I will hold my hands up and say that before Summer Game Fest and my preview, I didn’t know a lot about Escape Academy. After playing it though, it’s now one of my most anticipated games.
The title was shown off during iam8bit and Double Fine’s Day of the Dev’s stream and sees players assume the role of a student, aiming to become the “ultimate escapist”.
The game is developed by Coin Crew Games, who as well as having a background in creating arcade games, also designed real-world escape rooms. The perfect pedigree for a game like this.
We got to check out one of the challenges in Escape Academy and you can read our full preview below.
Our preview kicks off in a maintenance room that is slowly filling up with water and, with limited clues, we’re tasked with escaping the room before we, well, drown. While this situation isn’t likely to be found in a real-world escape room, this was the only liberty the preview took.
The title claims to be “one of the first video games to authentically capture the time-pressure and mind-bending action of escape rooms and transform them into an immersive digital experience.” And aside from the water, that’s absolutely fair.
As I was let loose, I started my journey to find my way out of the room. In this instance, there was a range of different floors, each one with varying puzzles that lead to a code word that would need to be put into a keypad. This would then unlock a gate, allowing me to ascend to the next level.
On the first floor, I had to find items, including a screwdriver and a hammer, that would help uncover clues to the all-important code word. I escaped the floor with literally two seconds on the clock. It was a genuine rush scrambling to solve the puzzle and ultimately, beating the buzzer.
After ascending, I solved puzzles that involved a safe, some light switches, a camera and so much more.
Each of the puzzles was crafted perfectly. They were hard enough that a couple broke my brain, but never so obtuse that I felt like giving up on them. The ones I struggled most on were definitely down to me, rather than the game design and finally solving them felt good.
I must admit, there was one puzzle I got stuck on for a significant period. I tried entering a variety of words into the keypad but nothing worked. It turned out that I was being incredibly stupid and the answer was staring me in the face the whole time.
This led to me running out of time not once but twice. Thankfully, there was no awkward game over screen or big failure message and I was invited to continue with more time. This was nice. Ultimately, there was no major punishment for failing aside from a lower grade at the end. I got a C which, all things considered, I was happy with.
My preview of Escape Academy was solo, but the game can be played with a partner, and this is where I think it will really shine for a couple of reasons.
The game is chaotic, especially when the seconds are ticking away, and that level of chaos is sure to be a blast when playing with a partner. Alongside that, the cooperative elements of solving the puzzles will make things easier and more realistic as nobody does escape rooms alone.
As the answer was staring me in the face on the second or third floor, I could have done with a partner. I spent ~10 minutes or so, trying to decipher the word “SLOW” on a wall. My brain didn’t click that the L was lowercase and wasn’t actually an I (yes really), so I tried SIOW, WOIS and a range of other combinations. Having a partner would have inevitably spared my blushes.
What was interesting was that Mike Minotti of GamesBeat also struggled at the same point (sorry Mike) so maybe having a partner wouldn’t have helped.
What really struck me about Escape Academy was just how authentic the game felt to a real-world escape room. The puzzles, the environments, the race against the clock. It all worked.
There was never anything that felt unfair and I never felt frustrated by the level design. It’s this, the multiplayer components, and the potential of the story that has propelled Escape Academy to the upper end of my most anticipated list. I can't wait to see what other puzzles the developers have in store.