Escape Simulator 2 announced with promises of Dracula's castle and an improved escape room editor

There's been an escape boom in recent years

I had a few merry evenings playing Escape Simulator back in 2022. Of the co-op escape room games I've played, it was the best, both in terms of its relatively neutral framing (with little heavyhanded storytelling) and its pretty solid puzzle design. The game was expanded in the time since with a versus mode and several crossover DLC, and now there comes a sequel.

Escape Simulator 2 will explore "darker escape room themes", looks visually more detailed, and comes with a new editor for those who wish to design their own escape rooms.

Why a sequel, when the original was already being so regularly updated? "A sequel gives us a fresh start and lets us push the limits of the genre further," says the Steam page. "We were inspired to explore darker escape room themes and experiment with new gameplay and puzzle ideas. Splitting from the original game let us focus on improving key features like rendering, networking, physics, and animations."

I'm not really sure what "darker" means in the context of solving silly pattern matching puzzles with my pals, but Pine Studio also clarify that although "darker and has a more mysterious vibe, it's not a horror game." It does not feature "any jump scares or gore." Good! That's not what I play these games for. I play them for the feeling of inferiority that comes from having my co-op mates solve all the puzzles faster than I can.

The original Escape Simulator came with a toolkit with which community members made many, many escape rooms of their own. The sequel follows suit, but promises that Room Editor 2.0 will be "more powerful and intuitive", with fewer restrictions when compared the way they make the official rooms.

There's no release date yet, but some of the locations at launch include Dracula's castle, a starship stranded after a collision, and a pirate ship. Until you can escape those you might like to try the original, and it's currently 50% reduced on Steam - and it ain't exactly pricey to begin with.