Also on: Xbox One, PC, Xbox Series X, PS4, Switch
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: BUG Studio
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E10+
One Escape is the fourth game I?ve ever played by BUG Studio, and it?s possibly the best of the bunch.
Of course, that?s not exactly a huge accomplishment, seeing as the other three ranged from terrible to forgettable. So when I say that One Escape is ?possibly the best” of anything, we?re not talking about a very high bar.
By a more objective standard, it would probably rank as…okay, I guess? As 2D puzzle-platformers go, it?s alright, but it doesn?t do anything particularly noteworthy, for better or for worse. The game is about a trio of inmates — Dook the duck, Gor the gorilla and Hog the warthog — who are trying to escape from prison, and they each have their own unique abilities. Hog can punch through walls, Gor can climb them, and Dook can…go through vents.
Mind you, they never interact in any way beyond a game-opening cutscene. You start off with up to twenty Dook levels, then you get up to twenty Gor ones, then you play as Hog, and there?s no connection between any of the three. They each just do their things, and while they occasionally get harder, they rarely feel hugely different from each other.
I?ll also note that I used ?up to” in that last paragraph very intentionally. See, this is published by Ratalaika, who do their usual easy Platinum thing here by having the Platinum pop after you?ve only played 30 levels — 10 for each character. You can keep going if you want after that point, especially since those levels are where the game gets challenging (and, honestly, a lot more interesting), but if you just want a Platinum, there?s not a lot of reason to keep going beyond that.
In fact, there?s not much reason to even get to that point in the first place. While One Escape is tolerable for what it is — a short puzzle-platformer with an easy Platinum — there are more interesting games to play, and it?s hard to see why it?d be worth playing this one over any of them.
Ratalaika Games provided us with a One Escape PS4/PS5 code for review purposes.