Story-driven, challenging and fully immersive, there are many parallels between video games and escape rooms. They both allow you to step into a different world. Some are chocker full of mystery, riddles and time-hopping narratives. Others are a simple search and find.
While all the barriers are removed in a physical escape room, there are plenty of video games that capture what we all love about the phenomenon.
Here are 8 escape room style video games you need to play:
The Room VR: A Dark Matter
The only way to win The Room: A Dark Matter is to solve a series of puzzle boxes before you can advance to the next stage of the game. As far as gaming goes, this is about as close as you’ll get to the complexity of a real-life escape room from the comfort of your own home.
One of the biggest satisfaction points comes from how each puzzle gets more complex and challenging the further you advance in the game. Go for the VR version, and you’ll feel like you’re in the room itself!
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda takes you on a fantastical rescue mission through the land of Hyrule. At the heart of the story is Link. He is an elf-like boy, who is set on a quest to collect eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom to rescue Princess Zelda from the clutches of Ganon.
Throughout gameplay, you navigate through the overworld and dungeons. You collect various weapons along the way, defeat enemies and uncover secrets as the plot unfolds.
Just like an escape room, you will encounter objects along the way to help you solve puzzles and find clues before you can proceed. Some objects won’t work until you’ve found another one that interacts with them. Sounds familiar, no?
Portal
No escape room-style video games list is complete without the extraordinary and often hilarious Portal franchise. At its centre, you create portals so that you can jump between rooms. Here you solve numerous puzzles to reach the end of each level.
With its simple mechanics and GlaDOS, your sarcastic, dry-witted, occasional villainous AI support system voicing her commentary throughout gameplay! – you’ve got yourself a satisfying game bursting with logic-based puzzles to solve and more.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
While this isn’t the latest from the franchise, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard returns to the iconic game’s survival horror roots, and it holds nothing back.
Set in a derelict plantation house, you play the protagonist Ethan Winters. Ethan desperately tries to find his missing wife before they both become infected. But nothing is ever simple in Resident Evil. Along your journey to find her, you have to find a series of videotapes scattered across the game. These give you essential clues and crucial information about the plot.
From solving puzzles to fighting enemies, you (through Ethan) have to power through the final chapter before time is up and the infection spreads.
Want to take your gameplay to the next level? Play the VR version to get fully immersed in the world of Biohazard!
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
Like something straight from a Hollywood thriller, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games takes two sets of 9 unwilling participants and transports them to an unfamiliar location. The first set is trapped on a sinking boat, the other in a facility.
With 9 hours on the clock, the participants are forced to either trust or betray each other to make their escape. Rule-breaking is a big no.
Just like an escape room, you are trapped in a scenario where you have to explore your surroundings and solve clues to make your escape. The biggest difference? The characters in this game will desperately fight to survive in this deadly game of life or death!
Tomb Raider series
Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft is as iconic as they come. While the game focuses on the protagonist’s adventures around the world, through Lara, you will unearth artefacts while infiltrating dangerous tombs and hazardous ruins.
During gameplay, you will encounter enemies and solve mechanical and environmental puzzles while exploring different environments. From cracking codes and solving mysteries to revealing hidden chambers, it’s all there.
Whether you play the game’s original release through to the more recent Tomb Raider Reloaded, you’re about to embark on an action-packed adventure like no other, all from the comfort of your own home.
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition
Arguably the granddaddy of all other escape room-like video games, Myst features a wide range of puzzles that see you, the player, using various objects to get to each subsequent room.
Yes, this game is much older than the others on this list, with its original release in 1993. But the hype is real. Myst continues to capture the hearts and minds of players and has earned cult status over the years. With multiple re-releases over the decades, including realMyst: Masterpiece Edition, there’s plenty to keep you hooked in this adventure game.
The Witness
With its island-like setting and first-person perspective, you get placed in the heart of the action in Jonathan Blow’s The Witness.
You start in a bunker and progress through each stage after you’ve solved a series of puzzles. As the difficulty increases, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you adapt to all the changes and challenges you are presented with along the way.
One of the best takeaways from playing The Witness is that while you’re in-game, you’ll begin to realise things you didn’t the first time. New discoveries keep you hooked, and the payoff is worth all your time and effort to boot!
It’s incredible how often video games and escape rooms collide. Whether you’re racing against the clock to rescue a player or solve a mystery, it’s all there at your fingertips. While video games will never give you the complete, fully immersive experience of an escape room. But they are the perfect way to get your gaming fix!