Meal for Four, Please!
You are a notorious gang of thieves. Your next objective is to fleece the leader of the Asian mafia, Xu Lin. The Buddha Garden Asian Restaurant is their base of operations. Your partner José Juan is infiltrated in the restaurant. He will be your liaison. You will go to the restaurant at a time when no one can bother you to carry out your perfect heist. Important! The code word your liaison gives you is “Burjassot.” Remember it well.
We had been planning to visit Valencia for a long one, firstly because it’s a beautiful city, and secondly, because it seems to be appearing more and more in the TERPECAs. One such game that got our attention was Perfect Shot in Buddha’s Garden (quite a mouth full), which first appeared in 2022 at position 23, but since then it dropped to 122 in 2024 – which is still respectable.
Of course we knew we were going to play this game, and just for good measure and thoroughness, we booked in for another Factoria game, Alien Invaders. We played Alien Invaders first, and then had a bit of time to kill, so we popped around the corner and found a nice little cafe where we could get some treats and a cold drink.
We returned to the address that we were given (just a few doors down from Alien Invaders, and the first thought was confusion. Were we outside the escape room? If there’s one thing that Factoria does well, it’s the ‘cold start’ where you are immersed before you even enter the property. Fortunately we had our email instructions in hand and that gave us some guidance as to what to do next. So we tentatively did what we thought was right, and before we knew it, it was game time!
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
Like I mentioned above, we weren’t sure if we were at an escape room, so if you arrive and have that same feeling, you’re probably in the right place. This confusion is testament to the level of immersion they’ve gone for here. Everything about this game was done for maximum immersion, and that permeated every aspect of the game, including how we interacted with our gamesmaster.
This game was a lot of fun, and yes, a lot of that was due to the interactions with our host, but also because of the set and how authentic things felt. The game did admittedly feel like it was two games combined into one though and some of the interactions felt like it slowed down progress and drastically changed the speed and flow of the game.
If I had one gripe with this game it was that as a team of four, we were given one torch to share between us. That may sound like a small thing, but when there are things around the room that you want to explore and it’s a little dark, it’s very annoying when you can’t do that. I would like to think that if we were truly a ‘notorious gang of thieves’ that we would think to each pack a torch!
The game starts off accessible but there are parts where you’ll need to be able to climb and crawl to progress. There may be a work around, but I’m not sure, so if that’s a concern then it’s always best to reach out to the venue directly to find out.
PUZZLES
The puzzles for this game were plentiful and varied, starting even before we entered the premises! Once we did get inside, we had lots to keep us engaged in this 90 minute experience and despite the inevitable points where we had to slow down for what was essentially story and GM interaction, and of course not being able to see thanks to the lack of personal torches.
When we could see the puzzles, we found them with lots of variety and all felt like they belonged whatever room we were in. Searching, observation, role-playing, logic, maths, directions, you know, the usual types of puzzles. Solving them resulted in some tech being triggered or a combination for a padlock.
There is one puzzle that I remember that stood out to me as being quite clever. It was actually a really simple idea, fit the narrative perfectly, and was a delight to solve. Sometimes the simplest things are the best!
There were times in this game where we experienced non-linearity and could split up (darkness allowing) to work on things independently of each other, but there were the usual choke points or narrative that brought us back together to focus on one puzzle only at that moment.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
The host in Perfect Shot in Buddha’s Garden is fundamental to this experience, and I think it is one of those games where you get out what you put in. The boundary between the character interaction and the person helping you is never broken, so it again works with the story. If we did need help, I believe we only needed to ask and it would have been delivered through a phone in the room.
ANYTHING ELSE
I didn’t know what to expect from this game. Yes, it was a little rough in places, but it was a lot of fun, in a good sized space and was filled with diegetic puzzles. The one negative? I left this game really wanting a Chinese takeaway!
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 4 Players
Address: Av. de Valladolid, 2, Bj, Rascaña, 46020 Valencia, Spain
Website: http://www.factoriaescaperoom.com/
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