The Artful Escape Reviews
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.
Ultimately, The Artful Escape is so stellar in terms of both character building and narrative
The Artful Escape is a story about legacies, finding yourself, change and transition that presents itself in such an ingenious way that all can absolutely enjoy it. Gliding across the cosmos, playing electric guitar in unknown lands, and eventually vanquishing a divine complication with intricate audio design and superb music to accompany – it’s perplexing how captivating this interstellar adventure is. Inviting players on a musical journey through cosmic realms and challenging introspection, The Artful Escape is a masterpiece.
It's a psychedelic trip through a glam-rock wonderland, an utter visual delight, like nothing out of this world; indeed, something that feels ripped straight from Ziggy Stardusts head.
The Artful Escape is a bold and beautiful trip through the cosmos, featuring a killer soundtrack and a thrilling space adventure.
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
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.
The Artful Escape tells a heartfelt story of artistic self-discovery through a filter of color, light, sound, and joy. Combining gonzo sci-fi imagery with blaring space-rock guitar chords, The Artful Escape is a playable concept album – or at least a grand trip through that album's cover art. Never difficult but always fun, The Artful Escape is highly recommended as both a great narrative and a fun exploration into Bowie-style space rock imagery.
The Artful Escape takes you on a trip with Francis into the cosmos, marrying music and visuals into a beautiful gameplay experience. Small things pop up a time or two, but absolutely nothing keeps The Artful Escape from being entertainment brilliance. Place this among the top indie titles on the PlayStation platform.
After almost 2 years without being able to attend a concert normally, those who claim to be music lovers have the opportunity with The Artful Escape to participate in what comes closest to it: a completely barred rock narrative experience.
Review in French | Read full review
The Artful Escape is a brash, bold and beautiful musical journey with a simplistic gameplay hook and all the interdimensional jellyfish deities you can shake a quantum-powered space guitar at. It's the next-best way to spend an afternoon indoors to dropping acid.
And it honestly doesn't take the game long to deliver on that hinted at promise.
I would absolutely score it a “Bill & Ted air guitar riff out of ten” if I could.
Here we have a game that I can say should be played at least once by everyone who loves their games relaxing and that will bring a smile to your face with every twist and turn. The only downside is that anyone who hates music will struggle here but I suspect that may be a mere few. Annapurna Interactive has delivered a delightful game, a fabulous game, a psychedelic adventure that simply is an experience to behold and then some. Psychedelic supremacy has arrived. Now, where’s my Fender?!
The Artful Escape is by turns psychedelic, moving, exultant, and lovely. The central metaphor of a young performer bringing fantastic new worlds into existence through the art of music is a powerful one, and while the theme of a struggling musician finding his authentic voice while paying homage to the past might not be a new one, it’s certainly new to videogames. The Artful Escape only missteps when it tries too hard to be a game, ironic given the story’s premise of search for authenticity. Aside from that, The Artful Escape is a surprising and joyous exploration of the power of collaboration, the struggle for identity, and the mind-blowing, life-altering sound of the very loud galactic symphony.
The Artful Escape is a game expected by many, including myself. We are facing a different title and that is not for all audiences, but if you really like music you must try it, since I do not remember trying anything similar. It reminds me a lot of the 70s and 80s where rock groups like Pink Floyd and others dominated the music scene of the time. Above all I think we should see this title as a set of experiences, since the union of everything shows us an incredible and unforgettable experience where we will live a musical made video game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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
Unmissable for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, and absolutely recommended for everyone else, The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti tells with irony and intelligence the path of artistic and inner growth of a talented teenage musician. Through the celestial bodies of Stupefacosmo, the protagonist and the player learn together to follow only the rhythm of their electric guitar, among extraordinarily inspired landscapes.
Review in Italian | Read full review
As a guitar-shredding odyssey throughout a stunning cosmos, The Artful Escape delivers on its name tenfold. It is a short tale and I'm in no hurry to book a return trip to the Cosmic Extraordinary, but it remains an unforgettable journey thanks to superb art direction, an uplifting story, and stirring guitar solos by cliffside.