Escape the Boardgame

Escape the Boardgame is a sort-of sequel to Escape the Arcade, but you don’t need to have played the first one to know what’s going on. It reminds me of the kinds of sequels they would make on Famicom games in Japan in the 80’s: more of the same, but harder and a lot more going on.

Like Arcade, this is a sort of playable comic book made in the motion comic engine Panels. You solve puzzles that are hidden throughout the drawings by using math skills, or playing around with the art, or thinking outside of the box a little bit. Compared to the first one, it felt to me like this one has a few puzzles that are a lot more obtuse. Luckily, the hint system is just as forgiving and helpful as the first go-around, and will eventually just give you the answer if you ask it enough times. Kind of a Professor Layton game set in Alice in Wonderland. My favorite puzzles were the ones that played on the rules of classic board games, like chess or dominos, and not the ones with too many variables like the marble puzzle.

Here’s the plot: the two protagonists go on their first date at a board game store, but then it starts to rain heavily and they’re trapped inside! And then they become tiny, and must escape a series of classic board games to get back to reality. You know, typical first date adventures. The board game pieces are sentient, as you’d expect, and they will hinder your progress or help you on your way.

The look of the game is terrific, as was the first. It’s all hand-drawn. Board games and decks of cards have little faces with a lot of personality. The way that it utilizes parallax to hide things behind other parts of the environment as you crank through the panels is inspired and unique. And seeing small things from real life as giant obstacles is a surefire way to add some surrealism to your day.

Basically, if you liked the first game but thought it was too easy, or you want to go on a light-hearted adventure through the world of classic board games, or you just want to see some cool art and play with an interactive puzzle book for an hour or so, this is a great pick. The hint system means that even if you’re terrible at these kinds of games, you’ll be able to see the whole thing. And I think that’s neat! I’ll definitely be playing any future games in this series. And it’s cool to have something like this on the Playdate, where each game almost feels like a personal gift from a small developer’s mind to yours. Perfect platform for it, and Escape the Boardgame is a worthy addition to any Playdate library.

(Released March 25, 2025, on Catalog. Copy provided by the developer.)