As an avid escape room gamer, I was enthralled upon discovering Escape Simulator – a virtual escape game boasting incredibly immersive puzzles and environments without needing to leave your home!
Created by Canadian indie studio Pine Studio, Escape Simulator has amassed over 200,000 players since its early access launch in January 2022. One of its standout locations is the atmospheric Edgewood Mansion, a sprawling estate with secrets hidden behind every door.
The Library presents a thrilling centerpiece to the mansion, testing even veteran escape room fanatics with its multi-layered puzzles interweaving codes, physical interactions, and obscure clues into 5 min-bending challenges:
Based on my experience as a gaming industry consultant, The Library exemplifies exceptional escape room design. The puzzle progression keeps you moving through the environment to engage with its interactive elements while varied mechanics prevent repetition. Just when you‘ve nailed diagramming butterflies, you shift to decoding sounds.
Let‘s delve into solving each unique conundrum with my expert tips!
Overview of The Library Gameplay
Before puzzle-solving, understanding your mission proves critical:
The Goal: Collect 5 colored gems hidden inside puzzle boxes scattered around the library to unlock the exit door.
The Challenge: Solve eclectic puzzles by uncovering a trail of keys, codes, and other items to unlock each puzzle box.
With an expansive library at your fingertips, this adds up to a rewarding 5-10 hour gameplay time for the average player to achieve escape.
As a veteran gamer who has blazed through [record fastest time] rooms, the multilayered trials of The Library forced me to return to basics:
- Searching every interactable item and furniture thoroughly
- Reading all papers and books to uncover clues
- Constantly cross-referencing clues between your journal and room objects
- Combining, using, and manipulating items in your inventory
Amidst lovely landscape paintings and floor-to-ceiling bookcases, secrets hide in plain sight. You must channel your inner detective pursuing every subtle lead via careful observation matched with critical thinking.
Now let‘s crack the case on these 5 puzzles! I‘ll provide my strategy‘s initial reaction along with an optimized step-by-step walkthrough.
1. The Box
My first impression – a logic puzzle with visual ciphers and codes. Excellent starter because interacting with the bookcases and cabinets familiarizes you with core movement and inventory actions.
The Solution:
When I opened the antique box, I knew colorful gem #1 awaited inside. But the 5-digit dial taunted me with potential number combinations…
Thankfully, the key to decoding The Box lies in your immediate surroundings:
- Check the right cabinet to find a small key after moving some books
- Take the green book on the right shelf with a key icon on its spine
- Unlock this "Lock Book" using the small key
- Flip through and spot pages 6-7 with 5 red letters spelling "DREAM"
- Input D-R-E-A-M into The Box dial to open!
My first colored gem! Though initially intimidating, breaking down The Box step-by-step reveals its logical flow. This teaches a critical lesson for tackling all upcoming puzzles – methodically investigating objects near the puzzle itself provides critical clues.
The Library stays true to escapist philosophy by letting you feel those ‘aha!‘ moments transforming confusion into clarity. I strap in for the next exciting mental marathon!
2. Butterfly Paintings
Flex those visual neurons for this artfully designed challenge!
The Solution:
My brain fluttered between excitement and anxiety upon seeing this sequence puzzle. Thankfully, winging it produced gems:
- Take the rightmost butterfly painting (#8) from the cabinet
- Check the desk drawer for a crucial clue paper dictating rules:
- Must start with orange wing (left)
- Must end with brown wing (right)
- Connect identical interior wings
- Hence the sequence is: 3-8-5-7-2
- Input the sequence into the combination lock below
Opening those paintings unveils vinyl records! This offers a smooth transition into the next audio-based puzzle. I appreciate how solutions gently lead you deeper down the rabbit hole rather than abandoning one train of thought for something entirely different.
The Butterfly Painting puzzle also emphasizes keen observation. I failed my first attempt because small differences in wing patterns slipped my attention, especially the edges touching. Slowing down brought success – methodical focus triumphs over quick assumptions!
3. Gramophone Lock
I rubbed my hands with glee upon seeing this antique gramophone. An audio clue delivered through such a tactile device promises old-fashioned fun!
The Solution:
Activating the gramophone requires some legwork first:
- Take the third vinyl piece from the drawer below the butterflies
- Place all 3 vinyl pieces onto the gramophone
- Lower the needle arm and crank the handle to play
- Listen carefully to the sequence:
- Hoot
- Caw
- Hoot
- Screech
- Check the animal plaques – Owl = 9, Crow = 3, Eagle = 1
- Therefore, enter code: 9-3-9-1
Opening the case reveals matchsticks – suggesting fire and light will soon prove useful!
This puzzle enthralls with its hands-on nature. Operating antique equipment toward solving puzzles makes you an adventurer code-cracking in style. It exemplifies innovation by the Escape Simulator team, blending audio clues into manipulable furniture versus just displaying numeral codes.
Tangible puzzles like the gramophone enliven virtual escape rooms with traces of reality – clever design shining through!
4. The Fireplace
My puzzle-solving rhythm needed a spark of inspiration by this point. Good thing the roaring fireplace delivers!
The Solution:
Rekindling warmth in the room‘s hearth unlocks thermal secrets:
- Take matchsticks from the Gramophone Lock box
- Light a match by swiping it on the matchbox
- Use the lit matchstick to ignite the fireplace
- Place the thermometer (from The Box) into the flames
- It automatically opens to reveal clues!
Though simple in execution, tactile actions like striking matches and building fires brings welcome variety. This realism helps build atmosphere just as much as set dressing.
Opening the thermometer also continues smooth chaining into the final Clock puzzle. Hints visually correspond between objects to create a logical breadcrumb trail rather than abandoning ideas. Excellent work, Escape Simulator devs!
Full steam ahead to piecing together time itself…
5. The Clock
The last puzzle swings the pendulum into challenging territory – but in a rewardingly climatic way!
The Solution:
Having unlocked the thermometer‘s secrets via fire, follow its arcane clues:
- Note the conditions:
- "Full Moon"
- "Midnight"
- And positions:
- "Middle"
- "Bottom"
- "Top"
- Adjust the clock accordingly:
- Moon phase = Full
- Hour hand = 12 (Midnight)
- Minute hand = Middle
- Second hand = Bottom
- Calendar = Top
- The final colored gem is revealed!
Though easy to describe, visually matching positions took several attempts during fast-paced endgame pressure. Thankfully, stepping back to interpret clues pragmatically wins over nerves!
The Clock culminates the room wonderfully – its central positioning makes you pause and literally see time at work. Clocks signal the climax reaching escape in many escape rooms, so this design creates impactful nostalgia!
My Final Impressions
The Library in Escape Simulator presents a holistically excellent escape room. Pine Studios‘ designs show masterful consideration for:
- Environment – The rich details make suspension of disbelief into being inside a library effortless
- Puzzle Complexity – Layers of puzzles constantly evolve in logic and type to dispel repetition
- Challenge vs Reward Balance – Hints build organically while feeling intimately connected versus arbitrarily difficult
After spending 5 hours thoroughly combing its contents, I finally uncovered the way out. My mind bears delightful scars from the eclectic obstacles faced! Having exhausted this wing of Edgewood Mansion, I cannot wait to explore more of its sinister surprises…
Hopefully these tips help you swiftly crack the cryptic cases of The Library during your own investigations! For more Escape Simulator secrets, check out my guides on The Study and Foyer rooms next. Happy escaping!
