[Side Quest Puzzles

Minor challenges and puzzles that supplement the main escape rooms and can be completed for cash, such as when players need funds for store room items like those in the Overengineering Class.

Verification: Human verified

Side Quest Puzzles are the optional minor challenges scattered around the Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School campus that supplement the main escape rooms. They are completed primarily for cash, and they exist to keep the open world feeling alive between the big story rooms [src-4b8b4c5daa]. Because several objectives require you to spend money, side quests are often the difference between being stuck and progressing.

What Side Quests Are For

The core purpose of side quest puzzles is to earn funds. The clearest example comes during the Overengineering Class, where you need to buy items from the store room — including 7m plastic tubing, 2m plastic tubing, 1m plastic tubing, plastic gears, a model boat and a model steam train — for a total of $17 [src-0dc02cf791]. If you don't have enough cash on hand, the walkthrough explicitly notes that you'll need to complete some side quests or pick up random dollars found around the floor [src-0dc02cf791].

How to Complete Side Quest Puzzles

1. Explore the open campus. After the first few escape rooms, the headmaster's tower opens up and the open-world structure of the game becomes explorable, which is when side quest puzzles become available alongside the main rooms [src-4b8b4c5daa].
2. Look for puzzle-book style challenges. Many side quests will be familiar to anyone who grew up with puzzle books. One recurring example is a version of Sudoku that has you solving both a number and a letter for a particular spot [src-4b8b4c5daa].
3. Solve the puzzle to earn cash. Completed side quests pay out in cash, which you then spend on required purchases such as the store room items above [src-4b8b4c5daa] [src-0dc02cf791].
4. Supplement with loose change. If a puzzle isn't enough on its own, pick up the random dollars scattered around the floor to close the gap [src-0dc02cf791].

Step-by-Step Walkthrough: Funding the Overengineering Class

This is the one documented case where side quests are practically required:

1. From the lab, go down the stairs and open the double doors at the bottom [src-0dc02cf791].
2. Go up two more sets of stairs and talk to Professor Von Bellini in front of the door [src-0dc02cf791].
3. Go back down the stairs and to the right to find the store room. You need $17 [src-0dc02cf791].
4. If you don't have enough, complete side quests or pick up random dollars found around the floor [src-0dc02cf791].
5. Buy the 7m plastic tubing, 2m plastic tubing, 1m plastic tubing, plastic gears, model boat and model steam train [src-0dc02cf791].
6. Take everything back to Professor Von Bellini outside the Puzzle Factory [src-0dc02cf791].

Tips

• Do side quests before the point of no return. In Chapter 8, before progressing the story at the dock, the walkthrough advises that if you want to complete any more side quests, now is the time to do them [src-0dc02cf791]. Clear them before you move on.
• Treat them as a cash buffer. Because the reward is cash, side quests are most useful when a purchase is blocking you — keep a few completed or in reserve before visiting a store room.
• Watch for animal companions. Completing certain side quests earns you animal companions that follow you around, though they can clip into puzzles you're trying to solve and get in the way [src-4b8b4c5daa]. Be aware of this if a companion is crowding a puzzle area.

Rewards

The documented reward for side quest puzzles is cash [src-4b8b4c5daa]. That cash feeds directly into required purchases like the $17 store room shopping list in the Overengineering Class [src-0dc02cf791]. Some side quests also grant animal companions that follow you afterward [src-4b8b4c5daa].

Details

reward

Cash

purpose

Can be completed to earn necessary funds (such as dollars needed for purchasing items in the store room during the Overengineering Class if player lacks enough cash) alongside picking up random dollars found around the floor.

Sources

• Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School walkthrough - Full guide and puzzle ...
• Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School Review - Escape Rooms Ace It, Open World Flunks