Immersive VR experience brings nostalgic north Wales coming-of-age story to life
A virtual reality experience is bringing a nostalgic coming-of-age story from north Wales to life through immersive storytelling.
Haunts, a free 15-minute VR experience created by Wales Millennium Centre, Pilot Theatre and Dreaming Methods, will run at the centre’s Bocs until 12 April.
The Bocs space hosts a variety of immersive storytelling projects, including VR, the simulation of computer-generated environments which participants can interact with, as well as augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, and 360 films.
Created in collaboration with Wales Broadcast Archive at The National Library of Wales, and Museum of Youth Culture, Haunts is a single user VR experience made possible with the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Haunts is set in 2006 in north Wales. Sixteen-year-old Morgan stands on the edge of his future, guiding participants through local hangouts and the memories of nights on the town in Llanberis.
Morgan, voiced by Welsh actor Callum Scott Howells, is searching for a place where he belongs, made all the more confusing by the mid-2000s collision of analogue and digital technologies.
Directed by Tom Chetwode Barton and Lucy Hammond (Monoliths, Traitor) with immersive concept development by Dreaming Methods, the experience transports participants to the time with archive footage and creative storytelling.
The VR experience allows users to share moments with Morgan as he “travels through this poetic rite-of-passage odyssey”, with added immersion from the music of Super Furry Animals, John Cale and High Contrast.
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Co-director Lucy Hammond said: “A ‘haunt’ fromour teenage years is not just a physical location; it can be a space that reminds us of emotions and experiences that resonate deeply with our youth. The places, people and music stay with us long after we’ve grown into adulthood.
“Whether seeing graffiti on walls in the local park transports you right back to hanging out with friends, or hearing the sound of an MSN notification makes you smile, Haunts captures that specific feeling of a moment in time.”
Travel blogger Llio Angharad, who visited Bocs to try out Haunts, explained: “I wasn’t sure what to expect… but this one stayed with me.
“It’s set in 2006 in Llanberis, following a 16-year-old figuring out where he fits in — that weird in-between stage where everything’s shifting and nothing quite makes sense yet.
“What I loved most was how it felt… you’re not just watching it, you’re in it. Walking through his memories, his nights, the places that shape you when you’re that age.
“And the music… proper Welsh nostalgia. Super Furry Animals, John Cale, High Contrast — it just adds to that feeling of time and place.
“It’s been created using real archive and stories…which is probably why it feels so real and grounded.
“If you’re looking for things to do in Cardiff, especially around Cardiff Bay, this is a really different one.
Something a bit slower, a bit more thoughtful… and easy to pair with a wander, coffee, or food after.”
The run time for Haunts is 14 minutes in English and 15 minutes in Welsh, and the free experience does not require a booking.
Haunts will run at Bocs until 12 April, open from 12pm to 6pm Tuesday to Saturday, and 12pm to 5pm Sunday and Monday.
Experiences also coming to Bocs in 2026 are four works nominated as part of the Annwn Prize, an international award for immersive storytelling.
These include Constantinopoliad, an expanded cinema experience, interactive film Consensus Gentium, Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin, an augmented reality experience, and NOWISWHENWEARE.
For more information, visit the WMC site here.
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