Geolocated Storytelling Device

Opening its doors in Q4 2025, Netflix House is a first-of-its-kind permanent entertainment venue where fans can interact with their favorite Netflix stories beyond the screen. One of the feature experiences created for Netflix House Dallas at opening was Stranger Things: Face the Dark where fans explore iconic locations in Hawkins and the Upside Down as they join a search party to find three missing townspeople, armed with only a headset and flashlight to help them navigate the experience.

For a major IP-based experience, Netflix collaborated with Alterface on a unique challenge: could a large group of guests move freely through a space while receiving individualized audio that reacts precisely to what they are doing and where they are? The KPIs were ambitious: enable personalized content at scale, maintain high guest throughput, and ensure seamless integration with complex scenic, lighting, and interactive systems.

To meet this challenge, multiple teams coordinated handling audio, scenery, and room technologies, including screens, lights, and actors. Alterface’s role was to provide the interactive devices (headsets, flashlights) and the systems that deliver each guest a fully personalized audio experience, while interfacing in real time with the experience’s other technology and scenic elements.

This was made possible through a customized geolocation system that tracks every visitor in real time as they move throughout the experience, enabling audio and visual feedback to respond instantly to each guest’s actions and location.

In the first part of the experience, guests literally hear what they see: when a visitor approaches a clue or event, only those nearby receive the corresponding sound, ensuring focus and immersion. Building on this, the system continuously adapts the narrative to each guest’s actions and location within the experience. If guests split up, the story follows them; if they move off the expected path, the narrative continues without interruption; and when groups come together storytelling synchronizes seamlessly for all, maintaining immersion and coherence at every moment. These adaptations happen without visible triggers, creating a natural, responsive experience for hundreds of visitors simultaneously.

In the second part of the experience, the whole group hears the same audio, enabling unique show moments and maintaining consistent audio quality wherever visitors are standing.

Innovative Solution:

The key interactive technology includes hundreds of devices designed to guide and immerse guests in the story and environment. These devices feature an 80s-inspired look, with custom electronics, firmware, and software, seamlessly integrated with the other technology vendors powering the attraction.

Using indoor geolocation, each guest’s audio and flashlight reactions are precisely adapted to the object they are standing by, unlocking extensive storytelling possibilities and operating invisibly to support the story without distracting from the experience.

All of these components are part of a software platform developed by Alterface, which can manage and deliver personalized content to any type of remote device and be reused for any immersive experiences.

Guest experience:

Stranger Things: Face the Dark is an immersive, narrative-driven experience where guests step right inside an episode of the Stranger Things story. With live performers, iconic sets and props, cinematic audio, and stunning effects, guests experience the story in large groups while still receiving individualized attention. Using flashlights and binaural headphones, visitors explore iconic locations such as Hawkins’ High School, Castle Byers and Eddie Munson’s trailer, uncovering clues and reacting to unexpected events. Throughout the 60min. experience, guests are guided by light and sound, while the story adapts to individual and group actions for a unique journey.