By all accounts the new one is a return to form, but given your extensive analysis, where it seems others have remembered the series as being much stronger than it actually was, I’m not sure that means anything. Look forward to your thoughts.

I’m actually replaying Escape right now myself as part of catching up for the new one. I actually think it’s the funniest game in the series despite the weak tea of the anti-tourism stuff. The sound editing is punchier than in Curse, and the 3D models, despite being heinously ugly, let them make much faster, snappier animations than 2D sprites ever allowed.

But yeah, the puzzles are all over the place. The infamous filing system puzzle is a masterclass in bad design, making a relatively simple puzzle impossible to figure out simply because of presentation. And there are plenty of puzzles, like getting the blue painting, where they take a perfectly logical solution and then add an inexplicable extra step.

Apparently the new one is retconning Herman Toothrot as Elaine’s grandfather, but I still think that nicely tied up some narrative loose ends.

Anyway, a good analysis as always!