Escape from School is a free-to-play puzzle game, originally launched on the App Store and later ported to platforms such as Steam. As the title suggests, your goal is to escape from school by solving puzzles.
Though the game looks child-friendly, it’s more challenging than expected. The puzzles quickly grow complex. Players must thoroughly search each room and use both literal and lateral thinking. Many puzzles require knowledge of subjects like languages and chemistry. Difficulty ramps up as you progress. Solutions are available online, but using them removes any real challenge.
The game features multiple puzzle types. The first are logic/building puzzles, such as constructing a guitar. The second requires lateral thinking, like figuring out how to open a door. I especially enjoyed one where alphabet clues on a board pointed to a hint for a code needed to unlock a door.
Some puzzles require subject knowledge. For example, in a history classroom, you are asked to open a safe by entering the order of the revolutions in order. Even with a hint, this puzzle is trial-and-error unless you already know the answer or look it up online.
Some puzzles are nonsensical. On a library level, a hint tells you to ‘shake the mouse three times to shake the tree,’ but there’s no tree in the room. It’s confusing and makes the library rain books. It feels like developers made puzzles awkward to sell hints, which detracts from the gameplay.
The developers don’t want people looking up solutions online, as stated in the Steam description: “Note for YouTubers: Gameplay and walkthrough videos make this game less challenging for our players. Please, refrain from sharing such recordings publicly.” It’s unusual to ask YouTubers not to show gameplay, especially since such footage provides free advertising.
Mini-games also appear in-game. Some, like paint-by-numbers, are simple, while others, like noughts and crosses, are tougher. I enjoyed the mini-games as a break from puzzles.
This is a nearly identical port of an app store game. Problems arise because it wasn’t properly adapted for computers.
My main issue is the lack of design consideration, especially in puzzles that require mouse shaking rather than keyboard input. I discovered a lack of keyboard support when trying to type a door number. While mouse controls work, ports need to support both keyboard and mouse for a better experience.
The game’s banners and flyers are outdated. Developers just added a quick overlay instead of updating banners. Sometimes multiple products rotate, but occasionally the banner is blank before changing. I think the App Store version rotated the banner ads.
The story to this game is odd. The premise of the story is that you’re locked in a school and trying to escape from various rooms. But you end up back in the same rooms you escaped from.  Another thing that is strange in this game is that some doors have windows showing people in the corridors, but there is no interaction available with them. This also makes no sense, as the individuals could open the door or help you escape. The potential interaction is a lost opportunity for an additional game mechanic.
Ultimately, I recommend skipping 100 Doors Game – Escape from School. Only consider it on a rainy day, when no other puzzle games are available. The phone-based puzzles and poor port make it hard to recommend; the game fails to deliver a memorable puzzle experience.
Resources For This Game
If you still want to play this game yourself, you can find it here.
Steam Community Page For 100 Doors Game – Escape from School
If you still want to play this game yourself, you can find it here.
Steam Community Page For 100 Doors Game – Escape from School
