E3 2017 – Hands on with The Escapists 2

MIX LA is a magnificent event that runs alongside E3, letting indies have the spotlight on their own for a few hours and Team 17 where there showing two games, the one that I played though, was The Escapists 2 and while it was the PC build, it is coming to a range of platforms towards the end of the year.

The build that I played had my character sitting on a beach, asking the person he was with, if he had told the story of how he escaped prison and then we are taken to said prison and we work towards the escape. At first the daily life of being an inmate takes priority, you don’t want to get noticed by the guards doing things you should not be doing and after the mornings roll call, you can start making good on your escape.

Like the first game, you can’t simply just walk out the front door, though trying does result in some funny moments, I mean the game is British after all, no you need a plan. The first part is to get a key, which will grant you access to the tool room, where you can get tin snips, which allow you to cut into the air duct that is in another prisoners’ cell and then you are on your way. Much like an adventure game, there is generally only one way to complete a puzzle, which you will discover with some trial and error, though the discovering the right way was a lot of fun.

The build came to a close with my prisoner completing his explanation about his daring escape and that how he is surprised that no-one has yet come to find him, only for a force of police to arrive and arrest him again. While the entire experience was maybe 10 minutes in length, it was fun and I look forward to going hands on with the full game when it is released later this year.

The Escapists 2 will be coming to Nintendo Switch in 2017 and will support two players via split screen, or four players online.