Escape Academy is a first-person puzzle solving game that tasks players with solving increasingly complex and unique puzzles as they progress through the titular Escape Academy. Anyone who has played games like The Escaper or Escape Simulator will be right at home here, as each puzzle is completed by exploring rooms, managed items, and thinking outside the box. To those looking for a creative and challenging puzzle game filled with tension and mystery, as well as co-op and multiplayer support, Escape Academy is a great choice.
Escape Academy starts off with the player walking into an actual escape room and completes some simple puzzles adorned with the cheesy skeletons and gimmicks one might expect. Upon exiting the room, the snarky employee is gone, and the building is locked up and empty - but there are plenty of secrets and clues. This first level is actually an admission exam for the Escape Academy which the player character was wholly unaware of but decides to attend. Upon arriving, players can explore the campus a bit before heading to the headmaster's office for their proper entrance exam.
This first puzzle in a great first challenge and introduces the stresses that appear throughout the rest of the game - mainly the time limit. The time limit is introduced via memory erasing gas that will wipe the player's memory of the academy should they fail to escape the room in time. Every room is comprised of multiple stages that utilize a variety of unique and interconnecting puzzles that require certain items, word and number combinations, symbol matching, and more. It's because of this that Escape Academy, like Elden Ring, encourages its players to take notes to keep track of everything - a suggestion that is well worth considering.
The academy is full of unique characters that have rooms reflective of their personalities, as well as a few unique missions such as being the "guy in the chair" for a prison break. Basing levels on the personality of the characters running them is a really good choice for the game as it prevents the game from feeling stale or repetitive despite the limitations of recycling mechanics and conflicts. For example, two early levels see the player ascending floors to avoid drowning while another has them poisoned and searching for the antidote. Each relies on the presence of a deadly external danger as the time limit, but they feel wildly different in their setting, tone, and puzzle combinations. All this considered, Escape Academy suffers from a particular issue that makes it difficult to play.
This may be less of an issue when playing on PC, but on consoles like the Xbox Series S, on which was the hardware used for this review, the camera control is not good. It feels like there is a lag between the joystick input and the game which results in a slow and jolted camera. Aside from the general annoyance this can cause with fine motor input, it can cause motion sickness quite easily and quickly, as was the case in this review. Again, this may not be an issue on a PC and a monitor with a high refresh-rate, but it is a notable issue on consoles and TVs. Despite this issue, Escape Academy has a really strong foundation and some great puzzles that provide a huge sense of accomplishment, making it a wonderful game for those looking to challenge their brains.
Escape Academy is available July 14th for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and is available day one on Xbox Game Pass. Screen Rant was provided with an Xbox download code for the purpose of this review.