The Happy Escape 1.0

Point and click games used to be all the craze until around the 2010s. Now, they're usually relegated to mid size productions or simple indie titles. The genre also proved incredibly popular among flash game creators, due to the relatively simple planning and programming that goes into such a game. One creator, Tesshi-E, became known for short, bite-sized escape room games. Let's look at a work of his - The Happy Escape.

To play The Happy Escape, you have to unzip all the files into a folder. Then, navigate to FPSoftware -> Basilisk-Portable -> Basilisk-Portable.exe. Afterward, drag the HTML onto the Basilisk browser.

The game has no story, but it's forgivable because online escape games tend to be focused on gameplay and puzzle design. It starts you off inside a house with a heavy Christmas theme, and it's beautiful. That, combined with a catchy tune and good sound design, gives it a very strong presentation.

Gameplay is very similar to other online escape games. You click on the sides of the screen to navigate around the screen, click on an object or door to zoom in on it, and have to figure out how to solve a number of puzzles in the living room to get out. One downside of this game is that there is pixel hunting involved, which is an unfortunate downside considering the otherwise strong design.

All in all, The Happy Escape is a great entry by Tesshi-e and really shows off the creator's strength in escape room game design.