13 puzzle and escape room games to try

01

Unlock!

Best for groups who want a polished, app-assisted escape room at home.

Unlock! is a cooperative series built around decks of illustrated cards and a free companion app. Players reveal locations, inspect details, combine numbered objects, solve visual and logical puzzles, and enter codes into the app. The app controls the timer, confirms answers, supplies hints, and adds sound, animation, and occasional phone-based interactions. Some scenarios even use the device camera or augmented reality.

Most Unlock! boxes contain three scenarios with different themes and difficulty levels. It is easy to start, works well for regular game nights, and gives the phone a useful role without replacing the cards on the table.

Format

Cards and companion app

Players

1 to 6

Typical session

About 60 minutes

02

EXIT: The Game

Best for people who enjoy difficult riddles and do not mind changing the game materials.

EXIT: The Game recreates the pressure and surprise of a physical escape room inside a small box. Each title is a standalone story with riddle cards, strange objects, code wheels, and clues hidden in the materials. Players may need to write, fold, cut, or tear components to reveal an answer, so many EXIT titles are designed for a single playthrough.

The series is especially strong at layered logic puzzles. A solution may depend on noticing a small detail, transforming an object, and testing a code. Difficulty ratings make it easy to choose an accessible first box or a harder challenge.

Format

Physical escape-room box

Players

Usually 1 to 4

Replayability

Usually one playthrough

03

Deckscape

Best for a portable escape-room game that does not require an app.

Deckscape delivers an escape-room story through a compact deck of oversized cards. Players read the opening setup, reveal cards in order, and solve puzzles using text, illustrations, symbols, and information discovered earlier. When the group reaches a challenge, it agrees on an answer before checking the solution and recording any mistake.

Deckscape is easy to play while travelling because it does not require an app or a large setup. Every correct answer advances the story, and each new card can change how an earlier clue should be understood. The series includes mysteries, heists, and fantasy settings.

Format

Card-based escape game

Technology

No app required

Typical session

About 60 minutes

04

Escape Room The Game

Best for groups who want a visible countdown and physical code-entry device.

Escape Room The Game is a boxed system with multiple adventures and a central decoder. Players inspect documents, maps, images, and unusual components, then insert combinations of keys into the decoder before time runs out. Correct combinations unlock the next part of the story, while incorrect attempts cost time and force the group to reconsider its reasoning.

The countdown, keys, sound effects, and staged envelopes make this more theatrical than a simple card game. Different editions are available for general groups, families, and two players.

Format

Boxed escape-room system

Core feature

Physical code decoder

Options

Original, family, and two-player editions

05

Chronicles of Crime

Best for players who want investigation, interviewing, and evidence analysis.

Chronicles of Crime combines location boards and evidence cards with a mobile app. Players scan QR codes to travel between places, interview suspects, consult specialists, and examine objects. At crime scenes, the app presents a 3D view that players can inspect for a limited time before deciding which evidence may matter.

The game is about building a correct theory from incomplete information. Time advances as the group travels and investigates, so every decision has a cost. The base game includes a tutorial and several connected investigations.

Format

Board game and companion app

Players

1 to 4

Typical session

60 to 90 minutes

06

Adventure Games

Best for players who prefer story exploration without a countdown.

KOSMOS Adventure Games are cooperative stories inspired by classic point-and-click computer adventures. Players explore numbered locations, collect objects, combine items with each other, and make decisions that change how the story develops. Each box is divided into chapters, so a group can play one longer campaign across several sessions.

Adventure Games focus on exploration, character choices, and discovering what an object can do in the right place. There is no constant countdown. The optional KOSMOS Helper App can read story entries aloud.

Format

Cooperative story game

Players

1 to 4

Structure

Three chapters of about 90 minutes

07

HuntAR

Best for augmented reality treasure hunts that can be played indoors or at published outdoor locations.

HuntAR turns a phone into a tool for exploring story-driven treasure hunts. Players follow a sequence of clues, inspect augmented reality scenes, solve logical puzzles, and progress through the story. Indoor Mode can be used from anywhere with a safe, clear play area. Outdoor hunts use specific published locations and add real-world exploration to the experience.

The game is designed for people who enjoy mysteries but want more movement than a traditional board game provides. The Hollow North is a horror-themed hunt built around a cold northern mystery.

Format

Mobile augmented reality game

Settings

Indoor and published outdoor hunts

Platform

iPhone

08

Klyx

Best for players specifically looking for a multiplayer AR escape room.

Klyx places an escape-room mission into augmented reality and supports online multiplayer. Players examine the virtual environment, search for clues, solve riddles, and crack codes to complete the room’s objective. Each room has its own story and set of tasks, so progress depends on both observation and communication.

The room around the player becomes part of the experience instead of keeping every puzzle on a flat screen. Klyx is available for iPhone and iPad, with in-app purchases listed on the App Store.

Format

Mobile AR escape room

Play style

Online multiplayer

Platform

iPhone and iPad

09

ARia’s Legacy

Best for a solo AR mystery built around inspecting virtual objects.

ARia’s Legacy transforms a physical room into a virtual escape environment. Players walk around the space, examine objects from different angles, collect items, combine clues, and work through a mystery about a missing character named ARia. Because the virtual scene surrounds the player, solutions may depend on looking above, below, behind, or inside an object.

The spatial inspection is the main attraction. Players must move the device and notice details that are not visible from one angle. Optional hints and additional content are available through in-app purchases.

Format

AR mystery and escape room

Core action

Walk, inspect, collect, and combine

Platform

iPhone and iPad

10

Escape The Room: AR

Best for a short, focused AR escape-room session in one room.

Escape The Room: AR lays virtual objects and puzzles around the player’s physical room. The player moves through the space, investigates the objects, and solves the sequence required to escape. It can be played alone or with up to two friends sharing the experience around one device.

The setup is simple: clear a safe area, let the app map the space, and move around while solving. It is a short, focused experience built around one virtual escape room.

Format

AR escape room

Players

Solo or up to three together

Platform

iPhone and iPad

11

Escape Fake

Best for a free, educational AR puzzle game about misinformation.

Escape Fake is an augmented reality escape-room experience built around media literacy. Players print the free image markers, scan them with a phone or tablet, and use the AR scenes to solve puzzles, answer quizzes, combine 3D objects, and identify misleading information. The story asks players to repair the future by understanding how false claims spread.

The printed markers connect physical materials with the digital puzzles. The official listing says the app is free and contains no ads, making it accessible for classrooms and groups.

Format

AR escape room with printed markers

Theme

Media literacy

Platform

iPhone and iPad

12

The Room

Best for solo players who want tactile mechanical puzzles and an atmospheric mystery.

The Room series presents intricate puzzle boxes, hidden compartments, coded messages, and mechanical devices inside a detailed 3D world. Players rotate objects, inspect surfaces, use special tools, and discover how one mechanism affects another. Its puzzles feel physical even though the experience stays on a screen, and the mystery unfolds gradually through objects and letters.

Format

Solo 3D puzzle adventure

Core puzzles

Mechanisms, codes, and hidden details

Platforms

Mobile, computer, console, and VR options vary

13

The House of Da Vinci

Best for detailed invention puzzles in a Renaissance setting.

The House of Da Vinci series places the player in Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop. Players operate elaborate inventions, uncover secret messages, search for hidden objects, and use special devices to reveal information that ordinary sight cannot detect. The games combine mechanical puzzles with a historical mystery and are designed mainly for solo play.

Format

Solo 3D puzzle adventure

Core puzzles

Inventions, objects, codes, and observation

Platforms

Mobile, computer, console, and VR options vary