Thorpe Park has been under attack by The Swarm for too long. The conspiracy theorist who warned of their attack, Lez Cougan, has a legion of followers resisting the attack, but there’s also a military presence…but are they there to protect us?

Born in 2020 as a result of the Covid pandemic, The Swarm: Invasion is a true ‘scare zone’, in that guests can roam freely around the zone, interact with characters and stay as long as they want.

In 2020, the zone simply introduced a few actors to extend the story, along with an amazing new soundtrack for the event. These actors were in full military costume (which served as a clever way to not have actors need to show their face masks to stop the spread of Covid-19), who were ‘scanning’ and ‘protecting’ you. However, the eagle-eyed would notice that these military personnel also had an alien arm. Further interaction would show they were actually under the control of The Swarm. Some actors were portrayed as conspiracy theorists trying to reveal the truth, but the military would shut them down.

In 2021, the zone received more actors, and more budget to introduce theming to the area. This increased the number of conspiracy theorist actors, portraying a group known as The Unsound, who were fighting against The Swarm and the military who had succumb to them. This led to a lot more story-based interactions that guests could have with actors. This also meant that it was easy to bypass the zone, which was good for those who want to avoid scare attractions, but was an issue for those wanting the interaction, but not wanting actively initiate that.

Ultimately, The Swarm: Invasion served as an extension to Swarm’s storyline. Whilst costumes were fantastic, the scare zone needed more budget and attention to truly succeed. However, it served its purpose of spreading Fright Nights across the island, and successfully bringing more attention to The Swarm.