Play with Me: Escape room
- January 1, 2018
- Airem
- 3h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Play with Me: Escape Room" is a horror-themed puzzle game inspired by the Saw movie. As an investigative journalist, Robert Hawk, you must solve creative puzzles, some of which require interaction with the PC screen, to uncover the mystery behind your disappearance and the sinister "Illusion" serial killer. The game encourages innovative thinking and adds a unique twist to the escape room genre.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game features interesting puzzles that can be both fun and challenging, providing a good mix of easy and difficult tasks.
- The atmosphere and sound design are well-executed, contributing to a creepy and engaging experience.
- The game has multiple endings, which adds replay value and encourages exploration of different choices.
- There are numerous game-breaking bugs that hinder progress, including issues with keypads and menu navigation.
- The user interface is clunky and could be significantly improved, making it frustrating to find and use items.
- The story lacks coherence and depth, with many players finding it boring and predictable.
- story46 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The story has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it boring, predictable, and confusing, while others appreciated its atmosphere and storytelling elements. Many noted that the repetitive puzzles detracted from the overall experience, and the voice acting was often criticized as annoying. Despite its flaws, a few players found the narrative engaging, likening it to horror franchises like "Saw," but overall, the execution left much to be desired.
“Very good storytelling, excellent jump scares, and the sound design is an absolute masterpiece.”
“Although the puzzles repeat themselves to the end of the game, the atmosphere and story are very good.”
“Tensed up environment, very close to a real escape room (in terms of story).”
“Incredibly boring with a nonsensical story and a lame twist at the end.”
“The story absolutely confuses me; when you play through all the endings, I cannot make any sense of which one is real.”
“The voice acting is terrible and annoying—so much that I can't maintain interest in the story.”
- graphics30 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing the simplistic 2D art assets and lack of substantial visual quality improvements, leading to a lackluster presentation reminiscent of older games. While some appreciate the thought put into the artwork and find the visuals suitable for the genre, others report significant graphical glitches and difficulty in readability, detracting from the overall experience. Overall, the game's graphics seem to be a point of contention, with some praising unique environments while others lament the outdated and poorly executed visuals.
“Nice artwork & clearly a lot of thought gone into it.”
“Visuals 9/10.”
“There is not a point in the entire game in which the visuals are not strong, and create unique environments for the player to go through.”
“While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
“While the artwork itself might be considered passable, the visual presentation here is negligible; it might as well be a slideshow or a YouTube video.”
“Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Asteroids had more advanced animation and visuals going on than this game does.”
- gameplay28 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with users noting a lack of explanation for mechanics, poor hitboxes, and incoherent gameplay logic. While the puzzle-solving aspect and horror narrative are engaging, the repetitive nature of the mechanics and the simplistic 2D interface detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, some players appreciate the interesting mechanics and the presence of easter eggs, suggesting that with further refinement, the gameplay could improve significantly.
“Gameplay consists of solving puzzles by clicking around on various screen hotspots while a macabre horror/thriller message is revealed through the plot of the game.”
“It's surprising what you can find in this game, and there are lots of easter eggs integrated into the gameplay.”
“There are some very interesting mechanics in the game that I liked.”
“Lack of explanation of mechanics.”
“Terrible hitboxes, incoherent and contradicting mechanics.”
“For gameplay purposes, because the user interface for this game is mostly just 2D static images, it might as well be a browser game.”
- atmosphere24 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating the chilling and immersive elements created by the music and sound design, which enhance the horror experience. However, some found the abundance of dark areas frustrating rather than atmospheric, and noted inconsistencies in voice acting that detracted from the intended mood. Overall, while the atmosphere is praised for its potential and effectiveness in certain levels, it is marred by execution issues that prevent it from being consistently engaging.
“This started out as a nice puzzle adventure with a horror atmosphere.”
“The atmosphere and audio are well done.”
“There is such a chilling and horrific atmosphere built into the music and noises; it makes you on edge, but don't let that distract you.”
“The tone of the female voice actress and the phone guy voices do not convey the proper atmosphere or feeling.”
“The story is rated 7.5/10, horror 3.5/10; it was not very scary itself, but the atmosphere made it feel that way.”
“There is such a chilling and horrific atmosphere built into the music and noises that it keeps you on edge.”
- music14 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for its ability to create a relaxing atmosphere as well as a chilling, horror-filled ambiance, particularly during boss fights. However, some players experienced glitches where music from previous rooms continued to play, detracting from the overall experience. While the soundtrack effectively enhances the game's tension, it has been criticized for relying too heavily on jump scares and random cues.
“I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
“Very good background music and soundtrack.”
“There is such a chilling and horrific atmosphere built into the music and noises that it keeps you on edge, but don't let that distract you.”
“The horror element of this game felt very cheap, relying solely on jump scares and creepy, yet random, music cues.”
“There is such a chilling and horrific atmosphere built into the music and noises that it makes you on edge, but don't let that distract you.”
“About glitches, I've seen some; for example, I restarted the room once and the song from the previous room remained and was playing at the same time as the song in the room I was in, so I had to restart the game.”
- stability10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is reported to have significant stability issues, with users encountering various glitches that disrupt gameplay, such as audio overlap and difficulties with item manipulation. Many players have found these bugs frustrating, often requiring restarts to resolve issues. Overall, the game's stability is considered problematic, impacting the overall experience.
“The game is a bit buggy; I had difficulty zooming and rotating items I picked up.”
“About glitches, I've seen some. For example, I restarted the room once and the song from the previous room remained and was playing at the same time as the song in the room I was in, so I had to restart the game. Another glitch is when I press 'Esc' at the computer, I have to press it multiple times to exit.”
“I think it's some kind of buggy...”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted through its amusing mini-games and clever puzzles, particularly those involving navigation on computers, which many players found entertaining.
“I thought some of the puzzles were funny; I especially enjoyed the ones on how to navigate through the computers.”
“Funny mini games on PCs.”
