The Artful Escape is a visually spectacular, emotionally compelling and audibly gorgeous game. It has basically everything I want from an indie game. I'm not even sure if I can give this a proper review because Im running out of cool adjectives. Nearly everything about this video game was dazzling, its a hell of a time and exactly why Annapurna is one of my favorite publishers.
Usually gameplay is secondary to me, of course I love some games like Hotline Miami because of the gameplay, but for indie games especially I always value a good story and experience over gameplay itself. All that is definitely here in this, but for some reason the gameplay in this just didnt feel enough. Most of what you do is holding square to shred, and often this effects the wondrous backgrounds in a really fun way. but theres still a few too many sections where shredding does little if anything and you're just platforming jankily. There's also rhythm game-esque moments that while fun are short and felt like they should of evolved in a cooler way by the end. Theres really only two or three segments where you actually get to play what you want and I wish there was a bit more than that. It just feels like there should of been a little more. Collectibles or more than a small handful of miscellaneous trophies would of went a long way I think.
Seriously though, those are just nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. The game has more than enough brilliance in its art style and fun writing. Every bit of this game brims with character. Its a cool time, man.
There's also a section roughly 2/3rds through where you get to dress your character and can make Francis as feminine as you'd like, and you can essentially turn him into a femboy or even a goth femboy. And thats dope as hell.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #207)
Time Played: 6 hours 9 minutes
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #103 of 2022
August Completion #23
Usually gameplay is secondary to me, of course I love some games like Hotline Miami because of the gameplay, but for indie games especially I always value a good story and experience over gameplay itself. All that is definitely here in this, but for some reason the gameplay in this just didnt feel enough. Most of what you do is holding square to shred, and often this effects the wondrous backgrounds in a really fun way. but theres still a few too many sections where shredding does little if anything and you're just platforming jankily. There's also rhythm game-esque moments that while fun are short and felt like they should of evolved in a cooler way by the end. Theres really only two or three segments where you actually get to play what you want and I wish there was a bit more than that. It just feels like there should of been a little more. Collectibles or more than a small handful of miscellaneous trophies would of went a long way I think.
Seriously though, those are just nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. The game has more than enough brilliance in its art style and fun writing. Every bit of this game brims with character. Its a cool time, man.
There's also a section roughly 2/3rds through where you get to dress your character and can make Francis as feminine as you'd like, and you can essentially turn him into a femboy or even a goth femboy. And thats dope as hell.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #207)
Time Played: 6 hours 9 minutes
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #103 of 2022
August Completion #23
Nancyfly
1 year ago