The Escapists 2

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

Overall: 8/10
The Escapists 2 is a 2D single player or co-op strategy sandbox pixel art-style game about, well, escaping prisons. This quirky indie game offers a delightful mix of careful planning, creativity, and sheer chaos, making every attempt at freedom a thrilling adventure.
The gameplay you'll find here is deep and rewarding but throws you straight into the deep end, for better or for worse. The game places you in the shoes of a pre-created or custom made prisoner, where your main goal is to break out of increasingly complex prisons. The mechanics here revolve around exploration, crafting, and innovation, with each day in prison offering opportunities to gather resources, form alliances, and map out your escape plan.
The Escapists 2's sandbox elements are show in the spotlight through its open-ended approach to problem-solving. Unlike many games that force you down a specific path, The Escapists 2 encourages creativity. Whether you prefer to dig a tunnel, disguise yourself as a guard, or incite a prison riot as a diversion, there’s no shortage of ways to achieve your goal. This freedom to choose your strategy makes each playthrough unique and offers great replayability among even the easiest prisons.
However, this is not without some drawbacks. As a new player who did not play the previous title, the game’s complexity felt daunting early on, especially in the more advanced prisons. The learning curve can be steep, with trial and error being a big part of the experience. But being someone who enjoy a good challenge, this complexity is very clearly part of the game’s charm. Along with this, The Escapists 2 offers a wealth of content that will keep you busy for hours. With multiple prisons to escape from, each more challenging than the last, the game has plenty of replay value. Additionally, the various escape methods and the unpredictability of multiplayer mean that no two playthroughs are exactly alike.
Speaking of which, one of the standout features of The Escapists 2 is its multiplayer mode. The ability to team up with friends or other players online adds a whole new layer of excitement and strategy. Coordinating with others to pull off a synchronized escape can be incredibly rewarding, and the unpredictable nature of human teammates often leads to hilarious and unexpected moments. However, multiplayer isn’t without its downsides. Even in 2024 there are sometimes connectivity issues and occasional lag, which can disrupt the flow of the game or leave your friends disconnected from your game.
Another standout features that is sure to keep the game fresh and exciting though is its robust Workshop support. Whether you're looking for a quick and easy escape or the most difficult challenge out there, the Workshop is packed with user-generated content that caters to every playstyle. The creativity of the community is on full display here, with some players having crafted incredibly detailed and challenging prisons that rival or even surpass the official ones. However, it is worth noting that if you're not sorting by most popular then the quality of Workshop content can vary, and finding well-balanced, well-designed prisons can sometimes be a bit of a hit or miss. Despite this, the sheer volume of content available means that there’s always something new to explore.
One last thing worth mentioning is how the game’s pixel art style is simple yet effective and captures the quirky and lighthearted tone of the game perfectly. The prisons are colorful and detailed, each with its unique layout and theme, which keeps the visuals fresh as you progress through the game. The animations, while basic, are satisfying and also add to the game’s overall appeal.
TL;DR:
Overall, The Escapists 2 is a challenging 2D indie strategy game that blends planning, creativity, and humor to make it a standout in the sandbox genre, and the multiplayer and workshop support adds a whole new dimension to the experience. While it’s not without its flaws, particularly in terms of difficulty and online connectivity, The Escapists 2 offers a deeply satisfying and endlessly entertaining experience for those willing to put in the time and effort and work with the game's systems. Whether you’re playing solo or with friends, this game is one that will test your patience, innovation, and problem-solving skills in the best possible way. If you’re a fan of strategic thinking and sandbox-style gameplay, then this is well worth the price, but even more so if you can pick it up on sale!

I have been playing both escapist games for years and the escapists 1 was a huge part of my childhood. after a couple hundred hours on the sequel on my xbox i hopped over to my pc to play the escapists 2 there to play and make custom levels and i can say with complete honesty the escapists 1 and 2 are the most underrated games of all time. thanks team 17 for these masterpieces.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

I've owned this game for several years, I've seen most of the development cycle for this game over the period I casually played it. The initial release was rocky, riddled with bugs and broken promises, but its had more than enough time to redeem itself. I'll delve deeper into the goods and bads.
Firstly, you have a lot of ways to escape and each one has their own nuances and planning which I feel is well executed here. You have relative freedom to mess around with what you're given. Although, the issue here is the dependency on looting items for sources of items which feels like wasted potential, there should be more rewards through other methods, would make progression feel more nuanced and realistic with a wave of guard dogs coming at me.
Secondly, the AI is quite robust from my time playing, all inmates have their own schedules and same with the guards as well. It's done well and adds a layer of strategy that is greatly appreciated. Although, the punishments for negative actions are too harsh and unrealistic in some cases. I don't know why the developers gave the cops such thick plot armor, but it only serves as an annoyance rather than being challenging. The entire prison should not be aware of my existence the split second I beat up a guard and take their items once noticed. Even subtle nuances like missing items that alert guards and ect is unforgiving. There is little room for error which should be expected for breaking out of a prison, but this isn't the future, there is no way some of this stuff should happen as fast it does, which is not rewarding or thrilling.
Thirdly, Multiplayer has been one of my motivations for playing. I bought a copy of this game, when it went on-sale again I bought another copy and gifted it to someone I knew so we could play together. It added so much replayability. Although singleplayer is fine, I would absolutely recommend playing this with someone you know as it greatly enhances the experience. My time with multiplayer is what kept me hooked on it and I don't have any notable complaints about it. Any complaint I can think of would just be a symptom of the faults of the base game itself not inherent to multiplayer.
Fourthly, the playtime itself. It's ok, but could be longer, as it's rather easy to beat the game and can feel repetitive at times. Would feel much more rewarding, although multiplayer makes up for this due to the increased amount of options. And the prison editor could be better, which doesn't bode well for longevity.
Overall, as a prison escape simulator, It's fine. Could be better in-regards to item farming dependency and some of the overly punitive mechanics that make rewarding your time feel more like a chore. Even if mutliplayer isn't the main selling point for you, theres a decent amount of context for singleplayer. Although, it would need to be expanded to warrant purchasing for such at 20$, wait for a discount.

Not super good at escaping, but have lots of fun making everyone hate me then bribing them to love me again. 10/10 Realistic social life simulator.

i review games on steam after i 100% complete them! check out my reviews to see all the games i have completed!

the escapists 2 is a strategy role-playing game developed by 'mouldy toof studios' and published by british developer/publisher team17. it released worldwide in august 2017 on pc, ps4, & xbox one, with a nintendo switch port released in january 2018, and a mobile port releasing in january 2019. a sequel to the critically acclaimed 'the escapists' (2015), this top-down strategy game takes players on intricate and varied adventures through various prisons, allowing them to plan & execute sometimes-elaborate escapes.

at its core, the escapists 2 is a sandbox-style game that combines elements such as strategy, stealth, and time management. you play as an inmate with the primary objective being simply to escape from a series of increasingly intricate and challenging prisons. the gameplay loop revolves around adhering to the daily routine of prison life, as you attend role calls throughout the day, complete tasks for currency, or form alliances with other inmates in order to receive aid in escaping.

one of the standout features is the freedom given to players, allowing them to choose their own approach to escaping. whether it's something simple like digging a underground tunnel outside, or crafting a plan where you steal/craft weapons and/or keys from guards in order to escape in plain sight instead. the possibilities are vast, and the variance in prison themes helps, giving players unique ways to escape certain themed prisons. another standout feature is the addition of multiplayer, enabling up to four players to collaborate in planning/executing escapes. the multiplayer experience enhances the game's replayability, offering a fresh perspective and additional challenges (such as unique escape methods where you HAVE to have 2-4 players) when compared to the single-player mode. there's also a robust AI system for both inmates and guards alike, each individual NPC has their own daily routine which adds a layer or realism to the prison environment.

while mostly maintaining the charming pixel art style of its predecessor, this sequel manages to introduce improved visuals and much more detailed character models, with new animations as well taking it a step further. prisons are diverse and creatively designed, offering a distinctive upgrade over the original. there is a exceptional detail in the environments as well, from prison cells to outdoor areas that enhance the immersion and makes each prison/level feel unique. well-executed uses of color & lighting create a visually engaging experience that complements the game's core themes.

the escapists 2 additionally features a fitting soundtrack that complements the game's atmosphere. the music dynamically changes based on the player's actions, adding tension during escape attempts or riots/fights, and providing a sense of pride & accomplishment upon success. there is also a solid amount of varied sound effects that enhance the audiovisual experience & contributes to the immersion.

this is honestly a masterfully crafted sequel to an already good game. successfully building upon the foundation laid by its predecessor, the game's combination of strategic depth, engaging gameplay mechanics, and charming pixel art style creates an immersive experience that captivates players from start to finish. the addition of multiplayer, diverse prisons, and a rich crafting system ensures that the escapists 2 stands as a pinnacle in the genre of strategic simulation games.