The Escapists

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NOTE:
Not to be confused with a 2012 platform game The Escapist[1] or an American game magazine The Escapist. For other uses, see Escapist.
The Escapists

"There's a meal in my fly!"

— Inmate
Genre(s): Strategy
Role-playing
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows
Xbox One
PlayStation 4
Linux
OS X
Xbox 360
Android
iOS
Nintendo Switch
Release Date:
February 13, 2015
Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
WW: February 13, 2015
JP: September 14, 2016 (XONE)
PlayStation 4
PAL: May 29, 2015
NA: June 2, 2015
Linux, OS X
WW: October 21, 2015
Xbox 360
WW: December 18, 2015
Android, iOS
WW: March 2, 2017
Nintendo Switch
WW: September 25, 2018
JP: May 23, 2019
Engine: Unity
Clickteam Fusion (PC)
Developer(s): Mouldy Toof Studios
Publisher(s): Team17
Country: United Kingdom
Series: The Escapists
Successor: The Escapists 2
The Escapists: The Walking Dead (by release date)


The Escapists is a top-down strategy role-playing video game developed by Mouldy Toof Studios and published by Team17 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Linux, OS X, and Xbox 360. It was released for Android and iOS in 2017, while the Nintendo Switch version of the game, titled The Escapists: Complete Edition, was released in 2018. The game was followed by a sequel titled The Escapists 2 in 2017.

The gameplay involves the player as a prisoner escaping various prisons through various means while trying to not be suspicious and to obey the schedule. Players can interact with the inmates and staff, and craft items to aide in their escape.

Why You Can Escape Here

  1. At the beginning, it is worth admitting that the concept invented by the designers from Moldy Toof Studios is really great and unique, because the game is a combination of strategy games with role-playing game elements, making a mixture of allowing the player to escape from a given prison offered by the game.
  2. Since this game's event takes place in a prison, there is such a rarely seen feature in games, meaning the routine, where you perform various activities during the time of the day.
  3. The game contains many useful items that are the main determinant of a prison break. Some are useful in a given situation, the other as "ingredients", crafting various tools that influence their power, while other tools are used for different activities, depending on the structure of the maps
  4. The main feature of The Escapists, meaning the prisons themselves, are incredibly designed and accorded to the difficulty level, while being easy to remember. The game features six main prisons, six bonus maps and even the other five DLC prisons, and most of them are enjoyable, due to the exquisite level design. The game difficulty shows that the harder prison is, the more secure and less luxurious prisons are.
  5. The game isn't limited to just one method of breaking out of jail, you can do it in multiple different ways, making the game more fun with sort of better replay value. Perhaps in some prisons, prison break strategies may repeat themselves, other maps have their own unique method. For example, you can start riot to slip out of the jail or be strong enough and take down everyone in the prison to escape.
  6. So that The Escapists is not an empty sandbox in which it relies solely on strategy, it also belongs to the genre of role-playing games, combining common features of this genre, especially those from the Nintendo Entertainment System era.
  7. The graphics and sound design are great reminicisent of retro games in the era of SNES. And background music is a wonderful as well as each prison has their own themes.
  8. One certain thing Team17 delivers in their productions is definitely a bit of humor, and The Escapists belongs to that row as well, and most of all, the publishers are not disappointing in this case, but even delight. The humor in the game is mainly dominated by the absurd, funny, and even very genuinely-written lines that the characters in this game pronounce, being remarkably apt to all the gloomy atmosphere in the prison.
  9. Overall, the game is one big challenge due to some elements such as the persistent guard AI, the limited schedules, secure prison layouts and randomness that happens throughout the day that make it seemingly intense to escape. There are many aspects other that make it a non-casuals game, including:
  10. The game has a well-programmed artificial intelligence of the guards and prisoners, which means that you are dealing with mentally functional characters and very consistent with the behavior of both in a typical prison.
  11. Solid number of great achievements to obtain. Most of them are obtained by completing various activities that count the number of times you have completed these tasks according to achievements. Some achievements are easy to complete, others require a grind, and some make you take the challenge. The game has, for the most part, extremely satisfying achievements, even the grind ones, which are mainly based on the progress you make in certain aspects of the game.
  12. As the PC version was released via Steam, there is something like Steam Workshop that allows to upload mods for games, while in case of The Escapists, you can upload your self-made maps, making the game more worth a replay.
  13. The game pays tribute to the Worms series, another IP owned by Team17, in the form of two items. This shows how much the company cares about other IPs and it's good to know that they are not forgetting their profitable franchise.
  14. On the Nintendo Switch, the game was released as Complete Edition, which means this port featured every prison available in one copy of the game, including DLC prisons, not only saving you more money, but also is an extremely convenient option to have an all-in-one rather than having to buy several DLCs separately.
  15. Noting that the PC version of The Escapists is powered by the Clickteam engine, it has an extremely small storage capacity, only occupying a drive of 110-120MB, depending on how many Steam Workshop prisons you subscribe.
  16. One fairly noticeable thing that standard prisons lacked is that there weren't any unique routine themes in any of the prisons, and thankfully the DLC prisons ensure that the game doesn't feel too repetitive when it comes to the soundtrack; this means that each prison available in DLC format has its own music themes, without borrowing from the main prisons (except Fhurst Peak Correctional and Alcatraz; the latter features only the new "Free Time" theme).
  17. As mentioned earlier, the game features five other maps, with three of them having much more unique theme, soundtrack, appearance of guards and prisoners, as well as more original prison break methods exclusively aimed to each three unique prisons. The levels also have more original level design and are generally better designed with a freshness dose than classic prisons. Prisons include:
  18. There are many useful new items that are introduced in special prisons such as Escape Team, Duct Tapes Are Forever, Santa's Sweatshop, and Jingle Cells that serve as escape progress. Some may be alternatives to standard items, but also are completely new and original, doing something different from the rest.
  19. All of the achievements you get from DLCs are walkthrough-based, which means when you complete the prison, you automatically receive every achievement based on a certain prison available via DLCs.

Bad Qualities

  1. The biggest problem of The Escapists, which makes others would not be able to convince themselves of the game enough, is certainly the fact that the game leads the player to the trial-and-error approach, having on their minds to discover exactly how to play the game and what to do at all.
  2. Even though the AI for the most part works as it should, it is sometimes so confused or acrimonious. Occasionally inmates/guards change direction unintentionally, other times they stand and don't know what to do (even after hitting someone or checking desks in the presence of guards), and the guards are too clinging to the player, frequently warning you to come back to the room even though you came to the exact area at least once in a single routine.
  3. Due to its incredibly low budget and the limitations of Clickteam Fusion, the personal computer counterpart suffers from a lot of bugs and glitches. Click here to see the compilation of its technical issues that especially might make the game easier.
  4. Even though it is an overall well-made game, it has a few shortcomings to indicate that The Escapists is a bit too overpriced, especially for its not very vast content, and the lack of support for a game that has already been abandoned by publishers since December 2016, excluding other later-published ports which had light post-release support through minor fixes.
  5. Some jobs are terrible to perform, especially the Gardener and Janitor. The only thing you do as a Gardener is remove the weeds, which only build up in a few far places and they don't grow back quickly. Janitor suffers from it in a similar way, in which you only clean the floor, which is also based on a similar mechanic as Gardener.
  6. Some achievements are very tiresome to complete, forcing the player to grind, or they may be based on luck, and worst of all, some progress may occasionally fail to save, with the worst offerings being Never Be Alone Again, The Wet Bandit, and Clean Getaway. While there are some cool achievements with some grind, these ones aren't satisfying at all, due to their other issues mentioned here.
  7. The favors are repetitive, largely involving stealing an item, giving away an item, beating a prisoner/guard unconscious, and hitting them in the presence of guards in a specific routine. Completing some favors is also frustrating, especially those dealing with giving away an item where you need to find a certain item from the desks or the prisoner/guard's inventory where sometimes you won't find that item all the whole in-game day.

Reception

The Escapists received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. According to the review aggregating website Metacritic, the game received "mixed or average" reviews for most platforms and "generally favorable" reviews for the iOS version. The game was praised for its in-game graphics and the freedom approach, but criticized for its trial-and-error approach. In several gaming websites, some critics told stories of the prison break.

Destructoid's Chris Carter gave for The Escapists an 8/10, stating the game is "for a certain kind of player" and "how open-ended it is". In his review, the reviewer explained that some later prisons "will test the resolve of some of the greatest strategy enthusiast due to their complexity.

Jon Mundy of Nintendo Life, while describing The Escapists as "a cute, challenging, and potentially rewarding sandbox game that refuses to hold your hand", was more critical than other reviewers, giving it a 6/10. In the period when the game on the Nintendo Switch was released later than its sequel, The Escapists 2, Mundy claimed that "the original will feel like a notable step back.

The Escapists received generally positive reviews from audiences. On Steam, the game holds the "very positive" rating based on 15,115 reviews as of December 24, 2021.

Tips

  1. The game features five types of keys, and throughout the game, first five guards have one of these keys.
  2. If you want to remember exactly what key a given guard has, rename him before starting gameplay (for example call him "444444", "red" or whatever you want), also bearing in mind which the guard holds the key you are focusing on.
  3. On the PC version, when you want the guard to accidentally not notice you in a critical situation, like approaching you while breaking a wall, press the ESC button often so that he goes in the opposite direction.
  4. When you have an object-destroying tool and you want to upgrade it at the same time, first use the weaker tool to save the tool that could break after the last use of it, then upgrade it, and repeat this cycle so that you don't just save resources, but also time.
  5. You don't necessarily have to stand for the entire hour on one time, accorded to schedule, you can always visit a room dedicated to a given routine once and then focus on something more important.
  6. As the game has a feature implemented that slowly reduces stats, make sure you have looked at the Intellect stat before crafting an item, which is merciless to the player by not having enough Intellect, even when owning one less than it should.
  7. On the PC version, in Fort Bamford and Banned Camp prisons, you can use the computer and library at the same time, pressing them both while standing between them. The effect will be that it has a doubly increased Intellect stat.

Trivia

  • The game was initially released, as an early access release in August 2014 exclusively for Microsoft Windows via digital distribution service Steam. Its feedback allowed Mouldy Toof Studios to improve the game, for example by adjusting the difficulty. Early access allowed Davis to experiment with ideas and solicit suggestions from the player community.

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  1. ↑ GameFAQs: The Escapist
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