The Pillar: Puzzle Escape

I’ve always loved puzzle games, despite them often being a niche genre. They can provide a relaxing experience that also keeps the mind engaged. In some cases, they are also able to weave memorable narratives and characters, such as the Professor Layton games. It can also be difficult to make a game stand out when puzzles are the main focus. Unfortunately for The Pillar: Puzzle Escape, while offering a short but enjoyable journey, it relies too heavily on its inspirations to leave much of an impression.

What "The Pillar: Puzzle Escape" lacks in length, it makes up for in creativity and easily a fun experience for younger gamers. Players will get to explore a unique open world map as they search for clues and complete simple puzzles to progress to the next level. Older players won't find any real value in this game and are better off investing their time in something a bit more challenging. However, parents who want to help their children's creative problem solving and memory skills should look into this game as an educational and development tool to stimulate young minds.

Its over-reliance on solving grid-based puzzles takes away from The Pillar: Puzzle Escape's otherwise clever adventure gameplay.

A rather modest puzzle game that knows how to play with its own mechanics despite the lack of variety. It has a somewhat irregular rhythm and a very random difficulty, but we will be fully immersed thanks to its simplicity and its beautiful artwork.

It’s impossible to ignore the similarities to The Witness, and it’s disappointing that it’s so patchy from a technical standpoint, but The Pillar: Puzzle Escape was a short, pleasant and surprisingly enjoyable puzzle game that people should check out. It’s not overly taxing, so you might want to look elsewhere if you’re specifically looking for a challenge, but it’s a fine game for zoning out and killing a couple of hours.

The Pillar: Puzzle Escape is a competent puzzle game with light adventure game elements. It's short and not overly challenging, but it is fairly entertaining.

The Pillar: Puzzle Escape is a very enjoyable game if you're into this sort of thing, but ironically, if you're into this sort of thing, you'll find it a cakewalk. Much more could have been made of this adventure to really work that grey matter and make it far more of a challenge for puzzle aficionados.

For a few short hours The Pillar: Puzzle Escape on Xbox will completely transport you away. It is easy to get sucked in thanks to the serene environment combined with the first-person perspective. A lack of story does not matter: this is a place begging to be explored.

The Pillar does exactly what it sets out to do; it’s a puzzle game that takes the escape room experience and presents it as a video game. Some puzzles are easy, some are frustrating but it never feels unfair. The short run time is unfortunately a big drawback, especially as there’s not a lot of content post game. The lack of any clues whatsoever, including the controls, also might put some people off, but if you’re in the market for a game that gives you the feeling of an escape room without leaving your house, you can’t go wrong with The Pillar: Puzzle Escape.

The Pillars: Puzzle escape is attempting to stand out in a crowded and niche market, where the leaders of the pack are extremely strong titles. A much simpler approach makes this an accessible game compare to the others, but I can’t ignore its graphical short comings. Had this element been spot on, it would have scored 7.5 out of 10, but it has to be marked down slightly for these issues. With this being said, do I recommend you try it? Yes. A great entry level title that can be played casually, with an excellent audio and nice graphics (if you don’t look closely at the details.) Can you unlock the mysteries of the pillars and escape this magical world?