Escape Simulator 2 review: rubbing your brain cells to make fire

Escape Simulator 2 really drops you in it. You enter its world either solo or with friends, and you’re immediately presented with an array of digital escape rooms to tackle, without much context, or any clues. It’s just you, a seemingly empty stage, and your wits. But with a wonderfully logical flow to each stage and puzzle, the emptiness becomes a welcome sandbox for exploration.

There are three overarching themes to the escape rooms of Escape Simulator 2 – you’re escaping Dracula’s castle, a space station, and a world of pirates. Each part of your journey is segmented into unique rooms, and without a narrative to guide you, you’re essentially left to your own devices.

Entering the forecourt of Dracula’s castle, I found myself dumbstruck, at first. Here was an empty courtyard, with an open carriage, strangely flickering lanterns, and notes pertaining to strange circumstances. I stared ahead. I looked left and right. In the corner of my screen, a countdown timer flicked down slowly, marking the swift passage of time. Escaping. I needed to escape. Of course.

Escaping from Castle Dracula

What immediately followed was the scramble of a headless chicken. I walked to my right, and found a wall of strange symbols and Roman numerals. I discovered a strange puzzle box that shared similar patterns. Logically, I assumed a link between the two – and so I set about pressing buttons, flicking dials. Brute force didn’t work, so I forced myself to slow down.

This isn’t a game where you can force your way through, no matter how hard you try. In fact, slowing down is key, because only with the full picture do you understand each scene, and the core mystery to unravel.

With more patience (and turning off the visible timer), I found myself asking reasonable questions. How do the symbols relate? Why does selecting a certain symbol push out a brick, with a certain Roman numeral on it? Eventually, the logic washed over me, and I solved my first clue. The puzzle box opened, and the world of Escape Simulator 2 opened up.

What was most novel about my next forays was the variety of puzzles presented. Some are about exploration and virtual clue-finding. Opening handles and latches, and peering into boxes to see what’s inside, or even using a nearby shovel to dig into the ground at a certain point. There are puzzles relating to code-cracking, and others about observation.

You discover certain symbols in the rigging of a pirate ship, and must figure out how they relate to certain codes and shapes on a nearby treasure chest. You see a banquet feast laid out, and must discover what secrets lie between apples and loaves of bread.

Lost and alone in Escape Simulator 2

There are times when Escape Simulator 2 is somewhat obtuse, and solutions don’t readily present. As a solo player, it’s a fair challenge – particularly when you’ve seemingly tried everything, and you’re not getting any further with experimentation. There is a clue system, but it’s surprisingly scant, and it doesn’t always point you clearly in the direction you need to go.

That’s where a little help from friends comes in. As with its predecessor – which was quite a different game, aesthetically – this puzzler can be played with friends. You can all enter the individual escape rooms together, and work towards a solution by bouncing ideas and assumptions.

As a solo player, that collaboration wasn’t possible, so there were moments when I felt distinctly lost and alone. With the game’s overarching design feeling very well-geared towards group play, that’s a failure of my own making, in the review process. It’s only worth noting as some puzzles which I felt were too hard and escaped me entirely, could be solved with input from friends – which the game certainly encourages.

Still, being alone did give me the ultimate satisfaction of completing so many complex puzzles without human aid. Perhaps my proudest moment was cracking the treasure chest code in the pirate ship stage, where all I had to go on was four words, each with arrows pointing in a different direction, and a piece of code paper that seemed to be related.

Cracking the code

Escape Simulator 2 inspires a euphoria when you finally get it right, and an even greater feeling of accomplishment when you solve a puzzle using only your brain matter. Getting the achievement pop-ups when a code is finally correct is like getting a gold sticker for your thoughts. It makes you realise you’ve got a brain, and it works. It’s like rubbing your brain cells together to make fire.

While I do miss the more stylish, less-realistic aesthetic of the original Escape Simulator – it had a bit more personality – the puzzles and logic flow are incredibly strong here, so that each solution feels well-earned.

If you’re somebody with a knack for code-cracking, whether solo or in a team, Escape Simulator 2 is a wonderful translation of real-world escape rooms, with strong themes pairing with tightly-designed puzzles for an experience that’s well worth tackling. Keep your head on straight, and your brain waves humming, and electrifying mysteries await.

_{A PC code for Escape Simulator 2 was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.}

Discover more screen, games & arts news and reviews on ScreenHub and ArtsHub. Sign up for our free ArtsHub and ScreenHub newsletters.