Coin Crew Games are a group of developers who felt it necessary to take their talents of creating escape rooms and translate that into the world of video games. The result was the 2022 indie game release titled Escape Academy, which launched into Xbox Game Pass.
The game sees the player take on the role of a puzzle solver who gains entry into the Escape Academy. This school is what Hogwarts is to wizards in the world of Harry Potter, but for those talented in solving puzzles. It has several levels with unique designs, themes, and solutions that keep the player engaged for hours.
11 Introduction/Entrance Exam
There's nothing inherently wrong with either the Introduction escape room that gains the player admission to the Escape Academy or the following Entrance Exam. These are simply meant to get the player used to the mechanics of solving an escape room and thus aren't the toughest vaults to crack. They're still enjoyable and provide a true sense of discovery and problem-solving.
When designing these levels they needed to be made in a way that they were difficult enough to challenge players, but also welcoming enough not to deter people from progressing in the game.
10 The Breakout
Among all of the escape rooms in Escape Academy it's hard to find a place that's likely the cause of more rage quits and uninstalls than The Breakout. In addition to having some of the more obtuse puzzles and designs in the entirety of the game, it also happens to have a gimmick where the player also needs to stay in constant communication.
Sure, it was designed with the intention of keeping the player's mind busy and distracted to add to the difficulty, but at the end of the day, it all takes away from an espionage setting that could have truly delivered something special.
9 Under Pressure
Sure a timer does a good job at providing stakes for the player, but when the area is being flooded by water it can also inspire the player to move at a brisker pace. Under Pressure forces the player to play around with both electricity and lighting, while also paying attention to one's surroundings and how things intertwine.
It feels a bit like a marathon as it consists of four separate rooms that all require unique solutions, so going in players need to understand what they signed up for. Some parts can feel a bit obtuse, so it doesn't flow as seamlessly as the water that's slowly filling up the rooms around the player.
8 Escape Artist
Escape Artist can be tricky as it starts relatively obtuse, despite most of it happening in a single room. This one really focuses on perspective and where the player is standing in three-dimensional space, which can be tricky for some.
The premise of the level is also quite delightful as the reward for solving it is the opportunity to tag the wall with a name. An understanding of colors and what happens when they are combined is a bit of knowledge one is expected to have.
7 Trial By Taste
Escape Academy happens to have an escape room that entirely takes place in a kitchen and dining hall. Conceptually the idea is neat, and the revelation that the player is poisoned by people at the school adds stakes to the narrative.
The one issue with this level is that it goes on just a little too long. That being said, solving puzzles by preparing food and setting tables is a neat concept that changes the formula of the game. Players get used to flipping switched and such, so adding in a bit of thematic flair makes Trial By Taste a rather fun experience.
6 Lab Rat
The idea of taking on sentient artificial intelligence is a trope in movies audiences love, and that's no different in the Lab Rat level of Escape Academy. Players are trapped in a room with Quanty the computer and must outsmart the technology by solving puzzles.
This level sticks out for a couple of reasons as it both introduces an adorable pet rat and also happens to have the player navigate files on a computer that are pivotal in escaping. It's these subtle mechanic changes that add to the total package of what Escape Academy provides to those looking to get the rush of completing an escape room without having to leave their house.
5 Tea Kettle
A lot of Escape Academy takes place inside dark and lifeless rooms filled with metal and electricity. Tea Kettle on the other hand is a level that puts nature front and center in its design. The ultimate goal is to make a hot cup of tea and by solving the various puzzles around the garden the player gains access to the various parts of the tea-making process.
It incorporates the use of butterflies and bees, a living dynamic that is rarely seen in the world of escape rooms, but is possible when the experience is translated to the world of video games.
4 Where's The Smoke
Nothing quite simulates a ticking clock quite like a room burning to the ground. That's the backdrop of Where's The Smoke, a level taking place in the library of the Escape Academy. It's a good blend of information and perspective puzzles that task the player with running through the various corridors attached to the library's central hub.
It expertly places hints and clues in a way that feels natural to the world but stands out enough to feel as though they're intentionally out of place. If that sounds like something that wouldn't be easy to pull off it's because that's exactly the case, but Where's The Smoke delivers without question on this front.
3 Tea 'N Tea
Tea 'N Tea is likely the smallest escape room in all of Escape Academia, but its lack of distance traveled doesn't take away from how well it was designed. Everything works together as players navigate a circular courtyard with a tent at its center.
The goal is to disarm a bomb that could go off and cause plenty of destruction. The clues do a great job at pointing players in a general direction without giving away too much, and nothing is quite as exhilarating as successfully disarming a bomb and coming away victorious.
2 The Rival Room
With Escape Academy drawing many parallels to the Harry Potter series, The Rival Room level very much felt like the Triwizard Tournament for students of the Escape Academy. The player competes directly against their classmates in an attempt to finish the course first and prove their competency.
Since the other competitors can be seen in real-time completing objectives, it makes it feel like a legitimate competition and adds to the immersion of it all.
1 What Lies Below
What Lies Below is the final escape room in Escape Academy and manages to provide the player with a challenge that takes into account all of the skills they've learned along the way. It's broken up into different phases that see the player rooms flowing in a circular pattern around a centralized room that is host to the final puzzle.
As the culmination of events, What Lies Below does a good job at setting the stage and making it feel as if the stakes have never been higher. Everything is designed in an understandable way that seamlessly leads from one puzzle to the next, and from room to room.