Announced earlier this year at the ID@Xbox Spring Showcase, Escape Academy goes as the name suggests transpose the codes of escape games in physical theaters in a scripted game developped by Corner Crew Games and co-edited by Skybound Games and iam8bit Presents, for consoles and PC. As its release date approaches, just unveiled, we had the opportunity to attend a presentation hands on of the game and then take control of it remotely for 50 minutes via Steam, the opportunity to discover 2 levels filled with puzzles. Rest assured, we will avoid as much as possible spoilers on how to solve them. But first, let’s set the scene.
We can’t wait to be locked up again in one of the rooms of this strange school.
The idea by Escape Academy has been helped by the confinements that have occurred around the world because of COVID-19, with the first fruits of the desire to transfer the physical experience that can be experienced in a escape room within a virtual space, while making it as accessible as possible. Even someone unaccustomed to navigating a 3D world using a gamepad or keyboard and mouse should easily find their bearings. The reason for this is simple, the basic controls are minimalist, with an interaction key indicating on the screen the action performed when a decor object is highlighted, why not with a cursor to move, and another for go back. Added to this is the opening of the very rudimentary inventory where the objects collected are added in a column and a help key indicating where the next clue is, which replaces the presence of a game master. escape roomthe goal is of course to escape within the time limit, but don’t panic, because we can still continue if necessary. The developers have also made great localization job so that each puzzle is playable and understandable in French (the version tested), Spanish and German in addition to English, the audio remaining in the language of Shakespeare. And if ever you are photosensitive or color blind, options are provided.
In addition to betting on its puzzles, Escape Academy can count on its rather catchy scenario and quite meta. The prologue thus takes place in a room of an establishment offering a escape room, which really doesn’t look like much and serves as a tutorial replacing the usual instructions. Except that once finished, the owner of the place has disappeared and we are locked alone in the building. The goal is therefore to escape from the complex, with the reward of being invited to join theEscape Academy. In the latter, we will have access to a campus and above all will be able to follow different courses with progressive difficulty accessible via a sign in our dorm. Each of them will be an opportunity to meet teachers with colorful appearances and personalities, challenging us with escape games, to be solved alone or in two-person cooperation (local or online) without affecting the proposed challenge. As the saying goes, two brains are better than one. Unlike a real room, the possibilities are therefore multiplied and can above all give rise to ideas that would otherwise not be applicable, because for example endangering the physical integrity of the participant, such as a level in which the water rises gradually. If you are used to this kind of leisure, perhaps you will find known concepts, the developers having been inspired by rooms that they appreciate and even by the game. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors of the license Zero Escape. Regarding replayability, each lesson will remain the same upon completion, with an emphasis on history, making us collect badges over the levels with an overall mystery as a backdrop. However, a card given at the end of each of them will encourage us to try again to beat our score. The studio is also not ruling out the possibility of adding content later.
During our gaming session, we were first placed in the dean’s office, with the line of sight opening a door by entering her two first names and her surname, requiring digging into his past. Yes, knowing the answers could go very fast, but would skip all the steps, which would probably result in a bad score. As pointed out by the developers, the puzzles are above all in our head, since it is necessary to understand the clues to progress little by little, under the pressure of the stopwatch, although not punitive as already mentioned. We surprised ourselves to take a paper and a pencil to write down a code or certain items to remember that are not in the inventory. Video game obliges, the majority of the elements with which to interact are useful and not there to hinder or mislead us. At worst, we are entitled to a text without consequence and then look elsewhere. Observation of the environment is essential and the solutions are sometimes very down to earth, with the use of tools or objects to be recovered to insert or assemble them elsewhere, even giving access to new areas. The second level had as its theme the hackingplacing us in a room with computers, but without electricity. You guess of course that we had to restore the current to progress, all not without humor and under the watchful eye of our teacher. One passage even required walking on a “dance floor” in a specific order, with the ultimate goal of gaining access to the server room and disabling its firewall. In both cases, the variety was in order and no puzzle was alike, which is promising.
Our first impressions: Good!
We came out of this grip ofEscape Academy with the desire to discover more, its concept and the implementation of its escape rooms quickly becoming addictive. It remains to be seen if the adventure will be able to renew itself over several hours while managing to challenge us. It’s a good start for and we can’t wait to be locked up again in one of the rooms of this strange school.
You can add Escape Academy to your wishlist on Steam.
| Alexandre SAMSON (Omega Law) Responsible Corrector – Editor | ||
| Addicted to Assassin’s Creed and Destiny, great fan of RPGs and passionate about video game experiences in general. Reader of comics (DC) and various manga (One Piece!). Chemist by training and Whovian at heart. | ||
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