Xbox Game Pass’ Newest Addition Is a Near-Perfect Couch Co-Op Game

Thanks to a multiplayer renaissance, we’re currently living in a golden age of couples games. Whether you and your significant other are playing Split Fiction or pairing up for Big Walk, there are no shortage of great trust-building co-op games out there currently. You can add another great option to the list, thanks to Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, a near-perfect new inclusion to couch co-op canon.

A sequel to 2022’s Escape Academy, the latest game from Coin Crew Games doubles — even triples — down on split-screen play to deliver a bounty of digital escape rooms that will test your communication skills. Though a newfound emphasis on story mostly falls flat, Escape Academy 2’s balance between clever puzzles and approachable play makes for a killer date-night choice.

Though it's a sequel, Escape Academy 2 very much feels like the real start of Coin Crew Games’ series. The first Escape Academy was a well-designed puzzle game made by people with experience creating real-world escape rooms, but its very short runtime left it feeling like an appetizer. Additional DLC helped beef up the package, but Escape Academy 2 feels far more complete out of the gate as a longer game with more thought put into how all its various puzzle rooms connect.

The fundamentals are the same: You’re still a student at a school dedicated to puzzling, and you need to complete escape rooms as part of your education. Those core puzzle boxes are still the star of the show, and sharper than ever now that Coin Crew Games has had experience translating the real thing into game form. Each one is built around interconnected micro-puzzles that all neatly come together for one grand answer. One highlight throws you and your teammate inside of a clock tower. You’re in a race against time to reach the top, but getting there requires figuring out what to do with stray shapes, a spool of rope, scattered moons, and more clues.

What works so well about that structure as a co-op experience is that Coin Crew Games never creates a moment where one person is left out. There are always multiple riddles you can solve at a time in a room, letting you divide and conquer as you scour a room for clues and figure out what to do with them. Split-screen play, even in online play, makes it so your partner can always see what you’re doing, or the clue you’re holding, so you can communicate clearly and work out a solution together. You can enjoy that with a friend or family member, but it’s especially great for couples who want to work together without dealing with the frustration that can come from a mismatch in digital skill.

What’s impressive is how Coin Crew Games finds new ways to bring that design ethos outside of its puzzle-room expertise. The big change in Escape Academy 2 is that you can now roam around the school campus, which is filled with side-quests, collectible red herrings, and secret puzzles. It all opens up Super Mario 64-style, as completing more escape rooms opens new areas. It’s a great addition, as it gives duos more chances to wander around and alert one another to discoveries. During my playthrough, my fiancée and I naturally split up between missions to do our own thing, whether that was earning cash through side missions or unlocking zip lines to help us navigate the campus easier. That little bit of freedom is just enough to elevate Escape Academy 2, rewarding a different kind of teamwork that encourages a kind of collaborative independence. Coin Crew Games understands that a healthy relationship is one that builds in some space for alone time.

Less successful is the sequel’s attempt to make a more narrative-focused sequel. Escape Academy 2 builds its lore out by teasing out the history of the school itself and the secret story of its founders. The spirit of the idea is fine, and there’s a perfectly good mystery to follow through the end. But the presentation of it all isn’t quite a fit for the co-op play. The story is largely told through flat, visual novel sequences, which are sure to tempt players to skip through some overly punny writing. On the flip side, it did give my partner and I a good opportunity to poke fun at the corniness of it all together. That’s a good team-building exercise in its own right.

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Though it isn’t a revelatory multiplayer game, Escape Academy 2 delivers exactly what I so often crave in a good co-op game. The puzzles aren’t so difficult that you’re left feeling stuck for too long, but they’re all clever enough to require a little bit of talking en route to lead to a feel-good aha moment. It’s a kind of good-natured design that makes for a breezy session that ends with both players feeling satisfied about what they accomplished. I’d rather enjoy solving some crunchy puzzles with my fiancée than suffer through another godforsaken IKEA furniture build.

Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School launches on Nov. 5 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. It will be available through Game Pass at launch, as well.