Escape the Baby Alarm made me feel seen as a mother

Being a mother changes you; that’s an undeniable fact. You go from being responsible only for yourself to being responsible for the well-being of a tiny baby that cannot protect itself, which means a lot of sleepless nights, self-sacrifice, and a whole bucketload of self-doubt. Being a mom is my favorite job in the world, but that doesn’t make it easy, and that’s the experience Escape the Baby Alarm has brought to life. 

Escape the Baby Alarm is a narrative puzzle game by Julie Normann Bjørnskov that feels like a psychedelic trip through the absolute hell and heaven that exist side by side in early motherhood. I didn’t go into the demo expecting something that would leave me feeling so completely seen and understood, but by the end I was crying with something akin to relief. 

Puzzles and perception

As a mother, I can still viscerally remember those early days and nights of motherhood, spent drifting from one bottle feed or diaper change to the next, with the hours only broken up by disturbed sleep and a screaming baby. Your entire world turns upside down when a baby is brought into the world, and no matter how much you prepare for or expect those changes, there’s nothing you can really do to visualize how different things will be until they’ve already changed. 

Escape the Baby Alarm is a series of brightly colored puzzles that, at first glance, seem like the same types of puzzles you’d see in any organizing game. If you’ve never experienced becoming a mom, you’d be forgiven for thinking that to be true. However, each puzzle represents something very real that can happen in the months after bringing a baby home for the first time. 

Being sleep-deprived and confusing the mayo for sunscreen, fishing something out of your coffee that’s long gone cold and drinking it anyway, and sacrificing your own self-care or tidying the house in favor of getting some much-needed sleep; these are things that will resonate with anyone who has ever gone through the newborn stage. They’re not fond memories by a long stretch, but they are part of a time that we hold dear for life. 

Unwarranted advice

I will never forget the unwanted advice that I received when I first had my daughter. It came from my own mother, the midwives, people in the street, even strangers on the internet. Everyone has an opinion on how motherhood SHOULD be done, even those who have never been through it, and a lot of people have no qualms about pushing that advice on a clearly sleep-deprived and struggling mom.  

The debates over parenting styles and choices are endless and often impossible to win, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The story hidden behind the pop-art style of Escape the Baby Alarm feels almost like permission to find your own way, and that’s exactly what we should be giving new mothers. Support, not bullying. 

I know this is a more vulnerable and specific article than you’re probably used to, but if there’s one thing I feel more passionate about than indie games, it’s being a mom. I’ve come a long way and learned a lot in the last six years, but that doesn’t mean I’m immune to the gut punch that comes with suddenly feeling seen by someone who has been through the experience themselves and turned it into playable art.

A touching love letter to a time I refuse to forget

No matter how hard those first few months were with my daughter, I would never trade those memories and experiences for the world. She is the light of my life and the sun around which I gravitate, and that’s the feeling that is central to Escape the Baby Alarm. 

The main character is offered a chance to relax, to take some time away, and while that’s tempting for a little while, she quickly realizes that she wants to go back to the chaos of motherhood. From my perspective on the other side of that experience, I can say that while the clutter doesn’t really go away, it does end up making a house a home. The crying eventually becomes talking, and those conversations end up changing your perspective on life. 

Being a parent is an absolute whirlwind, and the colorful art style of Escape the Baby Alarm perfectly portrays the strange experience it really is. The story beneath the art, though, is where this game truly shines. It really is a love letter to parenthood, the good parts and the bad, and everything we would never change, even if we could. 

Escape the Baby Alarm is set to release at some point in 2026, and I cannot wait to cry my way through the entire story. Until then, there’s a demo available on Steam.