example of the level of quality that we can find in this trend of entertainment in the city.
The pitch: For a few weeks now, a dark rumor has been circulating in the capital. The demon Azarog (also known as "The Breaker of Men") would have taken advantage of a rift between the Underworld and our world to come back and sow his venom on Earth. He would have sneaked into the basement of Tour & Taxis and would have already bewitched several reckless people who had ventured on the premises. A demon in Brussels, really? There is only one way to find out for sure: you too must go deep into the new kingdom of Azarog.



We love it! It sounds scary, and only for the bravest of us, but we've done our homework, and it's true!



It's scary but it's very good, the direction is professional, the story is captivating, the actors are great, it's a real adventure and an investigation to be done in the buried labyrinths of Tour & Taxis!

Links to watch : Murder Mystery in Brussels // Niantics Lab //LightShip // Ingress Prime (Game MMOG) // Decentraland (virtual world) //MegaCryptoPolis (virtual world) & Second Life (virtual world).