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Neurogen, Walibi Holland.

Howie

Donkey in a hat
So here's a section of the forums I don't delve into very often; the Halloween and Scare Attractions topic. And there's a very good reason for that; I don't do Halloween and scare attractions.
Or do I?
See, a couple of years ago I stumbled across some of @Lofty's ramblings about something called The Clinic at Walibi Holland that they hold during their Halloween event. It sounded gross, and terrifying, and twisted... but it also sounded unique, original and very clever. I was intrigued. Considering the only scare attraction I've ever done is the Terror of the Towers (which was utterly awful), this looked like something on a whole other level.
Here is a trailer for The Clinic at Walibi Holland. It's in Dutch, but you get the idea:

So, I asked Lofty a bit more about it and he explained to me, without any real spoilers, what it entailed and I concluded there and then that there was no way in hell I'd ever put myself through something like that.
Not. A. Chance.
Besides, I was very unlikely to be visiting Walibi Holland during Halloween event anyway, so it didn't matter.
Fast forward 6 months and would you believe it I'm booked up to visit Walibi Holland during their Halloween event, and despite my initial abject horror at the thought of being strapped to a gurney and wheeled through various scenes from my own demise, for some reason I'm also booked in to do The Clinic.
What can I say? Morbid curiosity got the better of me and besides, if Lofty can do it, I could do it, right?
So yeah, I did it, and it was mind blowingly good. Ingenious, twisted, scary as hell but also quite profound and deeply moving. Probably one of the best theme park experiences I've ever had. In fact, probably one of the best experiences I've ever had. Period.

Anyways, that brings me round to the point of this post. It turns out that The Clinic has a sequel... kind of... and it's called Neurogen and it's on at Walibi Holland whenever they're not holding their Halloween event. It's even held in the same building as The Clinic and you 'check in' at the same reception desk.
So when I minced over there last week to have a blast on Untamed, I simply had to spare some time out of the day to check out Neurogen.
So what is Neurogen, I hear you ask? Well, it's a VR attraction.
No wait, hear me out... I know those dreaded 2 letters are an instant turn off for most, but this is good. Really good.
First of all, it's nowhere near as in-your-face as The Clinic, this is a much more subtle experience that is based on creepy atmosphere and suspense rather than full-on horror, but like The Clinic it's extremely well done and very clever, and you do have to experience it on your own. No group sessions here.
Honestly, this is a finely crafted, immersive attraction that makes a certain VR Ghost Train that we all know look like some sort of amateur school project.

Here are a couple of promo trailers for Neurogen:


I think these are great - so cheesy, but there's something ever-so-slightly 'off' about them that makes them creepy and unnerving, like something out of a Paul Verhoeven movie.
The Verhoeven similarities continue when, after navigating a few space-age corridors with LED lighting and swish sliding glass doors, you are instructed to sit in a chair that resembles something out of Total Recall and place your headset on.

Like I said, this isn't the full-on horror experience of The Clinic, but it ain't no child's play either. It contains explicit sex, drug and death references and includes a bit of swearing, even a couple of f-bombs. This is most definitely 'adult' stuff.

Anyways, the point is, I highly recommend it. If you're over at Walibi Holland this summer to ride Untamed (and let's face it, why wouldn't you be?), or if you're waiting until September for the CF Live, you should definitely consider checking this out. It only costs €5 and you can prebook a timeslot online to avoid any queue faff, and it should give you something different to do in between whoring that RMC goodness.

Of course, if you're there during the Halloween event you should definitely do The Clinic too... if you're brave enough. ;)
 
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Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Nice review!

I actually didn't love Nurogen when we did it last year. I liked the concept, thought it was pretty well executed, and enjoyed it reasonably well, but it didn't 'click' with me and at the end I just felt a bit "meh" about the whole thing.

I have no intention at all of doing Clinic, especially not now they have an RMC.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Nice review!

I actually didn't love Nurogen when we did it last year. I liked the concept, thought it was pretty well executed, and enjoyed it reasonably well, but it didn't 'click' with me and at the end I just felt a bit "meh" about the whole thing.

Still a million times better than the Ghost Train though, right?

And you should totally do the Clinic if you have the chance, bro, it's unreal.
Just ask safe-word @Serena :D
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
It's funny, I considered starting a thread for this, because I was left with a similar impressed feeling about Neurogen. Ultimately decided not to, but glad there's a thread now!

I'm a bit different to Howie in that when I first heard of The Clinic, I absolutely loved the sound of it and have wanted to try it since, but have yet to wind up at Walibi Holland's Fright Nights yet (maybe this year..tips on a postcard please!?). And I'd been similarly itching to try Neurogen too. Since I'm a cheapskate, I didn't book online and instead opted to queue (waited less than 10mins tbf, so no big deal).

And yeah, I really loved it. It's not horror or scare, but it's pretty dark stuff really, and there's a fair few subtleties thrown in along with the in-your-face sex, drugs and death. And it certainly felt like a 'as realistic as you can get' without doing to the actual thing at points too. I was also a massive fan of the non-VR effects too, from the subtle to the not-so-subtle!

It's something which has stuck with me for a bit, which I didn't expect. I can see why it wouldn't be some people's things, and why some people wouldn't 'click' with it, but yeah, another big recommendation from me too!
 

Lofty

CF Legend
The Clinic and NeuroGen are just fantastic experiences - right up my street. I love them both.
 

Benenen

Hyper Poster
I did this on Sunday and liked it a lot, very different and unique in terms of tone and content. Being alone for the walk through section and during the film felt surreal and it's rare to see drugs and blood like that at a park. The effects were perfectly done too, it's easy for things like the water sprays and movement to be over the top on attractions like this but they kept it subtle enough to not take you out of the moment plus it made the big impact scene all that more intense when the chair finally moved a lot.

For those who have been on this, how did they do the air effect when the oxygen mask goes on your face at the end? The blast felt like it only hit my mouth and nose yet when I left I couldn't see anything in the room or on the chair that could have done it.
 
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