LET’S PLAY: ESCAPE TOGETHER

In a stunning twist for this beloved Let’s Play series, this is actually a multiplayer map. That’s probably why they didn’t call it ‘Escape Alone’ or ‘Escape By Yourself You Friendless Dope’. 

Once you’ve found a Minecraft friend who you’ve always wanted to be trapped with, you can both use the power of something called ‘the internet’ to play Pathway Studios’ map! You’ll find yourself in a house. But hang on… you’re not together? You and your friend are actually in two separate, but nearly identical houses. Bwuh?

A journey to test our friendship, eh? Uh oh. We’re not saying we’re a bad friend, but we did once sell all our friends belongings for a copy of Minecraft Dungeons. Pre-owned. And with none of the DLC included. And the game box was empty. And on fire. But other than that, we’re a wonderful friend! Yeah!

Thankfully, even if you’re a horrible jerk like us you can still find success in Escape Together, so long as you and your friend are good at communication. See, because it’s an online multiplayer map, and you both start in different locations, you need to verbally chit-chat a lot over audio to help each other solve the puzzles. So if you’re not speaking to any of your friends at the moment, because, say, you traded their heart medicine for a boxed copy of Minecraft Legends (also empty), then you may wanna make up with them fast.

Still, would being trapped here forever really be so bad? The house is fairly cosy, with a roaring fireplace, two floors, and a choice of beds. Awww! Saying that, the iron bars blocking the exits are a bit much. Oh, and the fact we can’t mine anything. Plus the sledgehammer we found doesn’t exactly give ‘cozycore’ vibes. Ok, maybe we do wanna escape, which means we’re gonna have to start thinking. Eww. 

Escape won’t be easy, because the house is packed with mysteries. What’s the purpose of the two colored concrete blocks in the upstairs bedroom chest? Why is there a key for a blue door in the kitchen, but the only locked door we can find in our house is red? And what’s with this wall covered in levers?

We swiftly grow long beards so we can stroke them and go ‘hmmm’ while staring at this wall and trying to figure out a solution. Just one short month later, we think we’ve cracked it! What if the levers have to be pulled up and down so they match the up and down arrows above the doorway pictured below?

Yeah! That’s bound to work! YEAH!

…It didn’t work. 

Wait, we know what’s going wrong here. We’re still trying to solve this puzzle solo. What if the arrows in our map are actually showing the solution to our friend's puzzle? After we’ve finished gasping at our own genius, we clear our throats and tell our friend what they need to do (“OK, top row up up up! Middle row up down up! Bottom row up down up! HURRY! No you’re yelling!!!”)

Surely that has to be the solution. Yeah!

…No.

We’re about to close the game and see if we can get exciting new careers writing for ihateminecraft.net, when suddenly our friend notices something. Those arrow tiles above the door can be moved. You can rotate them! And come to think of it, there are subtle lines on the tiles that fit together neatly if you rotate them into place properly:

Once we’ve rotated the arrows into the correct positions and then read out those positions to each other and then flipped the levers so they match each other's arrows, we get to see the best news we’ve heard ALL YEAR:

(yes we are well aware that we’re still in January - don’t ruin this for us)

A door has been opened! We did it! Freedom at last! We completed the map!

We run triumphantly out of the front room door to celebrate our escape with a victorious cry of “ow my nose.” That’s because we’ve run straight into iron bars. Oh. This wasn’t the door that has opened. Yeah, guess that would have been a pretty short map… 

We explore some more, and find a door upstairs has opened. One that contains a mysterious machine:

Could this be a device that lets you and your friend send helpful items to each other? Or is it the world’s most overly complex email-sending machine? We’re delighted to inform you that it’s the first one!

Soon we use this magnificent device to send each other the keys we found in our respective maps, which unlock doors in each other's maps. Confused? Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be! Ish! See, learning how to communicate is how you master this nifty escape room. Especially as the puzzles only get more complex from here on in…

Spoiling each and every puzzle solution would be a horrid move that would rightly leave us friendless. So instead of doing that, how about we end on a fun montage of some of the riddles that await you in this escape room? Let’s!