Use your detective skills to escape the rooms – again!

Can You Escape 2 is the sequel to the popular mystery-solving game, Can You Escape.

Get me out of here

The idea of Can You Escape 2 is the same as the first version of the game. Each level is set in a different room. In each room there are a series of clues that lead you to your escape. You need to find hidden objects which you need to manipulate other objects with, or even combine two objects together (a drill and a drill bit, or a camera and a memory card, for example).

You’ll also need to crack codes using clues from the room to help you, and solve picture puzzles too.

There are just eight levels to complete in Can You Escape 2. They get increasingly tricky, with more clue trails to follow every time. That said, it’s possible to finish them all in an hour or so, and you’ll be left wanting more!

Fun as it is, it’s a shame new gameplay elements haven’t been introduced in Can You Escape 2. It sticks very rigidly to the format of the first game, and thus brings no originality to the crowded genre of escape the room-style games.

Fumbling for clues

The controls in Can You Escape 2 are very straightforward, and simply involve tapping parts of the screen to investigate what’s there or to pick up items. Items you collect are stored in an inventory on the right of the screen, and you can select an object by tapping it, then tap on the item you want to use it with.

The game window doesn’t display at full screen (thanks to a permanent ad banner), meaning that accurate tapping is pretty fiddly on smaller devices.

There are still no gesture-based controls in Can You Escape 2 to add some variety to all of the tapping around. It leaves the game feeling very one dimensional, especially when compared against The Room, where more emphasis is given to puzzles that require you to think about how to manipulate a particular object.

Room with a view

The graphics and presentation of Can Your Escape 2 haven’t been upgraded since the first version. Visuals are neat without being stunning, and the looping guitar soundtrack is exactly the same as the first game. As with the first game, it gets annoying quite quickly!

The verdict

Can You Escape 2 is an enjoyable mystery game that will challenge your powers of deduction. However, fans of the original will be disappointed that it doesn’t break any new ground. In fact it feels more like a new level pack rather than a full-blown new version.