You know the kind of chaos that comes with escape rooms. One person insists they’ve solved the puzzle, somebody else is carrying around six random objects just in case, and eventually the entire group ends up yelling about a key hidden inside a plant pot. Escape Simulator understands that energy perfectly – and now it’s finally arrived on Xbox and Game Pass.
Previously on Steam and now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC with full Play Anywhere support, Escape Simulator is available for £15.99, while also dropping straight into Game Pass for Ultimate, Premium and PC subscribers.
At A Glance
- Game: Escape Simulator
- Developer: Pine Studio
- Publisher: Pine Studio
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
- Features: Play Anywhere, Online Co-op, Game Pass
- Price: £15.99 or included with Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass
- Genre: Puzzle / Escape Room / Co-op
Escape Rooms Without Leaving The Sofa
As you would expect to hear, Escape Simulator takes the idea of real-world escape rooms and turns them into a fully interactive experience. We’re hoping it plays something like the brilliant Escape Academy.
And unlike some puzzle games that barely let you touch anything, this one actively encourages you to poke around, move furniture, smash objects, open drawers and generally make a mess of the place while hunting for clues.
The game launches with 28 official rooms, spread across themed packs that range from Egyptian tombs and drifting spacecraft to creepy mansions and suspicious corporations. There’s even a bunch of extra crossover-inspired rooms too, including Portal-flavoured science labs, an Among Us spaceship, pirate adventures and festive workshops.
Basically, if you’ve ever wanted to panic while trying to solve puzzles with friends in increasingly ridiculous locations, Escape Simulator has you covered.
Co-Op Feels Like The Real Star
You can absolutely play solo, but this is one of those games built for multiplayer nonsense.
Online co-op lets players work through rooms together, sharing clues, shouting theories and inevitably overcomplicating solutions that turn out to be painfully obvious afterwards. Pine Studio recommends up to three players for the built-in rooms, although community-created content supports even larger groups.
And yes, there are loads of community rooms. More than 4000 player-made escape rooms are already available thanks to the included room editor, giving Escape Simulator the kind of longevity puzzle fans will probably lose entire weekends to. With the game previously on Steam, content seems rich.
A Perfect Game Pass Fit
This also feels like a very smart Game Pass addition.
Escape Simulator is exactly the sort of game people download just to try for twenty minutes before suddenly realising it’s 1am and they’ve spent four hours arguing over combination locks with friends. The fact it supports Play Anywhere is a bonus too, letting Xbox and PC players bounce between platforms without losing progress.
Consider how Escape rooms have exploded in popularity over the last decade, and Escape Simulator seems to capture the fun of them surprisingly well – minus the awkward small talk with staff afterwards. Whether you’re tackling rooms solo, dragging friends into increasingly chaotic co-op sessions, or diving into the huge pile of community content, there’s a lot here for puzzle fans to get stuck into.
Just don’t blame us when someone insists the answer was obvious after spending forty minutes stuck in the same room.
Find Escape Simulator on the Xbox Store. And stay tuned for our full review soon.
