100 Doors Game – Escape from School is a puzzle game that was first released on the app store. Since then, this game has been ported to digital platforms like Steam. As you can guess from the title the premise of this game is to escape from school.
As much as this game does look quite childlike which fuelled my first impressions of this game. Despite the fact that this game appears to be a very child friendly game. However as much as it does look the part this is not strictly a children’s game.
Firstly this is an escape room style game with a tendency to lean towards to more complex and harsher puzzles. This is especially true at the later stages. However I think many people would struggle with this game. Since, you have to thoroughly search each room for items/keys. On top of this to solve the puzzles provided you do need to think literally and laterally. Another reason I say that it is not a children’s game is that you do have to have a good knowledge of various subjects. Whilst subjects portrayed in each class room are the theme of each room. There are a lot of subjects in game from foreign languages through to chemistry. The game does also become more complex the further you get into the game. Granted you can search for solutions online but that does defeat the purpose of the game.
Also some of the puzzles have no logic to them. One example of this is being one of the library levels. If you use a hint on this level the game will literally instruct you to “Click and shake mouse 3 times to shake the tree.” Firstly there is no tree that is in the library levels. Secondly, how is it possible for the tree to make the library start raining books from the sky? I’m guessing that they did this so they can make money from selling hints. Yet the developers don’t want people looking up the solution online. There is also this quote in the steam description for this game. “Note for YouTubers: Gameplay and walkthrough videos make this game less challenging for our players. Please, refrain from sharing such recordings publicly. ”
Although, this is game is a port of an app store game. Whilst technically on paper this may not seem to be a problem. However, this game is a near enough exact port of the app store version. As a consequence of this there are plenty of issues with the game.
My main issue(s) with the game is with the lack of consideration in the game design. This is evident in some of the puzzles as they require you to shake your mouse. This is because original game had you shake a phone instead (which makes no sense on a pc game). This game doesn’t utilise the functions available on a computer such as a keyboard. I found this out when I was in a room I had figured out the number to a key door. However when I tried typing the number in I had no success. What I had to do in order to complete the puzzle was to click on the numbers individually. The port of this game should have been made compatible with a keyboard as well as the mouse.
Additionally, the game’s banners and flyers have not been updated. The developers have only put a quick image on it with a poorly placed to paste over the original image. Sometimes they will have a few different products on the banner that rotate. But the banner will be blank for a minute before changing the product advertisement (as seen above). I’m guessing on the app store version it would have been a rotated of adverts for various products that they could put over the banner.
But one thing I found to be quite strange about this game is the story (if there is one). The main story is that you are located in a school (alone presumably at the start of the game). However you are, repeatedly locked in the same space. I think that it is a bit odd for the game to have the same classroom multiple times. Since I thought the goal was to escape school rather than re-entering it.
Also in some of the classroom some of the doors have windows. On many occasions you will see another person (possibly a teacher) that is walking in the corridors. Even though, you are supposed to be alone in the school. Although, if the person could see you and knew you were there, then they could have helped you. But, another question is would they have helped in some way to getting you out.
Overall I would generally avoid 100 Doors Game – Escape from School. Since this game isn’t really worth spending your time on. However I can only recommend playing this game on a rainy day.
