The Artful Escape Reviews

The Artful Escape is ranked in the 79th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
IGN
Top Critic
8 / 10.0
Sep 8, 2021

There hasn't been a guitar-based adventure as excellent as The Artful Escape since Bill met Ted.

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75 / 100
Sep 17, 2021

An eye-popping musical adventure that will leave you with a serious case of galaxy brain.

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Recommended
Dec 14, 2021

A lurid and generous trip through the iconography of seventies rock.

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Sep 8, 2021

The Artful Escape is a short but oh-so-sweet platformer that will have you bopping to its impossibly catch beats and transfixed by its beauty

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8.5 / 10.0
Sep 8, 2021

It won't challenge your platforming skills, and the action boils down to galactic Simon Says, but The Artful Escape is a gorgeous experience that makes you feel utterly cool

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GameSpot
Top Critic
8 / 10
Sep 14, 2021

Rock opera and space opera meet for some artful escapism.

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8 / 10
Oct 1, 2021

The Artful Escape is an enigmatic coming of age story, wrapped in reverb-laden riffs and space opera shenanigans. It is quite unique, and absolutely unmissable.

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Forbes
Top Critic
Unscored
Sep 8, 2021

Ultimately, The Artful Escape’s title couldn’t be more apt: it’s a masterfully crafted, beautiful experience, and one that completely removes you from the world around you.

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6 / 10
Sep 8, 2021

While The Artful Escape does a strong job with its presentation and sense of style, it still suffers the same drawbacks as most adventure games, particularly with the boring-at-best game mechanics.

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8.2 / 10.0
Sep 9, 2021

The Artful Escape is a powerful and aesthetically wonderful generational hymn, which sounds great and uses gameplay as a subtle way to give rhythm to a short, but intense, experience.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Sep 8, 2021

The Artful Escape provides a strong narrative adventure focused on self-discovery, identity, and expression that musicians, artists, and just about anyone can find something to relate to. While the experience stumbles a bit due to some dull platforming areas, the groovy universe Beethoven & Dinosaur have crafted is one that players should take the time to fully explore.

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9.5 / 10.0
Sep 8, 2021

The Artful Escape is a bold and beautiful trip through the cosmos, featuring a killer soundtrack and a thrilling space adventure.

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VideoGamer
Top Critic
5 / 10
Sep 8, 2021

At the end of The Artful Escape, all I could think of were the words he fired back at a heckler, angered by the electricity in the air: I don’t believe you.

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Unscored
Sep 8, 2021

One man’s musical mission is an audio visual delight, but there’s not enough room for expression or mastery.

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70 / 100
Sep 8, 2021

The Artful Escape perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being transported away by a David Bowie track to a far-out world filled with colorful characters and wildlife and great music, but its gameplay falls flat, offering little depth past its first tutorial. While the game is short enough for its systems to never feel too egregious, it never reaches its full potential through its story or its mechanics. Fans of zen games, nice visuals, and quippy dialogue may want to pick this up, but do not expect a deep experience in playing The Artful Escape.

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Sep 8, 2021

The Artful Escape is a tender look at creativity and finding your voice coated in outlandish visuals, an electrifying soundtrack, and a ton of lasers.

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Sep 8, 2021

Annapurna Interactive has a staggering back catalogue, but 2021 has frankly not been great for the publisher. Last Stop failed to leave any kind of impact, Maquette is a game with Bryce Dallas Howard in it and not much else, and Twelve Minutes, despite being loaded with star-power, wastes its time loop mechanic in service of a ridiculous twist ending that derails the entire game. With The Artful Escape, plus Neon White, Stray, and Solar Ash to come in the near future, it feels like Annapurna is back.

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Oct 2, 2021

You play a young guitarist exploring your prog-rock ambitions to the full in this richly enjoyable psychedelic journey

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Wccftech
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Sep 8, 2021

The Artful Escape is a rockin' Space Opera but it doesn't have much going for it besides its pretty visuals and incredible music. The platforming is basic and the plot is serviceable, but it's nothing that audiences haven't seen before. I'd recommend this game only if you're a fan of rock music from the '70s and '80s.

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8 / 10.0
Sep 8, 2021

A cosmic rock voyage of self-discovery that doesn't folk about, The Artful Escape is a truly unique experience and a feast for the senses.

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