Haven is out now for mobile, breaking the escape room genre down to its unnerving essence

• Haven - Escape Room Game challenges you to go back to basics
• Just you, a room and a myriad of puzzles to gain your freedom
• Enjoy a relaxing, if slightly unnerving, take on the explosively popular genre

The escape room genre is one of those simple, but endlessly variable genres. Escape a spaceship, escape a mysterious island, escape a fantasy dungeon. But sometimes you have to strip it back to the essentials. Just you, a room, and nothing but your wits to help you escape, as is the case with the newly released Haven.

Coming to us from developer IzumiArtisan, there's not much to say about Haven. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. In it, you find yourself in, well, a room. Pale walls, a few bits of furniture and no clue how you got there.

You'll have to explore every nook and cranny, finding clues and slowly unravelling each puzzle that stands between you and freedom. Haven isn't exactly a terrifying experience, what with its calming background music and distinct lack of a looming threat. But that only makes escape feel more pressing.

A place to escape

I think it's fair to say that the escape room genre is one which doesn't necessarily need to see innumerable variations. At the end of the day, there's a big difference between the real-life immersive experiences where props and atmosphere are such a huge selling point, and what you can do on a mobile or computer screen.

I mean, you can go as far as dropping the escape aspect entirely in favour of a cat, but that might be too much even for the most feline-loving of puzzle players.

In the case of Haven, you have all the core features necessary. A simple, relatable and realistic location, a hint system to help you along, mechanics that make you feel immersed, and (the best part) being totally free to play.

And if Haven gives you an appetite for escaping, and you want to take on other challenges, be sure to check out our list of the best escape games for Android!