The Escapists 2 has officially gotten early parole for good behavior and is released on the world. Escapists 2 is all about getting out of jail. This is our Escapists 2 review.
Whether that’s through bribery, planning an escape route or various other means, is up to you. But all that wouldn’t be as fun if you couldn’t make your own character with various unlockables. And let me tell you there are quite a few unlockables. You can unlock some from achievements and others from escaping certain prisons in certain ways. You can’t play the part of a crazed prison convict who’s trying a bunch of interesting ways to escape if you don’t look the part. I give you The Dude.
Single Player
There you are, quietly eating lunch during lunch time and a fight breaks out. Sam is beaten down by the guards and left for the medics to come get. Time to quickly search his body before the medics get here. Sam had a shovel on him, now it’s yours. Time to go to that abandoned mine area and start digging that tunnel. At least that’s one way you could do it. In The Escapists 2, you follow a routine. Eat breakfast, go to roll call, go to a job, free time, etc. Following that routine means the guards don’t harass you, stop following that routine and the guards start to take more interest in you including chasing you down and doing searches of your cell.
You could follow that routine, eating to regain stamina during food breaks and using free time to workout to gain strength or hit the library to up your intelligence. Yes, that’s right Escapists 2 has stats. Stats you can increase by doing activities that cost you stamina to do. Having higher intelligence means you have more options of things to craft, like soap in a sock as a weapon or even a homemade bow. But not just weapons, you can even make a cup of tea or a ladder. Why make a cup of tea? Because there are quests in the game. Prisoners can give you quests to do things for them and you can gain rep, get money, etc from them. Alternatively, you could get one of the jobs in the game to earn money to bribe guards and other prisoners to do things for you.
The Levels
There are currently 10 maps available in the game. You start out with 5 and then can unlock more by collecting keys which you get from escaping various prisons in certain ways. Each prison is available in both singleplayer and multiplayer except for Prison 17 which is the tutorial prison. There will be more maps coming down the line via a season pass.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer is where I feel The Escapists 2 shines. You have all the items, stats, jobs and routines you have in single player; but now you’ve added in the chaos of playing with other people. I ended up playing with a bunch of friends and quite frankly we had a blast. At times, yes we messed with each other (someone suddenly had a bunch of dead rats on their cell room floor) and at other times we grouped up to do an objective. Several were the other prisoners that were mysteriously knocked out. The biggest hitch to multiplayer is that everyone has to be together to escape, ensuring cooperation. We had a few escapes that were pure luck and had us out the prison door quick as can be, and other times we had to work get out.
Overall, The Escapists 2 felt well put together, polished and fun. It’s highly recommended.
Escapists 2 Review Score: 9/10
Pros
- Lots of things to do
- Singleplayer and multiplayer
- 10 maps with a variety of prison (even one on a train)
- Drop in/Drop out multiplayer
Cons
- Some of the escapes required to unlock other maps can be difficult
- No unicorn heads for you character to wear
Note: Our PC copy was provided by PR for review purposes.
