‘Let’s get another round in and then embark on our storyline,’ says someone for whom it looks like the evening’s main storyline might be just more rounds of drinks as he walks towards the bar.

The storyline he’s referring to is part of Phantom Peak, apparently ‘the world’s first open-world fully immersive adventure’ set in a steampunk mining town.

This is where a charismatic founder is hiding secrets in the mines, where a blimp has mysteriously crashed.

It’s also where, if you follow the clues, talk to the townspeople and generally play the game, you might just get to the bottom of what the hell is going on.

Not that you have to. You can just enjoy the atmosphere, rent a boat, have your lunch, a couple of drinks…

The set-up is Western meets New Orleans meets that casino on a steamboat in Ozark – not quite Westworld, not quite Deadwood but along those sort of lines – peopled by steampunk characters in leather Stetsons, cowboy boots and the outfits worn by dancers in those Wild West saloons.

A network of black canals separate walkways strung with lights and lined with bars, burgers, burritos, pies and old-school sideshow games where you throw things to hit things to 
win things, mainly 
rosettes… all this within a ten-minute…