Last week, Inara Pey alerted us all to an amazing sim by Hera (Zee9)
(see https://modemworld.me/2022/02/06/heras-superb… )
In my 14+ years on SL this is quite probably the most amazing, most detailed, most immersive sim I have ever visited.
I took loads of photos (over several visits), and since my free Flickr account has a 1000 pic limit, and also since I choose to make my Flickr stream highly curated, I thought it better to create a blog post to feature all the photos. Plus it gives me more freedom to talk you through both my photos and also the sim.
All of the photos are in 1440px height resolution. Do please click on each pic to see it in full resolution, because the large thumbnails just don’t do them justice and this is meant to be a photo gallery!
WARNINGS
This is an Adult sim and some of the following pics may be of an adult nature, although I have chosen to pixelate some of the most sexual content. However, there may be some artful nudity.
[NOTE: This sim has long since been deleted, but this article was written whilst it was still live, which is why it is written in the present tense.]
When you enter the sim you rezz in a skybox. A large notice on the wall advises you to use the Shared Environment for your EEP (formerly WindLight), to turn on sound, and to turn on music. I really recommend doing all of these as they have all been expertly crafted to give a great ambiance.
Clicking on the teleport takes you to a tube train in a Subway Station.
Stepping off the train, onto the platform, you pass a security barrier (look out for the Eyebot from the Fallout games!) and from there you walk up some stairs to the ground level, passing some iconic posters as you do.
You emerge out onto a busy city street. Cars whip past you at high speed whilst Police Spinners fly overhead.
Here’s a 360° panoramic view. After clicking the ‘play’ icon in the centre of the image, you may want to click the icon in the bottom-right corner to view it in fullscreen.
If you turn around after exiting the subway, you’ll see an Amusement Arcade
Be warned: Inside is some really rather explicit artwork. Personally I loved it, but it may not be to all tastes (no pun intended) so I have pixelated the most explicit content.
Coming out of the Arcade, we turn right.
Immediately to the right, there is a News Stand. The cool thing about this is that a lot of the magazines have covers from actual magazines when the original 1982 film came out.
Directly across the street is the Noodle Bar where Gaff finds Deckard, and also a parade of shops.
Hmmm. That lady looks familiar. Where have I seen her before?
[Joking aside, it’s great to see people RPing on this sim and dressing accordingly. I’m just sorry that I didn’t make more of an effort, but I didn’t want to go back and re-shoot all my pics. Besides, I reckon that jeans, jacket, and knee boots will never go out of fashion.]
Let’s cross the street.
More people doing great RP. Strictly speaking, Blade Runner never featured mechanical body augmentation, but it is a solid Cyberpunk trope now so I think we can let them off!
This shop was a nice touch. It’s a reference to the fact that Blade Runner is based on the book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by PK Dick, and also a reference to the song “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” by Tubeway Army / Gary Numan which is also a reference to the same book.
Moving down the alley on the right, and we find a place doing “Tattoos, Cosmetics, Bio Hacks, and Enhancements”.
Looks painful!
Notice the poster for Nexus Pleasure models? It looks Pris-tine.
Next is the Dildo store. Then next to that is a Hentai store
Some of the comics in there are interactive multi-page photo albums, and they are extremely pornographic!
The mesh statue outside of the Hentai store is possibly the cutest and best I have ever seen. And what really blows me away is that if you inspect it, it is merely called “Object”. I think Hera could probably make a fortune were it to be offered for sale!
Next to the Hentai store is a bar
The barmaid is pretty cute.
[Ok, ok, it’s me!]
[The hair is “Lalisa” by Monso, and I think in this colour it makes me look a little like Joi from Blade Runner 2049. Or maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part.]
[You can see a close-up of me wearing this hair on a Flickr pic (click here) that I took back in October 2021.]
Then, as you exit the U-shaped alley you are back to the Noodle Bar, with a separate seating area to your left.
Turn to the left and you will be back on the street
That shop on the right of the pic certainly looks frosty. Something to keep your eye on I think!
There is also the office of Abdul Ben Hassan, and a cool Tyrell advertisement.
On the opposite side of the road you’ll see some robots in a shop window.
A cute Easter Egg is that one of them is one of the robots from Portal 2.
Heading on down to the end of the street and we find the steps to the LAPD building.
The guy in the Wanted poster… I’m sure I saw him. Let’s go inside and report it.
After a wait I got told to go down to the office at the end.
He wasn’t there. They told me to come back later.
Exiting the LAPD building, we turn left and head on down the road until we spy a turning on the right.
I think I know that car.
Heading on into the building and riding the elevator, we find some apartments. All are locked except one.
Obviously this is Deckard’s apartment.
There’s a lot going on here, with lots to explore. Look at the picture frames on surfaces and shelves for some nice little Easter eggs
Deckard’s iconic PKD pistol is here (there’s also one back at the Noodle Bar alongside an ID card). You can read lots more about this gun in a great article by Royal Armouries (click here).
Next we move into the bedroom.
The computer was a really nice touch. Let’s take a closer look.
If you know your vintage computers, you’ll know that this looks suspiciously like a Tandy TRS-80 Model 1 with optional expansion pack. Although it didn’t have a built-in floppy disc drive as far as I recall.
The other little Easter Egg is that the screen is displaying what looks like the computer hacking mini-game from the Fallout games.
Exiting the apartment, we turn left, then left again, and walk back to the crossroads / intersection.
We then cross the road towards where that “Stop” sign is.
Straight ahead is the Tyrell building. But as you walk towards it, look to your left for steps down to a Jazz Club. Nice.
Back up and towards the gate to the Tyrell building. But what’s this? An energy barrier? BZZZZT! But we can go round to the right.
We sneak into the loading bay, up the Freight Elevator, across an office, then up another elevator at the other end of the office, and then up to Tyrell’s office.
Whilst there, I got roped into taking a test.
Looks like I passed, because I’m still alive.
Easily missed from this room, accessed via an alcove at the opposite end of the room to the table, is a door which leads through to Tyrell’s living area
Leaving the Tyrell building, we retrace our steps all the way back to the crossroads and turn right.
[Or, if you are feeling lazy, cam down to ground level and sit on something sittable like one of the phone booths. But for goodness sake don’t try a double-click TP or you will end up back at the skybox due to an enforced Landing Point]
On our right is seedy hotel.
[Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure that my RL grandfather owned that model of watch shown on the billboard]
Heading on up the stairs we find one of the rooms unlocked. Doesn’t seem to be anyone in there though.
[Obviously this is the room that Leon rented. Despite the rules saying “No Skin Jobs”]
Leaving the hotel, we see The Snake Pit on the other side of the road.
Surely that’s not Miss Salome? I thought her show was cancelled?
[Slight narrative break here. That is not Miss Salome. That’s Rug Halberd doing a little RP. She and I were friends years ago but in late 2013 / early 2014 we sort of drifted out of contact and eventually ended up defriended. Probably a cull with no hard feelings. It was absolutely amazing to just bump into her out of the blue like this and we reconnected and re-friended, which was lovely. The person out on the pavement with me is my friend CarCar who was with me at the time.]
[After a while Rug decided she would switch back to her Rachael outfit (you can see a great pic of hers here) and I did a little dancing in a very cheeky PVC outfit]
[Anyway, back to the narrative]
Continuing down the street, we spy an alley at the end, just before the tunnel.
But what’s this? The Stage Door? Is it unlocked?
Walking down the corridor, we look into a Dressing Room. Awww, that snake looks lonely. I wonder where its owner is? I wonder if it belongs to Miss Salome? Maybe she had to leave in a hurry.
Opposite that, through a curtain, and we’re in The Snake Pit. Via the back door (sniggers).
Do take close look at the names on the bottles at the bar, as they are hilarious. For example, the bottles of Jack Daniel’s are labelled Jack Russel’s. I can’t say I fancy a Fartini though.
This rather reminds me of a similar thing that we see in the video games Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Exiting out through the club brings you back onto the street.
Turning right, we walk back towards the crossroads yet again, cross the road, and come to a closed-up building that might be a cinema (movie theatre), with a cool poster on the wall.
Opposite is the Bradbury Building.
Let’s head on inside.
We want to go to the top floor to find an iconic part of the Blade Runner film; J.F. Sebastian’s apartment.
Climb the stairs or take the elevator, going all the way up to the top floor, then you will find the entrance in the corner.
Through the door, and you are in an anteroom.
To the left is Sebastian’s main room and workshop, whilst to the right is a corridor which we’ll come to later. First we’ll go left.
There is a lot to see in here, but not a huge number of things to interact with.
A wonder if that one is meant to remind us of the Borg Queen?
I’m getting tired now. Time to sit down for a bit.
The doll behind me here reminds me of the Geisha dolls in the Ghost in the Shell live action film.
The first time I visited the sim (I have actually been back many times to take further photos), someone was RPing Pris. I think she nailed it.
Let’s move on from here, back to the Anteroom, then across to the opposite doorway and then right into a corridor.
You can climb that book case and go up through the hole in the ceiling. From there you walk across a rather damp bathroom, and then out through the window onto the Fire Escape. Climbing the stairs brings you to a roof. It’s started to rain.
That dove looks a little lost. Like tears in rain.
And that’s my tour of The Blade Runner Sim. I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for reading.
