It’s that time of the year again! And no, I don’t mean Christmas… But you’d be forgiven for thinking it was, for the amount of new games that have magically appeared in my Steam library today. No, I’m actually talking about the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase.
Each year the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase takes place on steam showcasing some of the best puzzle games in the world. It’s in it’s third year, and this one is bigger and better than ever featuring over 300+ games including discounts, demos and bundles.
…Okay, okay, it’s time to come clean. This year I may be just a little biased, since this year I’ve had the honour of being invited to help organise the event. Alongside my two colleagues at Draknek & Friends, I’ve been a part of choosing the games to feature in the showcase, lining up the streamers who are opening the event, and setting up exactly how the event runs. Now the event is live, it’s finally time to sit back and play some games.
Without further ado, here are my top picks for escape room games available in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase.
The stage is set. Imagine an old baroque manor, perhaps a hotel or a museum, somewhere in central Europe. A woman wanders in search of answers.
Sadly one of the few games launching without a discount, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is the latest (brand new) release from Simogo and Annapurna. It’s escape room-y, yes. You’re wandering an enormous, black and white noir hotel absolutely packed with puzzles. But it’s also one for the puzzle hunt people out there. The less I say about this one, the better. Just go play it!
Welcome to Botany Manor, a stately home in 19th century England. You play as inhabitant Arabella Greene, a retired botanist. Explore your house and gardens, filled with research, to figure out the ideal habitat of forgotten flora. Grow each plant to discover the mysterious qualities they hold…
If you like your escape rooms on the more botanical side (which after playing through Strange Horticulture a few years back I have to admit I do), then you’ll enjoy Botany Manor. It shares a lot with games like Escape From Mystwood Mansion (see below) in that you wander an old mansion house in first-person, collecting keys and solving puzzles. The difference with Botany Manor is you play…You’ll never guess this… A botanist. So the puzzles invariably revolve around plants. A little more tricky than your average game in this genre, but well worth checking out.
Price in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase: £20.24 (10% off)
In this first-person puzzle escape room game, you are trapped in the mysterious Mystwood mansion. Explore the mansion and find hidden compartments while solving puzzles and deciphering codes to find a way out. Will you escape or linger to uncover the mansion’s final secret?
Next up is a game we’ve already covered here on The Escape Roomer: Escape From Mystwood Mansion. This game is your traditional first-person exploratory escape room game set in a mysterious mansion. There are locks, there are keys, and there’s a mysterious Victorian-esque library. I mean, what more could you possibly want in an escape room?
Price in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase: £3.59 (50% off)
You wake up in a spaceship with no memories. In this escape room with a sci-fi setting you will have to investigate your past solving different puzzles. Will you be able to discover what happened to you and how did you get there?
Another escape room game we’ve played before and enjoyed reasonably – but at £3.59 this game is an absolute steal. We thought it was good value for money at full price, so whenever I spot it discounted it shoots right up on the great big list of “you should check this out” games. Plus, you know me. I love a sci-fi room. But if sci-fi isn’t your thing, almost all the Escape Room series are being showcased this week, and you can find them here.
Price in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase: £7.52 (67% off) for whole bundle
Lost in a frozen wasteland and split up from your partner inside an abandoned castle, the only possession you have left is a walkie-talkie with a familiar voice on the other end. Can the two of you find your way out in time?
The We Were Here series are games I haven’t actually played personally, but with at least 25,000 “overwhelmingly positive” reviews, I don’t have to in order to recommend this one to you. I’ve heard so many good things, I’m itching to play them I just need… Someone to play them with! In any case, almost all games are part of the showcase this year – some free, some heavily discounted. The overall price for all 5 games comes to £7.52, making them again, another steal.
The Best Escape Room Demos on Steam
Moving on from escape room games currently live, we also have a whole host of free escape room demos you can sink your teeth into. Here are our top picks for free demos live at the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase:
Decypher strange computers, unravel modified tape players, and unlock impossible doors. Point and click your way around a mysterious basement in this challenging escape room game! Can you uncover what secrets are hiding in the dark when even time and space are against you?
I really, really enjoyed playing CRT7 and cannot wait for it’s full release. It’s part escape room, part detective game, part procedural music game and part Y2K retro goodess. personally I find it ticks all the puzzley boxes I need. There’s a range of puzzle types, and they’re challenging but not so challenging you want to quit and never play again. For me though the coolest thing about CRT7 is its being developed by a solo developer based right here in Edinburgh. And hey, I love to support my local puzzle people!
All the colors have gone missing from the world. While on a mission to bring them back you discover you are being hunted by those who would see the colors banished. Your only hope is a woman in red who may be holding the key to preventing the world from becoming discolored.
Discolored 2 is the anticipated sequel to Discolored, (which we enjoyed a lot) but this time round the stakes are even higher. The Discolored series are a fun mix of puzzles blended with just a dash of otherworldly colour. It’s a world drenched in black and white, where colour is used carefully to direct the player’s hands towards the puzzles. If you enjoyed Discolored, you’re going to love this one.
Machinika: Atlas is an indie puzzle game and is the direct sequel to Machinika: Museum, you play as a museum researcher who just land on Atlas. Will you unravel the mysteries of the alien vessel? Solve cryptic puzzles to find out what happened!
Another sequel! Another mysterious room to explore. Another set of cryptic machinery. The Machinika games always remind me of The Room series but I always find the puzzles and devices just a little bit more curious – probably because there’s a dash of space sci-fi in there that makes me feel like I’ve stepped into an old episode of Doctor Who. In Machinika: Atlas, you’re on Atlas, a moon of Saturn. Sign. Me. Up.
An autobiographical puzzle game about mortality. Cast Spells to unlock rooms and shed light on the darkness of a broken past. Relive a true journey of healing and explore a dark world to bring your family home.
I’ll level with you, I’m not necessarily a fan of spell-based puzzle games. I don’t know why. It’s just a “vibe” thing. But I’ve included Valley of Shadow because it’s got all that first person escape room-y exploration goodness, and it’s got spells. Plus I find Valley of Shadows goes down a more powerful narrative path than your average escape room game, and so I’m very excited to see where the full game takes it.
Honorary Mentions
Last but not least… Here are all the other escape room games we’ve added to our basket and our “to play” pile. We might not be able to directly recommend them… Yet! But we’re hoping to play soon and let you know what we think. They are:
