Knot: A Trilogy – An Audio Experience Played Alone

[Ad- gifted experience] Dann and I have participated in digital, immersive experiences before, primarily with our table top group, to help us come together during Lockdown or when we are apart from each other. Knot felt like it fit into this sort of category – some sort of digital, audio game that only needed one player. It’s an experience, that you can do on your own terms, really, and requires very little set up. Knot: A Trilogy is spread out into three different chapters, that each are best experienced in different locations, at a set time. To participate in these experiences, you need to download an app and activate your ticket, then wait for the time to come.

In the first chapter of Knot is titled you are meant to be on a park bench in public for this experience. Sadly, it was sprinkling the day that I went to experience Knot, so I opted to sit in my back yard, on a bench, in the rain, to compromise. They do advise that you could have created some sort of bench in your own home if it was raining, but I wanted to stay outside at the very least and didn’t think a bunch of rain would make too much of a difference. I laid out a towel, plugged in my earbuds, and waiting for the timer to tick on.

The first chapter was interesting – showcasing sounds at a park, different characters, and a confusing set of interactions. You can’t talk, you can’t actually interact with these noises, and instead are just sat down with your eyes shut and your earbuds in. The characters are interesting and somewhat confusing – they don’t know who they are or who you are, and after a while, with the looping conversations, it becomes hard to follow exactly who you are as well, which feels like the point. Almost as quickly as everything had started, the experience was over, and I was sure something bad had happened – but I couldn’t quite picture it, so maybe not.

The second chapter of Knot: A Trilogy sees you sitting in the passenger side of the car, buckled up with the doors locked. The people in this chapter are equally confused and confusing, unsure of what they are doing, where they have come from, and why they are doing whatever it is they are doing. Only one of them knows you, and that person is quite happy to have you there, so you feel welcomed. The car moves, travels with you in it, sounds of speeding highway goes by, while you try to piece together where in the timeline this event is taking place – it’s like being in several places at once, with different individuals, trying to put it all together.

The third chapter of Knot: A Trilogy does bring together the first two inside your own home. Many of the little hints you were given, small bits of information thrown at you while your eyes were closed, all come together to make sense. There is bit empathizes on why these people couldn’t remember, what they were doing, and how exactly you were involved. A lot of the audio makes you question how real real is. What exactly are experiences and how exactly do they affect different people. It answers a lot of questions while bringing a lot more.

When it came to the audio over all, the quality is really great. The mix of what you can hear beyond your earbuds and what is apart of the audioscape is really interesting. People whispering to you sound like people whispering to you. Other sounds feel far away, unreachable. Several times I had jumped at the sudden noise, despite my eyes being closed and knowing I had earbuds in. As this experience takes place at a specific time, I expected there to be someone on the other end of my phone, some way of interacting with someone, however that was not the case and this was instead a recording. I don’t think, personally, that it needs to be a recording that everyone listens too at the same time – I feel that people could be able to cycle through the three chapters at their own pace, on their own time. In between each chapter, if you are listening to them one after another, there is a 30 to 40 minute break – which is a bit much, especially if you are around your own home.

Knot: A Trilogy is a sort of play, that feels like you become a character, even if you don’t know your part. And, no body else seems to know their own part too, so it doesn’t matter that you are unsure or hesitant or don’t have any lines. Everything just seems to be acting around you, allowing you to see it and participate in it, while also giving you something unique to you, with a lot of mystery and thrill. It’s a curiosity, an experience well worth taking part in, especially if you are a bit adventurous and want to try something unlike anything that you’ve been apart of previously.

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28 thoughts on “Knot: A Trilogy – An Audio Experience Played Alone

  1. MELANIE EDJOURIAN says:

    Well, this immersive experience certainly does sound different. I’m not sure I’d have wanted to wait the 30-40 mins for the break I think 5 minutes max would suffice.

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