We tried Escape Academy, awesome escape room

During the two days spent in the palace Summer Game Festival in Los Angeles, we had initially overlooked Escape Academy, which attracted big names like Street Fighter 6 and Sonic Frontiers. And what a mistake that would be, because the game developed by the team Coin Crew Games It turned out to be not only one of the most surprising experiences of the American event, but also one of the most interesting co-op games to come this summer.

Coin Crew Games, co-created in 2018 by Wyatt Bushnell, son of Atari’s well-known founder, has previously been involved in the creation of escape rooms, amusement park attractions, and other arcade experiences. Then there was Covid, people spent more time at home, and the Californian company decided to develop a video game in the same style. This is how this multiplayer puzzle game was born, which, unlike other similar games, perfectly replicates the typical cooperative experience. escape room in flesh and blood.

we have I tried Escape Academy for you, here are our impressions.

the art of escape

As the name suggests, Escape Academy takes place in a school full of traps, secrets, puzzles and traps where students learn the art of escape. In short, imagine a Hogwarts for experienced Houdinis. The playable demo at Summer Game Fest presented just one of the many challenges in school, but even if it’s possible to face the entire game alone, it’s clear that everything is designed to share the experience with another person, online or not. shoulder to shoulder on the same screen.

We played with a complete stranger, but when the room we were in started to flood, any distrust or embarrassment vanished in an instant. The time available was short, and so, as in the best escape rooms, we immediately began to divide up the tasks: we on one side of the room, and he on the other, looking for clues, collecting objects and communicating all the details of our experience. note down. “I found a screwdriver and scissors”; “Here is a message with symbols and padlock”; “What symbols are these? Ah! I found a key, I’ll bring it to you!” It’s a constant communication, a constant exchange of words that are very familiar to those who love real escape rooms.

Some puzzles involved finding a tool to open a grid, behind which part of a combination used to access the safe was hidden. You may be working together to find and crack a code, experiment with light and electricity, or solve mathematical and visual puzzles, but many puzzles areinteraction Between two players, you always feel like you’re contributing, even if it’s the other person who eventually finds the solution.

The avatars of the two players can be seen inside the room, and you can always check out what the other person is doing, increasing the sense of presence and cooperation. Unfortunately Escape Academy won’t have localization of Italian texts, at least at launch, but truth be told, none of the puzzles we solved required a very good knowledge of English: let’s be clear, that doesn’t mean later. In the game we will not have to deal with English riddles and word games, but the hope is that they will always remain easily understandable.

The developers say that certain challenges will even require you to take notes. paper and pen. Not that it helped us: after a crazy quarter of an hour, my makeshift partner and I were able to solve the last of the puzzles and escape the flooded room and finish the game in record time, earning an “A+” rating. .