Reviews
Escape Simulator

Escape Simulator

Escape Simulator is one of the few escape room games that can be played with one or more friends, in online co-op mode. In fact, while the game can be experienced in its entirety in solo mode as well, it was clearly designed with the multiplayer feature in mind.

Escape Simulator is structured in very small one-room levels that are all available to play from the beginning (there are no requirements to unlock them) and which are grouped according to their theme. At the moment of the release, the game features 16 levels in total (a tutorial, and 5 levels each, belonging to an Egypt / space / Victorian mansion theme) with more to come in the near future (5 more levels have been announced as a free port-release path). Aside from this, players can create their own rooms and share them with the community, since the game also has a Steam-integrated workshop.

There’s a lot of exploration involved, perhaps more than in other escape room puzzles. All items are 3D and can be freely rotated and inspected on all sides, and in multiplayer there is also a shared view of these. You can join your partner when they are inspecting an object and see real-time how they rotate it, or you can also read a book together. The puzzles can also be viewed in co-op mode, but there is always only one person who can interact with a puzzle, while the others are only spectating. However, apart from a 2-people lever that has to be pulled by both players at the same time, the game does not feature puzzles whose completion require more than one person – likely because these would have to be completely rewritten to support single-player mode (like it happened with this special case: in single-player, the levers can be pulled separately, while in multiplayer not). The inventory is also player-specific, but you can see the objects that your partner carries, since they are displayed as a toolbox around their waist.

In terms of difficulty, the rooms are very pleasant to solve. The puzzles are well-designed, and neither too difficult nor too easy to figure out. There is always a logical approach to them and it’s usually pretty clear what one has to do, plus there are always objects lying around that hint towards what a certain unlock code is or what the correct approach in solving a puzzle is. Figuring them out and putting all the pieces together for a full solution is a really fun and rewarding process. There is also a hint system that recharges over time (thus can be used multiple times).

Aside from solving each room’s puzzles, players are challenged to find 8 hidden tokens per level, which are usually pretty well hidden and at least half of them are very hard to find, requiring you to look in every nook and cranny or employ some creative ideas to spawn them. There is a Steam guide that lists all these locations. but I strongly recommend first trying to discover them on your own and not spoiling yourself the game’s surprises.

Escape Simulator is a lovely game to play with one or more friends, as well as alone, if you’re a fan of escape rooms that aren’t narrative / story-rich. It can be easily played in short bursts, since the levels take around 30 minutes each (or around 5 minutes if you already know your way through). The main game doesn’t have much of a replay value, unless you want to go back and look for the missing collectibles, but the workshop integration should provide enough fresh new content. Still, it’s a title well worth trying out if you like co-op puzzle games and Escape Simulator is definitely one of a kind.

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