One of the more intriguing titles to release this year is CoinCrew Game’s Escape Academy. A title that brilliantly combines a point and click style with an escape room aspect, with the atmosphere of an academia. We had a chance to play it at the Summer Games Fest: Play Days and came away very impressed, and at the same time, very frustrated.

We were partnered with another player, who unfortunately had to carry us through most of the level. Joking aside, we were put into a level dubbed The Thresher, a boiler room with multiple levels. We started out a the bottom, which also gave us a timer to begin. This immediately filled us with a sense of urgency, which was immediately emphasized by water flushing into the room.

Frightened, we began to look around and piece clues together in order to get out, which eventually lead to us being frustrated at not being able to initially figure out the puzzles, something that CoinCrew Games takes pride in. The game has a fair balance of making the player use their brain and enjoyment, especially considering that in the harder parts of the level we could not figure out how to escape and ended up drowning several times.

Escape Academy also has other characters in the title, all of which who act as faculty for the students to triumph at the rooms and excel in their endeavor. After the play session was over, the developers looked on with huge grins on their face, knowing that we could not crack their game if you will. Despite this we had an amazing time playing it, and love that it makes you actually try and decipher the rooms and all of the items involved. It’s an inspiring title, with an even more inspiring team behind it that made it all come alive.

Escape Academy will officially launch on July 14 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/Series S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.