Hello Escapists! Coin Crew Games has been hard at work testing [i]The Tournament of Puzzles[/i] update and putting the finishing touches on our second DLC, [i]Escape Academy: Escape from the Past[/i]. We wanted to take a moment to share some updates with everyone! [h2]Updated Release Timing for [i]The Tournament of Puzzles[/i][/h2] First off we wanted to thank everyone who partook in our Steam Playtest of [i]The Tournament of Puzzles[/i] earlier this year. The feedback was immensely insightful and we were thrilled with the results and everyone’s thoughts. After ingesting feedback from the Steam Playtest, we made the decision to re-center the experience on PvP play. The dev team is in the process of building out new mechanics that lean into player on player interactions and maximize the frantic nature of trying to solve puzzles faster than your opponent. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42120301/5d105f28d094ae8934552c6a8ca549bbbd2b0492.png[/img] As a result, [i]The Tournament of Puzzles[/i] is going to be coming out later than we’d originally hoped. We are now targeting a Q4 2023 release across all platforms. But there IS good news as well, which is that we’re going to be running more tests in order to build an experience that we’re all happy with! We want your involvement to yield an update we’re all proud of and one that you’ll have a hard time putting down. Keep your eyes peeled for more Steam Playtests and take a look at this [url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/escape-academy-tournament-of-puzzles-preview-gdc/]Digital Trends article[/url] to gain some more insight into our new design direction. [h2]Learnings from the [i]Escape from Anti-Escape Island[/i] Release[/h2] We’d also like to take a moment to share our biggest learning from releasing our first DLC last fall: [i]Escape from Anti-Escape Island[/i] released in a buggier state than we were happy with, and you all rightfully gave us that feedback. For [i]Escape from the Past[/i], we’ve spent extra polish and QA time to make for as smooth and frustration free of an experience as possible. This is also a part of the reason we’ve decided to give [i]The Tournament of Puzzles[/i] more time in the oven. Not only do we want the design to wow everyone and fuel all sorts of puzzle rivalries, we want it to be a smooth, bug free experience. Speaking of our upcoming DLC… [h2]Introducing [i]Escape Academy: Escape from the Past![/i][/h2] For those of you who caught the Nintendo Indie World stream this morning and watched our full [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSv6XyXSeRk]Nintendo Switch, Complete Edition, Trailer[/url] you may have noticed some brand new footage from our upcoming DLC, [i]Escape Academy: Escape from the Past[/i]. This DLC is included in the Season Pass and will be released late Spring 2023! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42120301/1c3dde07eab3d55cf6a3c8028e081a0127e03350.png[/img] [i]Escape from the Past[/i], is a prequel that puts players in control of familiar faces Sandra Solange and Eel Barnes as they begin their journey from Academy students to the unstoppable team of master Escapists we meet in [i]Escape Academy[/i]. After an “accident” at an Academy sporting event, Headmaster Horatio Windsor believes that SOMEONE at the school wants him dead. He enlists Sandra and Eel to go undercover in order to investigate each of the suspected faculty members. As the "accidents" keep piling up, players must successfully navigate (and survive!) five, all new rooms while piecing together clues spread across each in order to deduce who the killer is. It's an Escape Academy whodunnit! [h2]Thank You[/h2] As always, thanks is owed to you, our awesome fanbase who give us awesome feedback (and have patience while we act on it). Coin Crew Games is working tirelessly to bring you exciting content with the quality as you deserve. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming content and playtests! Cheers, -Coin Crew Games