Factoria Escape Rooms: Alien Invaders (Valencia)

Game Over?

The secretive “Cosmos Alliance” corporation operates in the shadows, dedicated to protecting Earth from extraterrestrial threats. Its mission is to protect humanity by securing interplanetary alliances to guarantee peace. And it needs you for a dangerous mission. It summons the entire team to the vicinity of the “Game Over” arcade. There, you will receive precise and detailed instructions on your mission.

We had a fun few days in Milan, Murcia, and Cartagena, playing some fun games: Time Machine, Birth Machine, Cursed Expedition, and Compadre Robbery. A five hour train journey later, and we were finally in Valencia where we would meet up with our teammates and spend a few days playing the best games Valencia had to offer (in English).

Day one was a travel day followed by a food tour, which I’d highly recommend. And then day two was where the fun began – with escape rooms! We had booked in for both games at Factoría escape rooms, first up was Alien Invaders, swiftly followed by Perfect Shot in Buddha’s Garden.

Everyone talks highly of Buddha’s Garden, but I believe Alien Invaders is actually the newer game, so maybe it’s just not been played as much.

Before the game, we had received some vital instructions via WhatsApp. Make sure you follow these instructions to a T, as it’s quite key to note that this game has a different start, and you need to have internet access to be able to begin – I won’t say more than that.

Our possessions were securely deposited, and both our communication and ‘alien alert’ devices were ready. This meant we were now ready to sort out these pesky aliens.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

As you’ll probably have guessed from the description, and the image, this game is set within an arcade – totally my jam. I love all things retro and as soon as we got going, I was liking the theming. Personally, I would have loved to have a bit more retro-ness about it, but I appreciated the little Easter eggs dotted around the room.

Generally with escape rooms, there is more to a game than just the original story, and that was certainly the case for Alien Invaders. As we explored the mystery and got deeper into the game, we discovered new areas that were vastly different to the previous, and helped immerse us into the experience.

The lighting, although dark at times, was generally not an issue, however during one stage, lighting was generally in short supply and it would have been nice to have had more than one light source between four of us.

The sounds that were involved also added to the immersion further, and at least early on, had some great nostalgia associated with them. The temperature was certainly on the higher side, but I think the Valencian weather in September is going to put a struggle on even the best air conditioning systems.

This game was pretty much not accessible from the start, so if you struggle with climbing, crawling, and going up and down ladders, then you’ll likely need to give this game a miss as I couldn’t see any workarounds.

PUZZLES

I love it when a game starts before it starts (yes, that makes sense to me), as it makes it feels like you get bonus puzzles and time. Alien Invaders is one of those games, and this earlier start gave us an indication of what was to come, and how we would need to interact with the game, and the gamesmaster.

In the game itself, we found a variety of puzzle types that fitted the rooms they were located in; observation, searching, logic, interaction with characters, teamwork, communication, and decoding/wordplay, made up the bulk of the puzzles.

We found we didn’t click with this game quite as much as others, but I think that’s because I just wanted to spend more time in the arcade, reliving my childhood. Saying that though, the puzzles were fair, well signposted, and we still had a few good ‘aha’ moments.

This was a tech heavy room, with a few padlocks dotted around. But a lot of the solves resulted in tech being triggered somewhere in the room.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Our host for Alien Invaders was Sergio. Sergio did a great job of being in character throughout the whole experience and played his character(s) perfectly.

Before entering the game proper, we were given special devices for receiving clues, and any clues we needed, or even just tidbits of story, were delivered through them. Another nice feature was that each team member had one, so if anything was being communicated, we all received it.

I can’t recall if we needed any direct help, but Sergio was keeping a close eye on our progress and seemed to appear at just the right times.

ANYTHING ELSE

I think our group was generally split on the preferred game at Factoria. Alien Invaders was a good time and had some fun puzzles, great acting, and a solid sense of adventure. Was it my favourite there? I don’t know. But did I enjoy it? Definitely.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 4 Players – 15 minutes remaining

Address: Av. de Valladolid, 2, Bj, Rascaña, 46020 Valencia, Spain

Website: http://www.factoriaescaperoom.com/