Am Impressive Bank to Rob
Our new-generation escape room in Budapest is guaranteed to bring the atmosphere of the Money Heist series and the feeling of success! The plan is ready, the puppets are moving. The goal is nothing less than obtaining Spanish state secrets! To do this, you have to enter one of the most heavily guarded vaults in the world. Underground mazes, automatic defense systems, and professional guards stand in your way, but you are ready for anything! Adventure and wealth await!
Neverland is one of those venues that often gets recommended in Budapest, so of course we were going to book ourselves in for a couple of games there; Aztec Catacombs, and Bank Robbery.
First impressions of the venue were very good. Once we descended the rather steep staircase into the basement we were greeted by a very trendy/funky/cool/hip bar filled with edgy artwork and neon signs. We were a little early, so we let the bar know that we were there and then sat down and waited for our GM to appear.
We didn’t get the name of our GM, but she was friendly and escorted us down the labyrinthine corridors past many ominous doors with different three digit identifiers. We arrived at an area between the rooms where there were lockers so we could stash our items, and have a little chat with the GM. With our stuff safely locked away, we were escorted through the door and into the lift to begin our heist.
First impressions were very good. Once we got through the door we were immediately immersed in the set and even though there were no puzzles to solve in this first area, it beautifully set the scene for what was about to come. I believe this games was inspired by the Netflix show, Money Heist (maybe)?
In the lift, we watched a video that gave us the mission briefing and a bit more background to why we were there. We couldn’t help but notice that the timer in the room showed 60:10. This extra 10 seconds was to give the GM time to escape before our 60mins began. Annoying the timer started before the briefing concluded so we lost time waiting for that to finish before we could begin.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
Unfortunately we only played two games at Neverland, but that means we can say that 100% of the games we played at Neverland had really good set design. We’ve played many bank heist inspired games in our time, but this was certainly one of the better designed ones, there’s no doubt about that.
Bank Robbery had a great sense of progress, we started in the lift and then inevitably ended in the vault (with plenty in between) and each space added to the story and didn’t feel out of place. At all times there were various ambient noises being played to make things feel more ‘authentic’.
Bank Robbery games are a dime a dozen and you can pretty much guess a lot of what is in this game, especially the large vault door. But this game had a number of things we hadn’t seen before and the set design worked perfectly with the puzzles to create an experience that truly did feel like it was right out of the movies.
PUZZLES
Like I imagine most bank robberies are, this game played out in a mostly linear fashion where things had to be done in a certain order for us to be able to progress onto the next stage. Saying that, there were a few occasions where we were able to split up and work on different things simultaneously – this was a good thing as I was tasked with completing one thing and it was very much a solo thing and did take a bit of time to complete.
This game had many tasks that you often see in bank heist movies, including a bit of theatrics which was a fun touch. Other than that, the puzzles involved; searching, observation, audio, teamwork, and some that required some ‘creative thinking’.
We enjoyed the puzzles and thought many of them were really quite clever. There was one puzzle that felt like a stretch to us. Although it was technically very subtly signposted, it felt like a leap of logic for us to do what we needed to, especially as we had pretty much already used the item once already. It was probably the fault of our experience telling us things were single use, but it was never actually stated, so that’ll teach us to assume. This puzzle was also problematic as it was in a foreign language (Spanish), although it was very basic Spanish, it still could have caused problems for teams with zero knowledge of Spanish.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
I believe we required perhaps one hint in Bank Robbery and that was for the previously mentioned puzzle that just didn’t link up for us. When a hint was required, we simply had to press a button on a screen and then it would be displayed on the same screen with text, audio, or video assistance.
I don’t recall needing to wait long for the assistance, and the hint was enough to get us focussed on the right area again. Because the clue came through quickly, I’m sure the GM was watching us closely.
Neverland was a bit of an odd setup in that it never really felt overly personal and had the feel of being on a conveyor belt. The GM seemed to want to get us into the game as quickly as possible, then when we were done, get us back to the bar to buy drinks. It’s a shame as a little more enthusiasm and less of a rush would have made a big difference. Instead we just finished the game, were told we did well (no mention of time until we asked), and then were told there was a special ‘Bank Robbery’ themed cocktail we could buy from the bar if we were so inclined.
ANYTHING ELSE
Neverland has put a lot of effort into their venue; escape rooms, bar, food, board games, and cocktails – what more do you need? The set design of Bank Robbery was top notch and had some great theatrical moments that stood out for us. One of the puzzles felt like it needed a little tweaking, and it would have been nice to have a little more ‘warmth’ from the hosting, but this was still a fun experience for us
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 4 players – 31:47 taken
Address: Budapest, Dohány u. 22-24, 1074 Hungary
Leave a Reply