The Escapists has garnered some well deserved attention far beyond its humble origins. Mouldy Toof Studios have crafted an elegant ode to the 8-bit games of yore, weaved in an (un?)healthy dose of voyeurism, unforgiving old-school difficulty, topped with a crescendoing sense of achievement.
There are games that hinge on that fuzzy feeling of accomplishment after a victory over a trial by fire, but few are as masochistically addictive as Mouldy Toof’s jail-break-em-up – The Escapists.
Setting & Design
The Escapists takes place in various prisons all across the world, each with its own individual trials and prison culture. Games in the ‘indie’ bracket often seem to recline into retro graphics for budgetary reasons, but I don’t get a sense of that with The Escapists. The grid-based level design compliments the gameplay. Whilst this could’ve been achieved with Unreal 3/4 or Unity3D, it wouldn’t really add to the game.
The Escapists is intentionally light hearted. You can make shanks, but you can’t stab people – instead merely knocking them out only for them to get back up with full health a few moments later. There are communal showers, but the game’s authentic looking NES-esque sprites won’t hump your character in some disturbing 8-bit reimagining of American History X’s shower scene – instead tormenting their fellow inmates with vaguely sarcastic remarks. I feel as if a full blown 3D version of the game would’ve begged a grittier approach to prison life, and taken away from what is undoubtedly the centrepiece of The Escapists design intentions – gameplay.
Escaping
As the title suggests, The Escapists is a unique prison-escape action-puzzle game, with old school difficulty to compliment it’s old school graphics. I feel as if The Escapists is designed for the modern internet age, where crafting recipes can be discerned from Google – however at this time, the wikis are barren, GameFAQs is empty, and discussions surrounding the game take place in the context of the game’s Early Access Steam version.
Strategies for escape can range from the incredibly elaborate to brute force simplicity, but all hinge on items – contraptions you craft using various innocuous objects that become deadly weapons or complex tools when combined in the right way. The game is not forthcoming with recipes, and often crafting recipes don’t present themselves in any sort of logical way. After getting into a scrap with a guard, I discovered a key on his body – only to have it taken away instantaneously the moment he got up and reported my dissent. I read online that it’s possible to craft a key mould to supplement the inevitable loss of keys… in movies I’d noted this is done typically by embedding a key in soap – this doesn’t work.
Instead, you have to melt a plastic object and embed the key in ‘molten plastic’, which remains molten forever. I’m not sure I would’ve discovered this without the internet, but its hard to say whether or not this was Mouldy Toof’s intention – discussion is a staple of modern gaming, and the open ended nature of The Escapists will make for a near dizzying array of escape plans.
You can dig out of your prison cell Shawshank style, you can subvert a guards uniform and craft fake ID’s and just walk out of the place, you can step ladder over the fence and flee into the forest – all these sound easy enough, but throw in the malady of prison life and simplistic plans can become maddeningly difficult.
I think The Escapists is a game that will be more fun whilst it remains obscure, because the maps are not procedurally generated. Crazy YouTube min/maxers’ will quickly figure out the best routes and plans and make it easy for people too lazy to experience the game blindfolded. I felt pretty blindfolded.
After much trial and error, I had decided that I would climb through the prisons air vents into the careers office, beat up the careers officer and steal his key, then hide in a cupboard and then simply slip out and cut my way through the fence. To me this seemed logical, and plausible within the games systems, but after several hours of increasing my intellect browsing the internet in the prison’s computer room, crafting clippers, scrounging screwdrivers from fellow inmates, doing chores to placate the game’s violent guards, I was all ready to make a break for it. I chipped my way through the vents, which required a new file for every grate that stood in my way, hid in a cupboard in the office – waiting in real time for dawn – only to discover that you can’t attack civilians. No key for me. I was discovered by the guards, lost all my crafted contraband items and was essentially back to square one.
I found this several hour long marathon in trial and error to be frustrating, but rather than make me want to quit, I instead felt more determined. The game is addictive, and I think The Escapists’ success will hinge on this fact.
The light heartedness of the game holds it back in places, such as not being able to attack the careers officers or prison physicians. Also the various weapons you craft are never displayed in game, you always look as though you’re punching – which emphasises that combat is a rudimentary means to an end. Sometimes combat is a smart thing, especially if you want to lift a key from a guard – but the consequences will be thick and fast. Repeatedly upsetting inmates will make them attack you on sight, which can be a nightmare if you’re trying to transport a particularly illegal item into your stash (items placed in the game world are removed by guards, and won’t despawn – so placing them out of sight, in vents, holes, is pretty paramount to your success). Guards react similarly to bad rep, they will shake down your cell more often if you ignore your duties as an inmate, and will be more prone to beating you into a pulp and taking your items if they catch you fighting with other inmates. The ecosystem of The Escapists’ prison life is rich in as much as it is authentic, the drudgery you’re subjected to as a prisoner is risky from a gameplay point of view, but every duct tape you acquire, every clipper you craft or pick axe you stash keeps you in the game. The will to escape quickly sinks in and edges out the frustration and necessary monotony, even in the game’s simplistic first level.
Subsequent prisons become more complex, introducing metal detectors, electric fences, more stringent prison schedule regimes, and more, forcing your plans to become ever more elaborate. The relationships you build as a prisoner become even more important, you will spend more hours simply living as a prisoner to identify architectural layouts and weaknesses, every duct tape you scavenge will become the sweet ambrosia of freedom.
Conclusion
Part of the genius of The Escapists is the paradox of how much freedom you actually have, within the confines of your 8bit prison. There’s certainly room for improvement, co-op seems like a natural fit for the game, and the art direction might not appeal to everyone – but when it comes to gameplay, The Escapists is top notch. The vast amount of crafted items, NPC interaction and smart map designs afford the player with such a wide scope for creativity when it comes to plotting an escape, should you have the patience.
I think the internet will be rapid to provide the easiest escape routes and detailed crafting databases – which could detract from the game if you’re the kind of person who quickly boots up GameFAQs when they become stuck. Playing without hand holding made The Escapists a truly unique experience, despite the hints offered in-game via limited telephone. I urge you to play this way as well.
The Escapists will certainly not appeal to everyone. This is a thinker’s game. If you’re into puzzles and strategizing, The Escapists represents a must-buy. Be warned however, prison life is not for the faint hearted.
Jez C (MSFTY) is a games journalist, Executive Editor at Windows Central. They contributed 39 articles to ICXM in 2015, focused on game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: now leads Xbox coverage at Future plc’s Windows Central as Executive Editor.