The Artful Escape Reviews
For such a visually boisterous experience, The Artful Escape feels more like a chilly museum after closing hours.
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.
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.
I wanted to come away from The Artful Escape feeling inspired and changed, with a story to really mull over. I came into this four-to-five-hour experience with expectations set by early gameplay, and while some of them were met, I don’t know that it does enough to really justify its choice of medium. It has got more than enough in terms of eye candy and audio bliss, but I can’t confidently say that any of the other pieces manage to come together in this space oddity.
The Artful Escape is a strange and short game that is aimed at lovers of rock music in the first place and then those who are looking for a story in the second place, and not at all aimed at those looking for a distinctive playing style or revolutionary ideas in the world of platform games. A game with a lot of positive aspects, despite its short duration and the lack of need to play it again, but it was a unique experience far from the hustle and bustle of the RPG, but the game was quiet despite all of the noise it offers.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
I love the messaging and narrative of The Artful Escape. But as a game, it’s just a few steps above being a vapid walking simulator. Still, you shouldn’t miss out on this gem of a tale featuring space trips and sick riffs.
The Artful Escape is a visual and auditory feast for the senses, but the final result almost makes you wonder if this would have worked better as a short film than a game.
The Artful Escape feels like a novel written by a musician, and takes the music and electric guitar fans to a beautiful but not so perfect journey.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Artful Escape has a stellar narrative with actual good humour enhanced by the voice acting talent and beautiful landscapes, but the gameplay is stale and those who dislike electric guitar are in for a long haul.
The adventure does ultimately end up being a worthwhile one, with interesting characters, an incredible art style, and great music. But if there were more to the gameplay, the game – and its world – could have offered so much more.
The Artful Escape is a wonderful four-hour musical performance with some epic guitar solos and an incredible visuals.
Review in Russian | Read full review
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.
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.
The Artful Escape is a joyous intergalactic trip with an electric guitar and vibrant visuals. Like a good solo, if you get swept up in the experience, you'll forget all about its flaws.
Beethoven & Dinosaur's debut game has good inspiration and a lot of personality to be observed from some of the tracks, psychedelic environments and the tone that balances sensibility and good humor in Francis' mad space odyssey. On the other hand, the rhythm and platformer mechanics' development is too simple and unappealing. Character and plot developments do have a few highlights, but it's still too basic, weak and predictable, and even its sound and visual aspects have a few issues. The Artful Escape is recommended for peopel looking for a platform-adventure with unique science fantasy art direction in a musical context. However, it's not recommended if the person would like a platformer with deep mechanics, and even less so for someone looking for a focus on rhythm mechanics.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Much like a Pink Floyd laser light show at your local planetarium, The Artful Escape can razzle and dazzle, but you probably won’t remember it too long after the fact.
As its title implies, The Artful Escape is, indeed, an artful escape from the reality of most games. The vibrant visuals and larger-than-life story with its share of personal elements coalesce with its innate, performance-driven musicality to create an electric experience. However, it comes at the cost of its gameplay, which is boring at worst and merely passable at best. Such an imbalance undersells its message a bit as its mechanics can’t match its narrative ambitions, but those narrative ambitions are tuned well enough to drown out its mechanical flat notes.
The Artful Escape is a great visual-novel and a rock and roll dream. It is one of the best looking games I've played with an equally interesting narrative. However, the severe lack of interactiveness really drags down the game.
Beethoven & Dinosaur's musical odyssey across the universe isn't as adventurous with its gameplay as its venues, but that doesn't stop The Artful Escape from being a fun ride.
The Artful Escape is a visual and audio masterpiece that creates a sincere narrative that gives hope to any struggling would-be artist that they will find their own voice at the end of a tough journey. As good as that message might be, the gameplay mechanics don't nearly live up to the hype the rest of the game creates.