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Escape Academyis the name of a beautifully atmospheric game built around the “escape the room” style of puzzle. As the name suggests,each puzzle roomis graded and given a mark at the end based on player progress and the number of hints used, which may prompt players to use a guide rather than receive a low mark.
Getting to the end ofEscape Academy’s puzzle rooms requires a combination of logic problems, memory, color matching, and so forth. But escaping the Introductions rooms with an A+ rank is doable at a quick rate.
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The puzzle rooms begin almost immediately, with a ten-minute time limit to get the adrenaline pumping. Thankfully, this is a lenient time frame for players trying to ace the rooms without any hints, with good use of this guide and some of their deductive reasoning.
How to Escape the First Puzzle Room
From the start, players will need to find their way out of the room with all the cluttered ingredients.
On the right, lit up in pink light, is alocked box that requires a 4-digit code. There’s a note hidden about the room, along with a collection of goblets in boxes.
Collecting the note is a skippable step because all the player needs to do isexamine the clock hanging up on the right. It mentions the clock is broken and assumes the time is12:30, which is the numerical code needed to unlock the padlock.
Inside the locked box is a blue goblet and a piece of paper with a color clue, hinting at the next step.
Once all four goblets have been grabbed from their respective boxes around the room, players must matchthe colors with the letters to spell a word.
The blue, yellow, and red goblets hold the letters F, R, and E, respectively, making the wordFREEwhen combined with the note from earlier. Entering these letters into the nearby safe with letters on the front will open it, revealing akey that can be used to escapethe first puzzle room.
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How to Escape the Second Puzzle Room
Once out of the first room, a larger environment is accessible resembling a reception area. The ten-minute timer will have visibly stopped counting down, but the player is still being timed, so solving those puzzles quickly is still important if so desired.
The first clue is found on a series of T-shirts hanging up nearby; their directional arrows literally point the player to the next step.The TV currently playing static can be manipulated by inspecting the remote positioned between the chairs.
As the shirts reveal,pressing the directional buttons in the order they are numbered on the shirts will reveal a series of letters.
These can be decoded in just a moment, but first players shouldexamine the corkboard behind themandpick up all the business cards.
Each business card has a name on it, which is crucial for solving the room puzzles. An adjoining room has a section mounted on the wall for three containers, plus a cipher that can be used to decode the messages on the TV screen.
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When the letters are matched up, the words “WRO”, “NYYVR”, and “RRY” become “Jeb, Allie, and Eel” respectively. This is the indicator as to which business cards need to be put in the three slots in the next room, and in what order.
Once the cards are put in correctly, the wall mounting will slide up andreveal a key for the toilets. This may not seem like an escape route, but it is the only locked door needing a key in the rooms, so don’t hesitate.
When unlocked,examine the stall marked “out of order” and open it to find a hidden path downstairs.
After this, no further puzzles await before the introduction’s end. Taking the time to inspect the screens and items nearby can yield a few delightful puns, along with some information on the Escapist Times newspaper.
When the player speaks to the headmaster and boards the train towards the titularEscape Academy, the escape sequence is over. Hopefully, a satisfactory result will be awarded to the player, and without having used any in-game hints,more challenging puzzles lie in wait.
Escape Academyis now available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
