Escape Academy certainly has its ups and downs when it comes to puzzles. Some (few) puzzles were simply "illogical," while others felt just a bit too difficult to complete within the given time frame. However, most puzzles are diverse and creatively designed—many require a solid level of lateral thinking.

Personally, I found the timer for solving puzzles too restrictive, unnecessarily increasing the pressure. As soon as you spend more than five minutes stuck on a puzzle, you're practically forced to use a hint to solve it within the timeframe. Since we chose not to use the often meaningless hints, we hardly managed to complete any puzzle within the allotted time.

A definite plus is the localization of the word puzzles (we played in German). This allowed us to fully focus on solving the puzzles without having to translate them first.


The integration of the cooperative mode is very well executed. Here are some features at a glance:

• Items can be exchanged between players.
  
• Switch to split-screen at any time to tackle puzzles together.
  
• Readable objects can be pinned so your partner can view them in split-screen.
  
• Puzzles can be solved simultaneously, eliminating the need for backseat gaming.
  
• Cooperation & communication are essential for success but aren't as complicated as in the "We Were Here" series.

The Achilles' heel is the storyline of the Escape Academy. It is so bluntly and uninspiredly presented that it would have been better omitted altogether. It adds no value and serves merely as a superficial framing device for the puzzles.

The characters are interchangeable and lack depth. Even children's TV series offer more profound character development. Additionally, there is no voice acting—just grunts, sighs, and laughs from the characters while subtitles rush through the screen.

Of course, puzzle games aren't typically played for their storyline, but if a form of lore is provided, it should receive a bit more attention.


We also played the expansions "Escape from Anti-Escape Island" and "Escape from the Past". Both were enjoyable and brought new puzzles to the game. The length was appropriate; overall, we spent around 15 hours with the game. This is quite a solid playtime compared to other titles such as "It Takes Two," "A Way Out," and the "We Were Here" games.

We didn't enjoy the 1v1 challenges, as we don't like solving puzzles competitively against each other. After all, that's why we chose a co-op game.


Overall, you'll have plenty of fun solving puzzles, occasionally feel frustrated, and sometimes annoyed by the poor storyline. Nevertheless, the game is definitely entertaining and worth recommending.

Not much to say. A charming game, that you can play with a friend. I had a lot of fun.