While real-life escape rooms are always going to be the most immersive experience, when it comes to affordability and accessibility, virtual escape games always take the cake. No matter what console, computer, or mobile device, there are a variety of great options for those who are itching for a fun, new "escape the room" adventure.
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One may think that all the games within the genre of the escape room style may be too similar due to their gameplay but the variety the genre has to offer is much more vast than one would think. Many games keep the genre feeling fresh, interesting, and most importantly, challenging.
Updated March 11, 2025, by Hamza Haq: Escape Room games never have been, and probably never will be, a popular genre in the gaming industry. Players who enjoy these types of games are in the minority, and since game dev is as much about making money as it is about making games, anything that doesn’t appeal to the masses is destined to stay on the sidelines. But thanks to the increased availability of tools and avenues for indie developers to shine, even small niche genres like Escape Room games have had an upsurge in recent years. That is not to say that there are no AAA Escape Room games out there, but these tend to be the exception, not the rule. Two new games have been added to the article to give players even more options to browse.
28 Cube Escape: Paradox
Steam Reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive
- Platforms: Android, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Steam
- Release Date: September 20, 2018
- Developer: Rusty Lake
Cube Escape: Paradox chapter one is free to play on Steam and follows the story of detective Dale Vandermeer who finds himself trapped in an unfamiliar environment. There is even a short film based on the game to give players a more cinematic look into Detective Vandermeer's journey.
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The player takes control of the amnesiac detective as he awakens and receives a mysterious phone call that tells him he is in a place that is meant to help its inhabitants "reflect on the past and the future". Detective Vandermeer must explore his surroundings and solve the puzzles around him to uncover his shrouded history and recover his missing memories.
27 The Exit 8
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
- Platforms: Steam
- Release Date: November 29, 2023
- Developer: KOTAKE CREATE
While the entirety of The Exit 8 technically takes place in the same singular hallway, it still manages to operate just like an escape room. The Exit 8 puts players in a seemingly never-ending time loop that only keen observation can end.
The player must make their way from exit one to exit eight to finish the game; the only thing stopping them from this are sneaky anomalies. Each time the player makes their way through one level, they must carefully observe their surroundings. If all is consistent, then the player may proceed to the next floor normally. However, if there is even one single detail that is out of place, the player must head back to the previous floor, otherwise, progress will reset, and the player will be sent back to floor one to start all over again.
26 Palindrome Syndrome: Escape Room
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
- Platforms: PlayStation 5, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft Windows
- Release Date: October 14, 2020
- Developer: mc2games
Palindrome Syndrome begins with a faceless protagonist who suddenly awakens on a futuristic spaceship with no recollection of where they are or how they got there. With little to no clues about the mysterious protagonist, the player is then allowed to roam their surroundings and begin to solve the various puzzles around them to find answers.
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Guided by an unknown and distorted voice over the spaceship's intercom, the player can find diary entries and notes around the ship that not only help them understand how each puzzle works but also slowly uncover the mystery of how the protagonist ended up in the situation they found themselves in.
25 MOTAS (Mystery Of Time And Space)
Google Users Score: 89%
- Platforms: Adobe Flash Player (PC)
- Release Date: November 2001
- Developer: Jan Albartus
Don't be fooled by the simplistic art of MOTAS. Adobe Flash hosted some of the best free-to-play point-and-click puzzle games during its prime. What it lacks in graphics and aesthetic, it makes up for in story and challenging puzzles.
MOTAS begins with the player awakening in an unfamiliar room as they learn they are there as a part of an experiment to access a hidden parallel universe firsthand. However, to access this parallel universe, a person must first erase their memories. While the player character supposedly agreed to the experiment, it seems as if this vague agreement may hold important secrets.
24 Crimson Room Decade
Steam Reviews: Mixed
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS
- Release Date: June 10, 2016
- Developer: Dream Holdings, TAKAGISM Inc.
Crimson Room Decade is based on the original Flash game Crimson Room, continuing the mysterious story that began ten years prior and serves as the classic's long-awaited sequel.
Inspector Jean-Jacques Gordot investigates the ship called "La Crimson" that his grandfather was confined in and later passed away on ninety years ago. Gordot begins to search the wreckage of the ship and finds the "crimson brainwashing room" that his grandfather had been locked in.
However, as he continues his investigation, he begins feeling a sense of uncanny familiarity, as if he had been there before. The player must solve the puzzles on La Crimson's wreckage and solve the mystery of Gordot's family's past.
23 ROOMS: The Toymaker's Mansion
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation 4, Android, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
- Release Date: May 1, 2015
- Developer: HandMade Game
ROOMS follows the story of a legendary toymaker who kept a mysterious secret from the world and eventually secluded himself in his intricate mansion. One day, the toymaker's mansion suddenly disappears without a trace. That is until the unnamed protagonist (a young girl) awakens one night to the toymaker's infamous mansion right in front of her eyes!
ROOMS doesn't follow the typical escape room formula where players must search each room for clues to finally open an exit. Instead, ROOMS is a sliding puzzle game, tasking the player with sliding and rearranging the rooms and interacting with items to navigate the player's character through the ever-changing mansion rooms, trying to get from point A to point B.
22 Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
Zero Time Dilemma
- Released
- June 28, 2016
- Developer(s)
- Spike Chunsoft
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Puzzle, Visual Novel
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a puzzle Escape Room game where players take control of multiple protagonists stuck in a game created by a mysterious person named Zero. To escape, they will have to investigate clues, connect the dots, and do a little bit of puzzle-solving.
For players who are fans of games that test the limits of their cognitive skills, Zero Time Dilemma has much to offer. Every puzzle is more difficult than the last, and the overarching story that connects them all together is surprisingly well-told, with cutscenes, cinematics, and multiple endings.
21 Escape the Backrooms
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
Escape the Backrooms
Escape the Backrooms is an eerie, vertigo-inducing co-op horror game that takes place in an unnamed location that is just a series of empty office-like spaces interconnected with each other with no rhyme or reason or a coherent floor plan. Backroom horror is a fairly new, growing genre popularized by TV Shows like Severance and Escape the Backrooms captures the liminal horror feel of it perfectly.
Monstrous, mysterious entities exist in the Backrooms; their nature unknowable. The goal of the game is to avoid, outwit, or outrun these nightmarish creatures while finding the route through the maze that leads to the exit.
20 Escape Memoirs (Series)
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows
- Release Date: June 16, 2022
- Developer: 0 Deer Soft
Escape Memoirs is a series of Escape Room games, each one with a self-contained story, where players are tasked with finding the way out of whatever room or facility they find themselves in by solving puzzles to earn clues, which lead to more puzzles, creating a cycle that continues until the escape route is finally clear and the player is home free.
All the puzzles are cooperative, meaning these are meant to be played by two players in tandem, working together to find the solution. Each individual game in the Escape Memoirs series is no longer than two to three hours long, depending on how quickly the puzzles are solved. The settings are humorous, the puzzles are engaging, and the hints strike the perfect balance between being helpful enough to guide players and not handing the solution to them on a silver platter. It's a fun brain teaser to play with friends, but not more than that.
19 Ten Bells
Steam Reviews: Very Positive
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS
- Release Date: August 30, 2024
- Developer: Hillfort Games, Acrylic Pixel
Ten Bells is an anomaly horror game in which players have to escape the endless time loop they're stuck in by playing a game of spot-the-difference. The game is set in an English pub with eldritch monsters and beings out of nightmares hidden behind the counter, under the tables, and inside the fireplace. Jump scares are used liberally throughout the title, but the execution is flawless, and it's a surprise every time.
The gameplay loop is simple. Walk into a room and look around. If everything is as it should be, move forward; if there is an anomaly, turn back. If an anomaly is missed and the player continues to the next section without turning back, they are sent back to the start and must repeat. Each run is tense because the anomaly variety is large enough that there is very little one can do to prepare for the jump scare, even if they know it's coming.