#MINECRAFT ESCAPISTS SERIES#

During the day, you’re able to buy crafting hints, purchasing them at the payphone. I’d follow the day-to-day routines perfectly, take opportunities to nosey in fellow inmate’s cells when the guards were well clear, and complete favours for some cash - but none of it was progressing my escape. There was no such thing as a model prisoner during my stay in Center Perks. I'd be minding my own business, washing the dirty uniforms in the laundry room, then a guard would waltz in and tell me to get back to work. During roll-calls, I would stand perfectly in line, staying still the whole time, but a guard would bark at me requesting I get a move on, rising my notoriety.

#MINECRAFT ESCAPISTS SERIES#

I began questioning whether the problems I was facing - such as the guards catching me without looking in my cell - were actually supposed to happen or just a series of bugs. Simple, right? As soon as you begin though, you find out there are prison routines you need to follow - like roll calls and mealtimes - and those items you found were super easy to come by in the tutorial, are now nowhere to be seen.ĭuring the daily prison routines, you usually have to be in certain places at certain times or risk your notoriety rising along with your chance of being knocked out or sent to solitary by the guards. After that, you awaken in Center Perks the lowest security prison in the game. The tutorial has you take some items from your desk in your cell, crawl into the ventilation system, beat up a guard and then escape through a convenient hole at the back of a yard. With The Escapists, it feels like you’re being told to make a 50ft minecart track, starting at the top of a hill with Creepers bearing down on you from all directions.Ĭonsidering my inability to progress, you may be surprised to discover that The Escapists has a tutorial. The difference is, with Minecraft, you start with nothing, hit a tree, get wood, be shown that wood can be made into tools, discover stronger materials that make beefier tools etc. Crafting is a key game mechanic in both this and the biggest sandbox game of all time, Minecraft.

There are some obvious videogame comparisons to make with The Escapists. That's right, I wasn't able to complete the first level of this game before having to review it. Though, I wouldn't know what they're like as I couldn't even escape the first one. The Complete Edition on Switch includes every prison available in the original 2014 release, as well as a few prisons that were originally DLC. You can befriend or make enemies of your fellow inmates, with each playing the role of taskmaster or merchant with every passing day in the slammer being different from the last.

Originally released in 2014 but making its way to Nintendo Switch this year, the retro-styled title starts you in a minimum security prison whilst eventually progressing you to a maximum security establishment. If you hadn't worked it out already, The Escapists has you take on the role of a prisoner intent on escape from a prison. My disappointing time with The Escapists was due to many things, but most of all the game lacked conveyance. Once the initial optimism as with any new game subsided, I began getting frustrated and trying to work out why I couldn’t do any better than I was. The Escapists, a prison breakout game from Mouldy Toof Studios and Team17 (creators of the Worms series), managed to do just that. This can be said for many multiplayer games I play, but scarcely can a solely single player game offer this same frustration. Option 'C' - that they might actually just be naturally better - is never an option. Any time I start thinking 'Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this!' a reality check sweeps in once I get steamrolled by a player whose only explanation for being that good is one of two reasons: A. Shocker, huh? If I'm terrible at it, then I start to hate it, even if I once enjoyed it. Nothing infuriates me more than being rubbish at a game. Reviews // 23rd Nov 2018 - 5 years ago // By James Bralant The Escapists: Complete Edition Review

Minecraft escapists