Adventure Escape: Asylum

I buy some apps but it's rare. I don't pay for in game purchases, however. It's disappointing when while playing an app you have to pay in order to proceed without the opportunity to "earn" hints or watch advertisements. This game has both! The ads are just a click off screen ad. Collected stars equates to hints to help you along which you get at the end of each level. Additionally, there are stars to collect scattered throughout the game. Playability is smooth and the graphics are top notch in the free escape room category. The story is solid. The premise is a little spooky but not terrifying. The developers obviously put some effort into writing it relevant to the game while keeping distractions to a minimum but also wrapping up with a fulfilling ending. Some endings leave you with a big "What the--?" as credits roll -- but not Asylum. There's not a lot of banter between characters either which is a big plus. Sometimes developers have their characters prattle on unnecessarily thinking it moves along the storyline. Again, not here. What little chatter, items to read and the scene setting integrate the storyline and the puzzles. Puzzles are logical, levels are short. If you're an intermediate puzzle solver and determined and aren't easily frustrated you'll get to the end of this hint-less. I had a great time in this game and would recommend it to those who love escape rooms both real and digital. Great job to the developers!

This turned out to be much more than a simple escape game, and I think the title may be misleading to the developer's detriment. I would describe this as a point-and-click adventure game, which includes a variety of entertaining minigames and has an engaging storyline. The graphics and gameplay were much more sophisticated than other "escape" games available for the iPad. Further, the game truly is free! You earn hints as you progress, and I had many more than I needed to finish the game. If you like to use a lot of hints and/or skip minigames, then you might want to purchase some, but it's difficult to imagine that being necessary. The only "cost" to the end-user is the brief pop-up ad that shows for two seconds between chapters. This is an extremely small price to pay for a beautifully made game. If I were comparing this against other escape games, this would easily be five stars. I am only ranking it four stars in light of the entire AppStore catalog. I will definitely be seeking out and playing more games from the developer, Haiku.

I've played every one of the developers games, and this one BY FAR is the best!!!! Has the most interesting story line, is very engaging, exciting, and not too challenging which I like. I wish all escape games had a story line !!! Overall it's definitely worth getting, even though you probably will finish the game in about an hour and a half ish. But for a free game, it's totally worth it!! There weren't a ton of ads like other escape games I've tried, which I LOVE! You don't have to pay to unlock levels, another plus :D Whoever made this app I give applause because I've never had an app filled with such rich material that made me run to get back to it. (Whether it was free or paid!) I look forward to its future apps.. Only criticism I have for the developer is I wish the levels and the game was longer. Especially when it's ones like this that are so great ! ~ Best of luck.

*Ok. Just completed the rose puzzle in chapter 4. It really does help to quit a level and go back one or two to play and save stars. I only needed one hint to solve the rose puzzle on my second try. Am kicking myself for not seeing that one. If you use hints carefully, or replay a level to hold onto stars, it's more than possible to play through and not spend a cent. I never pay for stars. Patience is the key. I'm getting the hang of these games. I was able to complete two of them, but not the other two. Deleted them out of frustration. But I'll re download and try again when I cool off :) I'm figuring out that if I keep starting over and save my free hints once I learn the first few chapters, by the time I reach a really tricky near the end, I'll have enough stars to get me through. The only inside games I don't care for are the physical ones where you have to patiently draw a line along a rope--in a mirrored box-- or shake your device. Don't care for those at all. These do require patience.

I enjoyed very much the game, which was unexpected for me. I love this type of games but I’m not impressed easily. I liked the story, I enjoyed the different types of puzzles and minigames offered, and I was thankful it had an ending. On the downside, I hit “hint” more than usual bc sometimes I started a minigame and couldn’t understand what you expected me to do. But after the first or second hint for 0 stars (which are more an explanation than a hint), everything went smoothly. One thing that I’d prefer was if there were a number of how many of the same item you need to gather beforehand - the trains for example. It would be nice to know if I got them all or if I still need some before starting (or trying to start) a minigame. But overall is a great game and I cannot wait to find more from you guys! Thanks and congrats!