Gozsdu Mission: White Mission (Budapest)

An Escape Room OG

Can you escape from an empty room? The clues are right in front of you all  long, but you can only get it if you solve the mystery of the strange room and discover what an empty room can hide…

Even before we started planning our Budapest escape room trip there were games that we knew about. White Mission by Gozsdu Mission was one of those games. I don’t know when it opened, but this game has been around for a long time and I believe there is or was a version of it in the UK, but I’ve no idea if that is still around.

Gozsdu Mission is located in an ‘interesting’ area that feels like it’s the type of area where you’d find pub crawls and stag-dos. After navigating the streets we found the entrance to Gozsdu and descended the stairs to the lobby. Again, it just had a weird feel, tiled floors (wipe clean..?) and a toilet that you were only allowed to use for number one, and if you peed on the seat, that’s a 10€ fine! But ignoring the weirdness, we found our GM hiding behind a computer screen and got checked in.

White Mission was the first of two games we were playing at this venue, with Alchemist Mission being the next game. We got the briefings in reception, with our GM reading off a piece of paper, and then we were shown into the very white room…

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

As I mentioned, this room was old. I don’t know when it opened, but I’ve seen reviews dating back to 2017 for it, so we can safely assume it was open sometime before then. Considering its age, it wasn’t in bad shape. Yes there was some wear and tear in a few places, but for the most part it looked ok.

With a game called ‘White Mission’ it will come as no surprise that this room was white, really very white. It was the type of room you walk into, everything looks the same, and you think ‘where the hell do we get started?’. Of course there is a starting point and as you progress through the game you realise how much they have managed to fit into a seemingly empty room.

I can’t recall any music or noises in this game, just silence, which I always find a little odd. But I have played games where there were noises and music but I’m so engrossed in the puzzles that I don’t register it. I’m one of those people who never does anything without music, so I like to have a bit of a soundtrack in whatever I’m doing.

PUZZLES

This game revolved around finding puzzles, which was a challenge in itself at times, solving them, then inputting codes into a device in the room. Some of the puzzles were quick observational wins, and others were more involved and multi-layered, but generally they all seemed fair, and one was tantalisingly right in front of our face the whole time.

I’m not fully sure what the theme was for this room, but I’m going to assume it was just a simple IQ test type of thing. IQ test rooms are great as they can get away with having any puzzles in there and they fit the theme. There was also a device in the room that enabled us to keep an eye on our progress which was useful.

Once we found our starting point, the game opened up to become much more non-linear than I was expecting, and the puzzles kept coming. We were only in this game for 33 minutes, but they were 33 ‘busy’ minutes. Searching, observation, logic, teamwork, wordplay, basic basic maths, pretty much a bit of everything and most of it triggered tech which then revealed more puzzles, yay!

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

I’m not sure if we needed any help in this game, but the GM generally seemed disinterested in us being there, so if we did need help it is anyone’s guess as to if we would have received it or not. If we had needed help, I think we would have had to request it and then it would have likely come over a speaker system (I would guess).

Not much else to say really. When we finished the game we exited the room and made our way to the reception area where the GM was still sitting behind the computer and we had to wait while she finished a conversation with a friend before she acknowledged our presence.

ANYTHING ELSE

I can see why this game was considered a leader for many years. Would I say it’s still a must play? Not really. We found this venue to be rather unwelcoming, which does make a difference, and the games to be ok, but nothing stands out about them.

Of course if you’re into escape room history, then this is a game that is worth playing simply to say you did.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players – 33:28 taken

Address: Budapest, Dob u. 16, 1072 Hungary

Website: https://gozsdumission.hu/en/english/