Room Escape Artist

Immersive Fort Tokyo is a unique place. Imagine your favorite theme park, placed entirely indoors. There are still themed foods, a gift shop, roving characters, and exciting shows that happen around the park. Now remove the rides, large and small, and replace them with a similar range of high-quality immersive theatre experiences, and you’ll have a basic idea about this special place on the coast of Tokyo, Japan. 

Immersive Fort Tokyo is an immersive theatre theme park full of attractions where guests can be surrounded by, and sometimes participate in drama, fun, and adventure as it unfolds. As immersive theatre is highly experiential, many of the descriptions here are circumspect to avoid spoilers. 

Since Immersive Fort contains a huge amount of content, this is Part 1 of our series on the experiences we had there over two visits. This part gives a general overview of the park and covers the non-ticketed content. Part 2 will feature the park’s headlining ticketed attractions.

I speak and understand basic Japanese (~ N4 / CEFR A2), while my partner is effectively English-only, and I will use these perspectives to comment on the English-speaker experience. 

Admission Cost – 6,800 Yen (about $43 in January 2025) for a 1-day Pass. Premium Passes are available, which include this cost and one ticketed attraction at a discounted rate which depends on the chosen attraction.

Planning Your Visit

Immersive Fort Tokyo is built into a building that previously housed a huge mall on the waterfront in Tokyo’s Odaiba entertainment district. It is conveniently reached by taking the Rinkai Line to Tokyo Teleport Station or, for a more scenic trip, take the Yurikamome elevated train to Aomi Station. There are a moderate number of benches in the slower parts of Fortevita, but expect to spend most of the day standing or walking on hard surfaces, so comfortable shoes are advised, as they are for Tokyo in general. Bags are allowed, but they will be inspected on entry as outside food and drink are not permitted. There are some coin lockers available both inside the park and at the stations. Strollers are allowed and available for rent.

By my rough estimate, experiencing every event and attraction would require a bit over two full operating days, so if you only have one day, you’ll have to make some decisions. Which hopefully this guide will assist with! The Fort typically only operates for 8 hours a day, and scheduling is made tricky by the fact that only the on-demand attractions operate all day. My recommendation is to pick two of the ticketed attractions and leave the rest of the day open for food, on-demand attractions, parties, and happenings around town. If you see favorable availability, you might be able to comfortably fit three ticketed attractions. Just remember that one of the special parts of Immersive Fort is strolling the park, noticing a crowd, and going to see what’s going on over there.

The Immortal Town of Fortevita

As guests step through the gates of Immersive Fort Tokyo, they find themselves transported suddenly from Tokyo to the Italian town of Fortevita. The newspaper says it is the 136th year, with the town and its residents feeling, for the most part, as if they’re fresh out of the early-to-mid 20th century.

Fortevita Case Files and Spy Action!

These are six events involving the denizens of Fortevita, which occur throughout the town on the main level. There is a schedule, but it was not posted in the park, only on the website. Generally though, if a crowd is forming, something is either happening or about to happen. There are already many repeat guests who know when and where to gather for the best views and chances at interaction with characters.

Outside of these large events, characters can also be found in the city throughout the day and often have small crowds in tow. Sometimes they will have small events with other characters and sometimes they will do some crowd interaction.

English Accommodations – None. English speakers will be able to understand the broad strokes from the physical acting but these are a very “watching a Japanese movie without subtitles” experience, but most of them aren’t heavy with subtlety.

Characters may interact with foreign guests utilizing gestures if there is an appropriate opportunity, but do not expect that they speak or understand English.

Party in the Golden Square

Have you ever wanted to experience a small slice of a Japanese idol concert, but without having to win a ticket lottery? With Oshi no Ko: Immersive Rally, here’s your chance! Show up early to get a good spot and before the show, staff will teach everyone the choreography to go with the songs from the Oshi no Ko animated idols projected on the ceiling. Guests can participate with their hands, or there are also the iconic idol color-selectable glow sticks and rings which are available for purchase. I was impressed by the level of audience participation on both visits, which really made the atmosphere of this show come together.

Otherwise, music and dance parties occur occasionally in the Golden Square. Golden Square is well equipped with confetti cannons for its parties and the cleanup operation’s efficiency is remarkable. These are always crowded, but the staff do a good job maintaining a walkway for those trying to get somewhere else.

English Accommodations – None. But these are mostly about enjoying the vibe and music.

Immersive Food Tokyo

Immersive Fort offers two restaurants, a cafe, a sweets parlor, and a food cart. The food is sold at amusement park prices, but is pleasantly of a quality one would expect for the same class of service at any major theme park. The current offerings can be found on the main website’s restaurant page.

The cafe is currently themed around Tokyo Revengers, and gang members from the corresponding attraction may appear and have a scene. Naturally for Japan, there are also some drink vending machines in mostly out-of-the-way locations, often near the restrooms.

Casa Di Peroni

Casa Di Peroni is an Italian trattoria, complete with patio seating, located in party central, Golden Square. On our first visit, this was the only restaurant open during the day, often with a long line, but expanding the operating hours of The Cabaret as well as the offerings of the food cart seemed to have solved this issue by our second visit. 

Although this is a sit-down environment, the kitchen is remarkably fast to get guests back out to other adventures. One of the Forevita Case Files Events occurs in and around the restaurant, so at the right time, diners get a lunch and a show. This restaurant is an official collaboration with Asahi Breweries, which owns the Italian Peroni Brewery company. A timed reservation for Casa Di Peroni is the bonus included in the purchase of the VIP Line Ticket Set.

The Cabaret

The Cabaret restaurant is now open all day, but the highlight is in the evening, when a theme-appropriate show runs usually twice a night. The cabaret show features singing, instruments, and dancing to Broadway show tunes, which spills out well beyond the stage. A limited amount of VIP Tables for 2 or 4 can be reserved for a designated time slot at the price of 3,000 or 6,000 Yen ($19/ $38). VIPs get to skip the line, which is often long at night when the shows happen, and are guaranteed a table with a prime view. The VIP 2-tops are right up against the stage and anyone sitting in them got plenty of interaction from the performers. Between the two sit-down restaurants, we thought The Cabaret’s food was tastier.

English Accommodations – English menus are available. The shows are only in Japanese but performers may interact with foreign guests in nonverbal ways.

On-Demand Attractions

Price – Included with admission

Skip the Line VIP – 1,000 Yen ($6) each, or get all 3 in a pack for 3,000 Yen ($19) with a bonus VIP reservation at Casa Di Peroni. A 2-hour window of validity must be selected for Jack the Ripper and Identity V. On a busy day, this saved approximately 5 hours of waiting across the three attractions. 

Identity V: Immersive Chase

Set in the world of the PC and Mobile game Identity V, which is very popular in Japan and China, this is a teamwork game where six players are chased by a large “hunter” monster as they try to open the exit and escape. “Chased” is used somewhat lightly though as there is no running inside the game, by either players or the hunter. The game is intended to be played tactically and is challenging. 

There is more than one hunter, and they each behave differently, so there is some variation across repeated play. I tried the mobile game out and Identity V: Immersive Chase is an impressively faithful adaptation. I can understand why the line for this is always so long; it’s not often players get to play one of their favorite video games in real life!

English Accommodations – The introduction is delivered by an actor in Japanese. The game briefing is given alongside a video which has subtitles, except for a numerical passcode which is different every time. In one of our games, the actor gave the numbers in Japanese and then in English, but in the other, just in Japanese. Only one player ultimately needs to remember the code, but non-speakers may be reliant on local teammates. There is no text in the game other than the wrist tablets which have an English option. 

Tip – If you intend to play Identity V: Immersive Chase, I definitely recommend the VIP option. The estimated wait time was over an hour at its shortest, and over three hours at its longest, which to me is well worth the 1000 yen and the minor scheduling requirement imposed by the 2-hour window.

Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is a good production quality haunted house experience. Each party is given a piece of rope with a “handle” for each member which must be held onto at all times. VIPs are by default loaded towards the back for maximum scare factor. 

English Accommodations – The pre-show video is subtitled in English. There are no accommodations inside the experience, but the “dialog” is mostly yelling and screaming.

Immersive Stories: Hansel and Gretel

Immersive Stories: Hansel and Gretel uses a combined environment of physical sets and digital projections to bring a version of the Hansel and Gretel story to life. There are two tracks for this attraction: “Hansel and Gretel” and “Witch.” Guests have to choose which track they would like to see when they get to the front of the line, and seeing this entire attraction does require two trips through the line.

English Accommodations – Immersive Stories: Hansel and Gretel has the best English accessibility in the park. There is an Immersive Stories Guide App to be downloaded onto phones, and after guests tell it which track they’re taking, it will display live subtitles in the chosen language, using the phone’s microphone to keep sync. 

All of this is available to all guests, without the need for specific tickets. To hear about Immersive Fort’s premier attractions, stay tuned for Part 2, featuring an officially licensed Sherlock Holmes experience, a death game, an anime brought to life, an adventure into Japan’s history, as well as a look at Immersive Fort’s first seasonal event: Immersive Halloween!

Part 2: Immersive Fort Tokyo – Ticketed Attractions and Immersive Halloween