Happy Escape Tycoon:Idle Games 12+

I love this game I’ve spent the past week playing nonstop. I love that you don’t force ads. Which makes me feel totally fine watching for freebies! This game rocks!! I only have one suggestion… I love playing games before bed and I always listen to podcast but unfortunately I can’t listen while playing even if I’ve turned the music and sound off the game. Please update this but besides that it’s perfect!!!

So, this is a nice game. I love escape rooms, so this seemed like an interesting concept. It’s spooky in all the best ways, while still being a bit goofy. The game isn’t ad-heavy in the way that you’ll have an ad popping up every time you click. You can keep the game open to 5 or 10 minutes, click around, and you’re not worried about an ad. However, if you want the in-game currency, you will be watching ads. I’ve noticed some games introduce “ad tickets”, which is a way to skip ads, but it will cost money. Personally, if I like a game, I’ll buy a few ad tickets and use them when I need to, so again, not a big deal and the prices are not crazy. There is also a permanent ad remover, which I think all games like this should offer. The only issue with that is the price. I’ve been playing this game a couple days, and I like it. It seems to have a decent amount of content right now, and I hope it’ll add more, eventually. That alone makes the $20 price for permanent ad removal not feel too bad. If I like a game, a reasonably priced permanent perk won’t hurt me, lol. I’ll probably end up buying it, honestly.

The only thing that keeps me from giving it five stars is how slowly you gain money. If I’m out of the game for 5 hours, how am I only coming back to $4k, but maybe that’ll go up the more rooms I have open. Here is to hoping my $20 investment isn’t wasted. 😂

I really wanted to like this game more than I do as the premise is really unique and definitely something I’m personally interested in. The art used is charming and the individual characterization invested in each character (even the monsters) shows there’s care put into this game.
However, a major caveat is that you earn currency in the game at a rate that isn’t even close to what you actually need. Currently, I can log into the app after being idle for hours, and I’ll only earn 4,000, which sounds like a lot until I remember that to upgrade just one of the many attractions in a single room costs more than what I earned in my idle time. So it becomes just a slew of watching ad after ad after ad to earn enough to upgrade the attractions/rooms, which doesn’t necessarily amount to you earning more, it just makes you reach your insanely low max limit faster. Ultimately, I feel like I’m watching an enormously long ad-break on television, not playing a game.

I really hope the developers rebalance how currency is earned, or the cost of upgrades, along with implementing a better way to earn more while idle. Because this really is a fun and interesting app. It has potential, I just really hope they seize it.

Additionally, the very small text used for unlocked elements and characters in the Handbook screen is incredibly hard to read and could stand to be slightly larger and bolder so they can actually be read (and enjoyed).