I'm not sure if I could trust anyone that actually likes this visual novel if I'm being real. I honestly only played this because I had "Saya's Song" stuck in my head for like a week and thought to myself at 1 AM today to finally give the stupid VN a go (knowing I wasn't going to like it). Anyways I did manage to play it through in like 3 sittings since it was short but Jesus Christ was it actually awful. I also got every ending so before any dudebro with nonce particles inside them gets rowdy thinking I only got one ending or something, CALM DOWN.

I liked certain concepts of the game such as Saya being a sort of "idol" to Fuminori, but I genuinely wished the game didn't try cramming down stupid unnecessary sex scenes down our throats like "heh... isn't this EVIL and DARKSIDED? take a glimpse at Urobuchi's DARK and TWISTED mind... heh". Like great, thanks Urobuchi I don't like you. Everyone and their grandma is like nnooo nooo these sexual scenes are supposed to cement how far gone Fuminori is and how he's losing his humanity and like it's to show how he and Saya are the only lonely people in each other's worlds and- BLAH BLAH BLAH I DONT CARE. IT SUCKS. If I'm being real the sex scenes with Fuminori feel like an excuse for men to find a way to feel aroused during these scenes because clearly they were trying to hit some sort of erotic points for the reader. There are so many things that could have been done better to still prove that Fuminori is a horrible human being without it resorting to sex. I had to keep skipping the h scenes and their dialogue because why would any sane person want to see a grown ass man doing all of that to someone who looks like a ten year old. If I had a nickel for how many times I saw the word manhood as a replacement for the word penis I'd have enough money to fly to Japan and drop an anvil on Urobuchi's head.

Anyways, I just don't appreciate how pessimistic and misanthropic this visual novel is, and I guess I'm glad I finally played through this myself so I can mentally throw rocks and strike people with psychic beams anytime I see someone praise this horrendous piece of slop.

The whole time I was playing The Artful Escape only one thought was going through my mind. "Do I like this?" I don't hate it, I don't love it but Do I like it?

The issue is for everything I do enjoy there is a counter negative. Whilst the space faring teenager running from the shadow of his famous folksinger uncle is an interesting premise for the story, I never really warmed to the protagonist overly and the ending feels a bit lackluster.

Where the visuals are gorgeous (mostly due to stellar art design) and the music is excellent, the gameplay however is one note. You move right holding square so your character plays his guitar. This is quite a gorgeous view as the background lights up as you move through it due to the visual design and the music is mostly great. On the negative though the wailing guitar gets repetitive and the levels have nothing else for them except the very occasional double jump ledge grab interrupting the guitar playing, both pointless and sabotages it's main gimmick strangely. When not just being a guitar solo walking simulator there are some almost rhythm game boss battles and while I like the idea they are all exactly the same and add nothing past the first one due to the dull usage of buttons to implement it. They become tedious extremely quickly.

Honestly it feels like it should have been an animated short rather than a video game. One made by a guitarist who loves psychedelic 70's album covers. It's constantly one step forward and one step back, yes it's gorgeous at times, it can be occasionally witty, charming and full of imagination but as a game it's simply boring to play.

I don't hate it, I don't love it but..... I don't think I really like it.

+ Some great art design.
+ Some of the music is excellent.
+ Story Idea is interesting.

- Boring to actively play.
- Boss battles are all the same.
- Main character wasn't to my taste.
- Ending lacked the spark I expected.

Playing this directly after spending an hour on homework after I got back home from watching a 3 hour and 26 minute movie (and also drank 74 grams of sugars worth of soda) was NOT fun dude.

I LOVE the character designs in this and the graphics are really charming. I love the models and whatever but this has to be one of the most frustrating arcade games I've ever played... it's just not fun. My favorite thing about this game though is when you lose full health as Spike, his son? or brother? detaches from Spike's back and hops off and starts mimicking his punches and stuff-- it's just so cute. The OST honestly is pretty mid in this except for the first stage in the Opera thingy or whatever. I literally couldn't take it anymore after the 4th level I just couldn't put up with the boring beat em up move sets and fighting the ten trillionth boss that would kick my ass 3 rounds in a row. Maybe I'm just bad at this game who knows...

One of the most beautiful Otome games I've ever seen, with many cool effects and even the character's mouths move, wooooow!
So visuals are definitely the strong point of this game and while i enjoyed the main character more than in most Otomes, i must say that the story didn't really do much for me. It's not bad by any means but i did wish that there was a bit more romance involved and i found myself guessing the ending fairly easily. There were a few twists here and there that i didn't exactly expect but they didn't really surprise me either.
Nonetheless, i had fun and I'd definitely recommend playing it.