The Escapists 2 (PC) Preview

The Escapists 2 is a hard game to describe other than the simplest term of "jail escape simulator." Taking the role of a customised character, the player must slowly go through a daily grind of roll call, eating, and so on, while gathering items to try to escape.

The entire thing operates as one big puzzle with multiple answers. There might be a key in a desk that gets you into another room, for example, or if you can find a shovel you can tunnel under into a new room. Depending on which way you go, it opens up new items, new routes, and more. All of this must be balanced with trying to hide the accumulating items of preparing for the breakout.

The simulation aspect revolves around a simple Life, Stamina and Heat system, which is basically how much of a beating the character can take in a fight, how long they can work, and, lastly, how much the guards are looking for them. Resistance to some of these can be boosted by working out at the gym. There are a lot of various items to craft, as well, limited partly by the player's creativity and an intelligence stat.

With so many options on how to escape, it can be both fun and utterly overwhelming. Players who like a heavy mental challenge will find quite a bit to get into here, but those who want a faster or more direct reward for their efforts will be disappointed. There are some control issues present where despite being such an inventory/GUI-focused game, it is simply hard to do simple things like change items, or try to dig in the right place.

With multiplayer (not yet ready in the preview), The Escapists 2 could presumably be really fun coordinating with friends on trying to escape, especially if there are issues of only a few making it out, which could be a cause of some good laughs. As of now, gamers with heavy puzzle interests in their tastes should keep an eye out. Despite very light RPG elements, and even sandbox style gameplay, it is essentially a puzzle/simulator style of game.