It feels like it has been forever since I last played Escape Academy. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s made by developer Coin Crew Games, who turned around their pandemic-hurt in-person escape room experiences into a video game so people can continue to figure out tough puzzles…while yelling at each other. Anyway, they did a helluva job replicating the experience and seemed to be successful in their video game venture.
While they could have stopped after their initial release, gone back to in-person escape room experiences, and probably made a boatload of money from them, they chose to continue their video game journey with additional DLC for their initial release. Quite frankly, it was a good move because they make good video game versions of their product.
This time out, Coin Crew Games has made Escape from the Past, which is a prequel to the base game that follows a new headmaster trying not to die while two young star students, Eel and Sandra, hope to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill the headmaster all while traversing new escape rooms.
Let’s all take a deep breath. Relax a bit. And let’s think through this review in a calm and orderly fashion.
More complication but in a good way
Escape from the Past is a fascinating DLC. While it only lasts about two to three hours, it’s filled to the brim with plenty of puzzle-solving action that is clever as it is defiant at times. The game starts with Eel and Sandra competing in a multi-level escape room. As they progress and ultimately finish the room, their poor headmaster finds himself hanging on the edge of a platform for dear life, as acid had eaten away at the legs of the platform. The story unfolds bit by bit, as the mystery of who is trying to murder the headmaster thickens, as does the difficulty of each escape room the students traverse to find more clues about who ‘wanna-done-it’ (probably not right, but I’m keeping it). If you can harken back to a Scooby-Doo episode about any murderous mystery, then you’re on the right track with the DLC’s story. I don’t want to get too much into it, as I want to avoid spoilers, but I will leave you with this – the story is funny as it is dark. The folks at Coin Crew Games did a good job of putting together a fun narrative that feels a bit threatening with its intentions at times and adds to the uncomfortableness that the escape rooms already create.
As for the escape room puzzles, they were quite complicated at times but did make way for the narrative with their intentions. While the narrative certainly pushed the ever-consuming time to its limits, the puzzles were slick with how they connected with each other from location to location. For example, the second puzzle in the group, after the initial escape room competition, was at a diner. Your job was to get into the kitchen, prepare a four-course meal, and have it sent out to the headmaster and crew (what could go wrong, right?). The crux of this stage was opening doors, gathering equipment and ingredients, and preparing the food – with one catch at the end (which I will not share). Each puzzle flowed together remarkably well, though not as difficult as expected when compared to the original game. For example, getting the first door open in the diner stage required a tool. That tool was locked with a symbol/number locking mechanism. Those symbols corresponded with paintings on the wall, which also corresponded with numbers on a certain machine in the vicinity. Getting the symbols right and matching those with the numbers in a certain machine flowed together well, though was easy as pie (that’s a puzzle as well). Once that tool was acquired, it opened the kitchen, and a new set of puzzles awaited that fit the bill with what the narrative was trying to play upon. That’s how the entire game went, and it worked brilliantly, though certainly not as challenging as previous iterations of the game.
Now, the game and story kicks into fifth gear with the final part. When the third act, or big reveal, happens, the normal stride the escape rooms used turns into something comparable to the final dragon fight in Dragon’s Lair. It’s longer and more demanding in what it is looking for from the player, and yet a little bit messier when it comes to execution. Everything you have gathered up to this point with evidence and such suddenly turns into a memorable asset that brings you to this new, lengthier escape room that is far more mechanical than it is methodical. I was thrown off a bit with this final escape room as it seemingly introduced new mechanics to solve the final mystery and satisfy the last part of the story, rather than a true escape room structure. It was odd, a little satisfying with its easiness, but also linear with its direction. All the other escape rooms in this DLC had a purpose and allowed for some flexibility when it came to what you were trying to do. Those escape rooms also were more cerebral and truer to the escape room moniker. This last escape room, was just a little out of bounds when compared to the others. There were a lot of steps and more fact-finding than true escape room puzzle-solving. It certainly helped to conclude the story well, but it was a bit messy in its execution to get there. The conclusion was still satisfying and I felt like I had been put through the wringer a bit, but it was off-track at the end.
Overall, going from point A to B in this DLC was intuitive, which made the game fun and helped the narrative drive it all. The short stints of time it took to accomplish a location was about 30-45 minutes, and sometimes more because I was oblivious to the obvious. I wouldn’t make it in a real escape room. I’m pretty sure people would murder me. Anyway, back to the game, nothing ever seemed out of reach and the game felt driven to complete the storyline rather than to truly baffle escape room junkies. The base game never felt this way, but this time out it was story-driven, which added a layer of urgency on top of the urgency already felt. I enjoyed it more because of the story but was sad when the game ended after 2-3 hours. Maybe that was Coin Crew’s intention, to leave us wanting more. I can dig those intentions.
Anyway, I think the game needed a bit more difficulty and less dependency on the story, even though the story was entertaining and engaging. I will never complain about a story-driven game, but at the same time, I want a bit more escape in my escape room than what this DLC delivered.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap this sucker up and open the door to a conclusion.
Conclusion
Escape Academy – Escape from the Past from Coin Crew Games does a good job of creating a decent prequel narrative while incorporating a healthy dose of escape room drama. While the balance between story and gameplay seems more story-slanted, the DLC still does a commendable job of delivering a fun, yet short escape room experience.
