Escape Memoirs: Mansion Heist

Introduction

Escape Memoirs: Mansion Heist flips the traditional escape-room premise on its head: rather than trying to break out, you're a master thief breaking in, solving puzzles across a mysterious mansion to steal its treasures, either solo or in online co-op. Developed and published by 0 Deer Soft, it launched on Steam on 16 June 2022 at NZ$10.99. Four years later, its 343 English-language reviews sit at 86% positive, Very Positive. This review read all 49 negative reviews in that sample alongside a range of the positive side.

Puzzles fans love, and a fairness complaint that recurs widely

The core design draws real, specific praise from an engaged fanbase. "Puzzles were great and really made you have to think about everything at all angles," reads one co-op review, describing swapping puzzles between players with fresh eyes to break through roadblocks. But across this review's full read of the negative sample, the single dominant complaint by a wide margin is puzzle fairness. "The puzzles are unnecessarily convoluted and seemingly deliberately designed in a way to be impossible to solve without the use of a guide," reads one detailed review. Another, more specific: "even with hints and a walkthrough I was struggling to understand how some of the answers made any sense." This isn't an isolated complaint from a handful of frustrated players — dozens of reviews across this sample independently describe the identical experience of reaching a correct answer, via a guide, and still not understanding the logic behind it.

A structural problem for the co-op audience specifically

A distinct, more structural complaint recurs almost as often, and it matters directly for the game's marketed co-op audience: because most puzzles are solved sequentially by one player at a time, a partner is often left with little to do. "Looking for Co-op? Maybe pick something else if you both want to be doing something throughout, unless you like taking turns," reads one review. A separate 21-hour reviewer confirms the same pattern: "if you play CO-OP, your partners will either have to think WITH YOU or stand idle, most of the time there's only one puzzle at a time to solve." That's a real design mismatch for buyers specifically drawn in by the co-op marketing rather than a matter of taste.

Real, smaller technical complaints

A smaller cluster of reviewers report concrete technical problems worth naming directly: one details the game crashing with a "fatal error" close to ten times in a single session; another reports online co-op simply failing to connect, showing the join animation before reverting to the menu regardless of suggested fixes. Several reviewers also flag the lack of an inventory system as a tedium multiplier when puzzles require carrying items between rooms.

An actively supported game

This review checked 0 Deer Soft's own public update history and found real, sustained investment: patches as recent as January 2025, a "General development update" post in November 2024, and a full sequel, Escape Memoirs: Safe House, released in mid-2024 — evidence this is a studio still actively building on the format rather than a one-and-done release. Steam's own achievement data backs up a game that's genuinely completable for most players who commit to it: even the hardest optional collectible achievements sit in the 25-33% range rather than collapsing toward zero, suggesting the puzzle-fairness complaints reflect a real difficulty ceiling for some players rather than a broken or unsolvable game.

Verdict

Escape Memoirs: Mansion Heist offers a genuinely well-crafted, actively-supported puzzle experience that a real fanbase loves for its "reverse escape room" premise and demanding design. But this review's full read of its negative-review sample confirms two consistent, specific problems worth knowing before buying: puzzle logic that a large share of reviewers say doesn't hold up even with a guide, and a co-op structure that frequently leaves one partner idle. A strong pick for solo puzzle fans who want a real challenge; a riskier one for couples or friends hoping to solve together evenly.