5 Best Escape Room Video Games of All Time, Ranked

Learning how to solve a puzzle to escape a risky situation is a perfect way to add meat to a video game. Acting as fillers to help bridge the narrative, both puzzles and escape room-inspired levels can be the real breath of fresh air between lengthy scripts. But as far as full games that narrow in on the idea go—that's another story, and one that can have many endings depending on a few key factors.

Of course, escape rooms can be brilliant things. That is, providing you're in the right mindset to tackle one. When you're light-years away from your intuition and can't tell your foot from your thumb—that's when you're in trouble. If, however, you're balancing on the former, then there's a few games that you just have to stick with. Well, five, actually.

5. Escape Simulator

Chances are, you've played through at least one simulator in your gaming career. Whether it's playing as a rampaging goat, a sea-deprived goldfish, or a grass-hungry lawnmower—the fact is, developers aren't exactly itching for new ideas. An escape room-style simulator, on the other hand, seems like a relatively normal design, considering the bulk of the genre is built on ludicrous innovations.

Escape Simulator is exactly what it says on the tin: an escape simulator. That said, it's not jam-packed full of gory traps and unnecessary trials and tribulations. In fact, it's more of a beginner-friendly collection of puzzles, and one that most—if not all gamers can enjoy without losing too many hairs off the old scalp and chin. Plus, creators can use the in-game suite to build levels, so it's a win-win for both puzzle-loving gamers and like-minded creators.

4. Saw: The Video Game

Alright, so now we'll just go ahead and skip a few chapters. A few chapters, as in, a few libraries, on completely different continents. Unlike Escape Simulator, Saw: The Video Game takes comfort in your thirst for survival. Combined with a helping of barbaric traps as seen in the cult-like movie series, the video game channels its violent nature into a relatively short but unforgettable escape room experience.

Granted, it's not for the faint-hearted. If anything, it's built for a certain collective; one that enjoys feeling the burning sensation from pressure tipping past boiling point. True to the movies, Saw: The Video Game prides itself on being the gore-heavy and go-to chapter in the book. And so, if that's the sort of thing you're after, then be sure to stop by John Kramer's infamous labyrinth of endless nightmares.

3. I Expect You To Die

Rounding back to the beginner-friendly tier of the escape room-inspired category—I Expect You To Die works as an ideal substitute for the aforementioned Escape Simulator. Coming with a virtual-reality approach, the static simulator puts you in a series of puzzle-heavy situations as a secret agent, all of which you must solve before the hourglass falls flat and has you succumbing to a ridiculously painful death.

On the surface, I Expect You To Die is a clean and quirky simulator that has more than enough accessible features. Dig a little deeper, and its inner layers unravel a number of thought-provoking challenges that half expect you to contemplate every given crossroad. And so, rather fittingly, I Expect You To Die does, in fact, expect you to do just that. The bottom line is: don't let the simple visuals fool you into thinking the obstacles are anything other than complex.

2. Silent Hill 4: The Room

Silent Hill wasn't really known for its smaller stages prior to its fourth chapter coming out. After all, the town itself was basically the crowning jewel of the series. And so, shifting the focus over to a relatively small apartment was a major step in an alternate direction, though one that paid off tremendously well, given the fact that it was one of the creepiest games to date.

Silent Hill 4: The Room follows Henry Townshend, an unlucky soul who finds himself trapped within the four walls of his apartment. With chains on the door and only a single hole in his bathroom leading to distant lands unknown, his only choice is to venture deep within and unravel the secrets on the other side. Silent Hill, or just another thread of monster-infested villages? Only one way to find out.

1. Portal (Series)

It's a known fact that Portal is, or was, one of the most popular games of a generation. Although dipping out of the limelight since its second installment a fair ways back, it still holds a presence in most hearts to this day. And honestly, you don't really need to be a die-hard puzzle-solving whizz-kid to sponge up the fun from either of them, meaning they're built for anyone and everyone.

The idea behind Portal is relatively simple: use a series of gravity-defying tools to escape a series of rooms. Along the way, of course, there's GLaDOS, the sarcastic yet unintentionally helpful bot that ushers you into each trial with nothing but baggage and false hopes of reaching the end. Together, the two go hand-in-hand to deliver one of the most memorable, albeit incredibly stressful video games of all time.

So, what's your take? Do you agree with our top five? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.

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