NEScape! (2019/2023) [NES/Switch] review

“All I want is a room somewhere…”

-Liza Doolittle, My Fair Lady

I went into NEScape! (pronounced “N-E-escape”) with no expectations. That isn’t to say that I went in with low expectations; I literally had no idea that the game existed before I volunteered to review it. The idea of an 8-bit escape room intrigued me, and I was ready to embark on whatever adventure developer KHAN Games had in store for me. In the past, my few attempts to complete escape rooms as part of a friend group have been difficult, to say the least. Without getting into too much detail, I’m not the world’s most cooperative teammate. With no one to sabotage but myself, however, I was free to focus solely on the puzzles before me. Having finally escaped after a couple of failed attempts, I think it’s safe to say that NEScape! is the ideal escape room for people like me.

KHAN Games launched a Kickstarter for this project in 2019, and the game was released as an NES cartridge. In January of 2023, it was also published by 8-Bit Legit for Xbox and Switch (which was how I played it; thanks to 8-Bit Legit for providing the code). NEScape! was created by a small team led by programmer Kevin Hanley, who designed the scenario and puzzles alongside consultant Kyndal Howard. There aren’t many NES games like this, and I’m pleased to say that Hanley was largely successful in his quest to bring a full-fledged escape room to the venerable console.

This room could use a chair.

NEScape! opens with an optional puzzle in the form of its title screen. It won’t stump anyone, but it’s a nice touch that demonstrates a commitment to the game’s puzzle theme while acclimating the player to the use of the cursor. There is no attract mode, no text scroll to set up the story, and no opening cutscene to justify your character’s motivations. All you get is a black screen with white text reading, “Where am I? It’s too dark…” Just like that, you find yourself in a pitch-black room with an occasional flicker. This flicker is a developer kindness: it’s the light switch, and there’s no diegetic reason for it to flicker, but I probably wouldn’t have found it otherwise.

Upon activating the light switch, you find yourself in a room that might best be described as “improbable.” Before you is a locked door, flanked by a vanity to its right and a coat rack and marble maze to its left. By moving your cursor to the sides of the screen, you can face another direction. There are four sides to the room, each with its own furnishings. One has a bookshelf and a grandfather clock, another has a payphone and a desk, while another has a small piano. There are no chairs, stools, sofas, or benches; your comfort is not a concern, I suppose. Each wall features a different color of wallpaper, suggesting the room might have been designed, furnished, and decorated by different people who could not agree on a unified theme or function and refused to compromise. While I wouldn’t want to live or work in such a space, it works for the purposes of this escape room.

This piano is meant to be played a la Schroeder.

Your primary manner of interacting with this room is your contextual cursor, which takes the form of an eyeball that looks in the direction you move it. As you move over items that may be examined more closely, it becomes a magnifying glass. If you hover over an interactive object, it becomes a hand with an outstretched index finger. I have one qualm with the cursor: its speed. I found myself wishing I could move it faster, though I understand the decision to make it slow; it could easily become fiddly and difficult to position if it moved too fast.

You can pick up certain objects and add them to your inventory, visible at the bottom of the screen. Most background elements and inventory items have only one or two specific uses, and once the extent of their usefulness has been reached, many will become non-interactive (or disappear, in the case of inventory items). This is not true of all items and puzzles, but it still serves to limit distractions from identifying and solving the remaining puzzles.

The puzzles themselves are presented without comment, instruction, or signposting. This did not detract from my enjoyment in the least; in fact, I found the lack of text to be one of the game’s strongest features. I rarely wondered what a puzzle was asking me to do, and observation is both demanded and rewarded. The linear nature of its design means that every step you take brings you closer to your goal. There is a one-hour timer that constantly ticks down, and once it reaches zero, you are unceremoniously returned to the title screen. Upon your next attempt, you will likely speed through the puzzles you already solved and reach your previous failure point with considerably more time left on the clock. There is an undeniable sensation of empowerment as you breeze past previously vexing puzzles, though I must confess that I found a certain sliding tile puzzle near the beginning tedious upon repeat visits.

I’m happy to report that whoever maintains this room keeps their piano tuned.

Certain events trigger changes in the room. Without giving anything away, these were always welcome and intriguing. Though NEScape! is a puzzle game without any overt interpersonal contact, I perceived an implicit story behind the events that added an evocative degree of tension and mystery. When some things happened, I couldn’t help but wonder what unseen forces might have caused them. I’m sure the actual answer is that these things had to be the way they were in order to advance the game within the constraints of NES technology, but I find such unexplained mysteries to be a compelling plot device nonetheless.

From a presentational standpoint, NEScape! shines. Zoomed out, the graphical design avoids clutter and draws the eye to important objects in the room, but the art is detailed when investigating something up close. Technical limitations occasionally obfuscate the artist’s intent, but these instances are rare. The music, with its drones and arpeggios, effectively enhances the atmosphere and works well to intensify the situation. Depending on how long it takes you to advance the state of the room, individual tunes might begin to overstay their welcome; I found myself ready for new music before I had completed the puzzles required to hear it. In instances in which audio cues are required to progress, the background music disappears to allow them to come through as clearly as possible. In the case of a few digitized words, however, that turns out not to be very clear at all. I understand that the audio design is constrained by the boundaries of the NES, but I found deciphering spoken words in order to solve a puzzle to be frustrating.

A payphone and a typewriter? Have I been trapped in the house from Funny Farm?

During my time with the NEScape!, I could never shake the feeling that I was playing in a space lovingly crafted by a designer who was eager for people to play in it. I never felt that I was being lectured by a condescending creator or coddled by someone who doubted I could solve a puzzle. There isn’t much in the way of replay value, as the solutions to the puzzles are largely the same on each attempt, but for $5, you get more than your money’s worth. Escape rooms aren’t for everyone, and if you don’t like them, you probably won’t like NEScape!. It’s undeniable that this type of game works better on other systems; it’s also undeniably cool that this type of game can exist on the NES. If you enjoy puzzles and 8-bit gaming, and are willing to put up with NES cursor controls, this is a room worth visiting.