Real-world escape rooms are hard. They require keen perception and a mind geared toward solving riddles and puzzles. They also have helpful staff ready to give you hints if you get stuck or unknowingly discard a valuable clue. Another Door: Escape Room refuses to hold your hand at all.
Another Door is a VR escape room game that offers both horror and action experiences from which to escape. During my Gamescom preview, I wanted to try the pharaoh adventure as I'm half Egyptian, but the demo only involved a doll-inspired horror room. I’m a fan of Korean horror, so being scared out of my wits sounds exciting. The scares are a mix of tense, atmospheric details like the mannequins, and more goofy jumpscares like a jack-in-the-box.
Like a real escape room, you're locked in with nothing but your brain to figure out these puzzles. The game is co-op, so you can jump in with friends, but this demo is single-player only. You can walk around or teleport, switching between movement methods for whatever best fits the situation. Whichever option you choose, you will have to do more than just point and click to get out.
These puzzles are tricky. Each experience gives you an hour to escape, and you’ll need that time. Getting through the first part of the doll house horror level requires finding several missing puppet parts and searching a room filled with eerie mannequins. There’s a locked drawer and hidden compartments that only open when you figure out which specific items need placing in a certain way. Good puzzle variety keeps everything fresh, and I never feel like I'm repeating the same thoughts or movements. Some puzzles were visual, others made me think, and all the while, the environment does its best to keep the hairs on the back of my neck tingling.
I love horror, but I’m still scared by it. Forcing me to crawl around the mannequins looking for clues, always worried one would move or startle me, is deliciously cruel. This game will make you jump out of your skin if someone tries to get your attention outside the headset.
What makes Another Door feel like a real escape room is that you can drop an important object. There’s no inventory or help system; you must grab and use each item you find as you see fit. Once, I dropped a key behind a desk, so I had to kneel and shuffle forward to pick it up. I’m sure it gave the developers a laugh, watching me struggle on the ground, and it helped sell the experience's authenticity.
It also means Another Door is very difficult. Whenever I find something that seems important, I have to put it down somewhere I could easily reach it. That's simple in theory, but when you don’t know what’s important yet, it’s plausible that you’ll forget or misplace things. The developers told me they are working on launching forums so players could leave each other tips, which feels like a nice way to incorporate a co-op element even for people who’d rather play alone.
I didn’t get very far in the time I had allocated with Another Door, but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. I’ve only done a few escape rooms in real life, and Another Door feels like the perfect way to experience them from the comfort of your home. There’s also the added benefit of no staff being around to see you embarrass yourself as you fumble around and take ages to solve every puzzle.
Another Door: Escape Room arrives on October 10 on the Meta Quest platform.
