Escape Academy 2 Reveals Science Campus, Art School and New Demo
Coin Crew Games and iam8bit Presents have unveiled new details for Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, the upcoming cooperative puzzle title. The latest playable demo, showcased at Gamescom in Germany, lets players experience the adventure’s first two chapters, including a first look at the previously unseen Science Campus. As the official sequel to the award-winning Escape Academy — which has attracted more than four million players — the game expands the series’ escape room formula into a freely explorable open campus, aiming to deliver a true open-world escape room experience. Both first-time freshmen and returning students will face a larger, more secret-filled, and more dangerous academy this time around.
After completing a series of campus tasks, the game moves into its second chapter, which sends players to the Science Campus to meet a new character, Professor Von Bellini. The opening content features two entry-level puzzle rooms, with the currently playable portion extending through the chemistry laboratory puzzle. True to its name, the chapter blends science experiments with escape room problem-solving — players must observe their surroundings, track down clues, and understand how mechanisms connect before using whatever they can find to escape. The developers note that the core escape room sensation remains intact even as the campus grows more open. What lies beyond the chemistry lab is being kept under wraps to avoid spoilers.
The Art Campus, showcased in recent development logs, takes a dramatically different visual direction with heavy inspiration from Spanish architecture. Colored stucco walls, terracotta tiles, wrought iron balconies, hand-painted signs, and brick streets make up the area, decorated throughout with paint splatters, murals, graffiti, and sculptures. The campus cascades down steep hillsides and coastal cliffs, with the Hall of Escapists and Workshop at the summit connected by terraced steps. Notable locations include The Monument of Escape, a costume shop, a dance studio, and a theater, though their interiors remain hidden. Most courses are led by Professor Enora Chortkoff, whose strictness barely begins to describe her teaching style. Ten years after her disastrous performance in Jacob Surovskey’s The Death of the Artist shattered her confidence, she was invited by Solange to teach performing arts at the academy.
As with the original, Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School can be played entirely solo, but cooperation remains a core pillar. All content supports online two-player co-op and local split-screen play, letting players team up with a classmate to explore the campus, share discovered clues, and tackle the handcrafted escape rooms together. A new optional no-timer mode is also included for those who prefer solving puzzles without countdown pressure, catering to both seasoned veterans and first-time escape room students. DJ Doseone, who composed the first game’s soundtrack, returns with a fresh set of music for campus life. The game launches on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One, with a playable demo currently available. Puzzle fans who enjoyed the original will likely want to keep this one on their radar.
