The Artful Escape

Edgy teenager plays guitar and jumps alot, yeah that's pretty much it, oh and some acid trips happen so that adds a point, still bad though. (3/10)

Artful Escape is one of those 2d walking sims, much like Inside or Limbo. But what sets it out apart is the setting and atmosphere, which is nothing like the bleakness usually found in these titles.

You play as a young person (whose name and gender are of your choosing), which is struggling to let go of the shadow of his uncle, seemingly a folk music legend. His hometown is also pressuring him to take up the same path, but its very clear that while his passion is music, its music of a different breed. Namely of the breed of guitar virtuosos not unlike Satriani and Malmsteen. In the middle of a night you are essencially taken up by aliens and get to unleash the power of the guitar.

Gameplay itself is very linear, and boils down to inconsequencial dialogue choices and very simple platforming and rhytmn sections. Its really as simple as it comes, and its by design, as to not interrupt the visual and sonic spectacle that is going in the background during the platforming segments. You have these very colourful and imaginative alien landscapes, that react to your guitar shreads (which is totally optional), as you run, jump and slide across.

The game is short, but manages to tell a story with beginning, middle and end during that time. Shows off some great visual spectable, and never really extends its story beats. Its definitly a game for a very niche audience, the kind that does away with gameplay and prefers to play story focused games. I liked playing through it, though its not as polished as the other games of the genre i mentioned.