🕰️ Mad Experiments: Escape Room | Preview PC | "shaping up to be a great example of the genre" 🕰️ @clemgamedev #GameDev #IndieGames

I’m a big fan of physical Escape Rooms and it seems to be a good fit to the gaming medium, what with it effectively being a series of puzzles.

PlayTogether Studios have seized upon this idea and brought it to life with the resulting game being impressive, challenging and fun.

Having been ‘invited’ to try out some new experiments helmed by Professor Cheshire, this early-access portion of the game takes place in a handful of rooms in a mansion.

With up to five other players, you have one hour to work out the series of fiendish brain-ticklers and escape. Each player is represented by a floating mask which sports different features (a jester, wolf, hawk, etc.) and the area in which you have to work is full of strange objects, hidden notes and the occasional red herring.

I don’t want to give anything away here except to say that the puzzles feel very fair and, most importantly, well-designed. The friend I was playing with (GF regular, Rupert) and I never felt cheated by the puzzles and solving them was a satisfying experience.

We ran out of time during the first run but enjoyed ourselves so much that we went straight back in for another crack and this second run ended with a victory. The visuals are atmospheric with every painting, item and shape seeming like a piece of the larger puzzle.

For minutes we pored over words and hunted for clues, it never felt too obscure or tedious. As is to be expected with early access titles, there were a couple of minor bugs which I’m sure will be ironed out by the full release but none of these were game-breaking.

I did lose connection at one point (due to my internet connection, nothing to do with the game) but I was back into the game in less than a minute and scratching my head in puzzlement once more, glorious. I also champion the soundtrack which calls to mind the score of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, good.

So far, Mad Experiments: Escape Room only features one ‘room’ but there is another free chapter coming in June and I am really, REALLY looking forward to it.

If you are a fan of puzzle games and, even better, if you have a friend or two (or five!) that also enjoy them, Mad Experiments: Escape Room is shaping up to be a great example of the genre.

An awesome way to spend an hour, or more, if you fail…