Start Play: Compadre Robbery (Murcia)

The perfect heist!

“Al Frijole” is a legendary Latin American thief, famous for his cunning skills and daring robberies. Now he’s recruiting the best thieves—fast, smart, resourceful, and brave people—to join his team to carry out the most important heist of his criminal career: the CDM DIRECT bank, owned by “El Compadre,” Mexico’s most feared businessman. This armored building houses the country’s greatest fortunes and is considered the most secure in Mexico. The reward is stratospheric, and the threat is equal to it. Do you dare risk your freedom to get the largest loot ever stolen?

Apparently we like to do slightly insane things in the name of playing escape rooms. For instance, when we decided that a week in Valencia would be a lovely break, we also decided that it would also be a simply splendid idea to start the break by spending 24 hours in Milan for no other reason than playing Time Machine and Birth Machine at Mad Machines, followed by a visit to Murcia (and the area just outside it), to tack on a couple of extra world class games – namely The Cursed Expedition, and, of course, Compadre Robbery (which secured place #19 on the 2024 TERPECA Rankings in its first year of being eligible.) While this plan was completely insane, everything went smoothly and it was certainly a memorable start to our trip!

The Murcia leg of our mad adventure began with a trip to Mythos Escape Rooms to embark upon a Cursed Expedition, and then after a half hour taxi ride to the other side of town, we found ourselves outside the unmistakable entrance to Start Play. We were a bit early, so we had plenty of time to go find a snack. Unfortunately, it being a Sunday in Spain, very little was open. However, we did manage to find one bakery that was, and escaped the heat for a bit to enjoy some delicious pastries. Sadly, while the bakery did have many delicious goodies and cold drinks, it did not have a toilet we were able to make use of, which was slightly problematic as Start Play only has facilities that can be used after the game. ( So plan accordingly…)

Fortunately, this wasn’t an issue for us, and before long, and with our pastries consumed, it was time to make our way back to the designated meeting point – the simply stunning mural surrounding an unassuming red door.

Our instructions were clear – send a WhatsApp to the number we received in our confirmation details once we were in place, and we would receive further instruction. So, with our entire team (of two) assembled outside the red door we sent our message, and the fun began.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

I’m not surprised that this game is thought of so highly amongst Escape Room Enthusiasts. Once our message was sent, we were immediately immersed in the world Start Play have created with an opening that was completely unexpected, but totally epic. And while it would be hard to top that intro, somehow Compadre Robbery manages to do it anyway.

Compadre Robbery has elements of physicality that make it impossible to play if you’re not at least somewhat mobile, and able to crawl, climb and/or duck. From the moment our experience started, it felt almost like we were being sucked straight into an action film, with a set quality to rival any movie set. The game flowed through the spaces, and a strong story unfolded, with all the twists and turns of a great novel.

But even with a strong narrative, Compadre Robbery didn’t follow a strictly linear progression. The game had moments of linearity that pulled the team together, but then would open up again to parallel puzzle paths, making it no wonder that Escape Room Enthusiasts love it.

PUZZLES

Compadre Robbery is an absolute “Puzzle Palooza”. In fact, there is so much content that Start Play will only accept teams of two if players have played over 100 escape rooms. Quantity aside, the puzzles were also quality. The challenges we encountered were often complex, but fair, with a variety of styles and mechanisms to keep players guessing.

Many of the puzzles had a distinctly “Escape Room” style to them, using everything from logical and lateral deduction, observation, and pattern recognition, to team work and communication. This did make them feel less diegetic than I typically like from a game that has a set build of this quality, but that’s just me being incredibly picky. In reality, the satisfying “Ah Ha!” moments that came with a successful solve gave Compadre Robbery such a fast pace that that really didn’t matter, as we moved from challenge to challenge, with the outside world melting away.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

If you read our reviews with any frequency, you’ll know I love an integrated clue system, and Compadre Robbery’s clue delivery system fits perfectly within the narrative they’ve created. In fact, as the story develops, so too does the clue system. It’s simple, and a tried and true method, but because the way help is received is totally believable within the scenario, instead of breaking immersion, it creates it.

In order to play in English, Gordon did have some correspondence prior to our arrival with Ismael, who was also our host on the day. Ismael was a delight, particularly in the moments of playful character interaction that occurred periodically throughout the game. But he was also totally on top of his hosting game, nudging us when needed if we stumbled off track, or hanging back when he could see we were close to figuring things out on our own.

ANYTHING ELSE

Let’s face it, Compadre Robbery is a heist game; it’s right there in the title after all. And ordinarily, I would say that a heist is low on my list of favourite genres. But in the case of Compadre Robbery, I’ll make an exception. This game is amongst the most immersive games of this genre I have ever participated in. It’s rare to actually feel like you’re committing a robbery in an Escape Room, but with the epic opening sequence, the heart pounding finale, and all of the moments in between, no one can accuse this game of being an ordinary heist.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 Players – 15 minutes remaining (a new record at the time)

Address: C. Velasco, N° 18, 30820 Alcantarilla, Murcia, Spain

Website: https://startplay.es/