The Escapists Reviews
The Escapists has brought in hundreds of positive reviews, receives consistent updates, and can be downloaded and installed within minutes on Steam. With pixel art graphics and a fantastic soundtrack, it emulates the atmosphere of prison life while encouraging exploration and innovation from the players. If you have ever wondered how you would escape from a high security prison, this is your chance to see how strong your plot really is.
The Escapists is a fun retro bit throwback and a challenging prison puzzle game. It takes place over 9 different prisons in a sandboxed environment. Each prison has its own unique ways of mastering an escape. You can choose to make nice with your other inmates or beat them up for mini quests to gain some money. Each day starts with a roll call, then onto daily lifestyle activities such as breakfast, workout, showers, free periods, lunch, and dinner.
The Escapists presents a dynamic, fun, and challenging experience in a unique setting. The simple presentation belies the complexity and variety of gameplay. Gamers looking for a cerebral puzzler with a high replay value would be well-advised to check it out. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable prison experience.
The Escapists set out to create a fun and realistic prison escape game, and it has done that with flying colours. The player will immediately sympathize for their inmate as they begrudgingly follow the prison's schedule, but then bask in the excitement as they start to plan their prison desertion. The three-step system of increasing your stats, getting better jobs and then crafting the items you need works wonderfully and creates a smooth and logical experience that anyone could enjoy and appreciate. However there are areas for improvement, one being a story that could tie all six prisons together which could help the player build up a connection with their inmate. Also, the game would benefit from a more in-depth tutorial than the one we see at the beginning of the game. Otherwise, like us, players may be lost at the start of their stint in prison and not entirely sure of how to go about forming some sort of escape. The Escapists doesn't quite reach the heights of The Shawshank Redemption's emotion, relationships between characters or interesting story to tie everything together, but it does create an engaging and noteworthy experience that should be played by all.
The Escapists has us bang to rights! Lock us up and throw away the key!
An enjoyable puzzle game that features a surprising amount of depth. However, its gameplay can sometimes be as frustrating as it is rewarding.
A mite obtuse at first and sometimes unfair in its logic, sure, but a recommended game and one sure to have people poring over pulling off their perfect Shawshank Redemption-esque escape for years to come.
What looks like a bright and breezy game turns out to be an incredibly stiff challenge that can occasionally be hugely rewarding. More often than not, however, The Escapists is about as pleasurable as a swift kick in the bollocks.
Perhaps a bigger emphasis on characters or story could even go a long way to give players the incentive to continue or get more involved. It's very possible the game simply isn't for me, and this will become a niche title. But in my eyes, this is one prison I will simply not be returning to.
I'm pretty sure this won't appeal to a lot of people. It can be bone-crushingly hard at times and difficult to get into. But by giving you the tools to craft your own escape and leaving you alone to sort it out, The Escapists is one of those classic hands-off games that encourages you to create your own story and incredible moments.
While The Escapists on the Xbox One may not be the most definitive version of the title, it's still a soundly optimized and immensely original gaming experience that stands out from the crowd in the One's digital library. Unlike anything you'll ever play, The Escapists is among the most thoroughly and thoughtfully designed simulation RPGs.
The Escapists is a great game that doesn't bust the bank and will give your hours of enjoyment as you plot, craft and deploy your plans for your great prison break. I could find little wrong with this game even with the old school graphics, which may not be everyone's cup of tea, as they don't distract from how fun this gem of a title it is. Keep in mind though if you don't have a whole lot of patience this game may not be for you as there are times that you have to do mundane things, which is a gameplay style that isn't for all gamers.
The Escapists may look cute and lightweight, but it's a surprisingly deep sandbox RPG that punishes sloppiness and where players have a multitude of options in how they go about crafting their escape. Its learning curve is steep and hints are few and far between, but hey, that's life on the inside for you.
A lovely little game that looks far simpler than it is.
The Escapists certainly has its times where it felt like Shawshank's river-crawl through crap, but each escape felt hard-earned and true enough to the point where we felt clean on the other side of its prison walls.
How can you go wrong with a game like The Escapists, a most wonderful and unique prison escape adventure title? Answer: you can't.
The Escapists is a game for a certain kind of player. If you love the idea of getting thrown on a desert island and figuring out how to survive for days on end, you'll probably enjoy it. If you find that prospect trivial, knowing that a lot of that time will be spent doing menial tasks, you may not enjoy it. As for me, I think I'm going to go back to Escapists for quite a while whenever I need to brush up on my puzzle skills simply because of how open-ended it is.
The Escapists is a thrilling game that challenges you to break out of prison in a number of different ways.
The Escapists isn't for everyone. The visual style may put some people off, and the general repetitiveness of each day could grate with others. However, The Escapists is a smart title that encourages a player to experiment with different options. There's no single right answer to escaping, though some tactics will bring freedom faster than others. I personally found myself thinking of various plans even when not playing, and working out how viable they would be. If you enjoy crafting and planning, while potentially starting a riot, then The Escapists could be the game you're looking for.
"That's all it takes, really, pressure, and time. That and a big goddamn poster."