The Escape: Together - REVIEW

Oh am I a happy man while writing this review, right here we have a horror game filled to the brink with potential, and for a price that just can’t be beaten, but what makes this game such a beauty to play trough? Let’s dive into it!

Booting up the game

Ah the most terrifying part of any indie game, the starting menu, what will I be surprised with this time? No settings menu, menus that can’t even be pressed? No, luckily none of that is here, we have stuff that ACTUALLY WORKS. The menu looks nice, has a scary vibe to it as it should, and actually works, only downside goes towards the settings menu, sadly, as there is no audio menu and the game isn’t really the quietest. This means that when you are playing it with your co-op partner, you are forced to put your general volume down and your partner’s volume up.

And how does it look?

And from the menu we jump into the game, and I have to say, it honestly doesn’t look bad at all, it’s no call of duty of course, but that is to be expected, honestly for a game made by 1 developer the graphics are actually quite impressive and help with the scary atmosphere

Talking about scary atmosphere, the game absolutely nails it, the combination of the sounds (which as I said earlier sadly can’t be put up or down at the moment) the graphics, AND THE SCARY BITCH THAT HUNTS YOU DOWN AND RUNS TOWARDS YOU “THE EXORCIST” STYLE all nicely combine into an atmosphere that keeps you looking around your shoulder in real life the entire time.

By the way, was that sound I just heard in the game, or am I being haunted IRL?

Movement

Honestly, there is not a lot to say about the movement, because it “Just works”. And I haven't gotten myself stuck anywhere, and I tried, believe me, because I enjoy stress-testing games whenever possible.

Everything works smoothly, you can run, get into hiding places fine, and move around without problems, the only addition I’d like to see added would be the possibility to crouch, apart from that, it’s great as it is.

Bug-filled terrarium, or squeaky clean?

I am happy to report that the game could almost not be any less bugless at the moment, me and my co-op partner have done our absolute best to break this game in any way possible, but we didn’t manage, we didn’t get stuck anywhere, we didn’t encounter any crashes, the AI pathfinding wasn’t broken at any moment, and in general, it was a super smooth experience.

The only issue we came across was when I tried to join my partner’s lobby and I got stuck on a black screen twice, but this only happened when joining and only rarely.

The puzzles

Now here comes the bread and butter of this game: The puzzles. They are really nice; it felt challenging to collect all the keys and figure out how to log in on dad’s email etc, but it never felt like a chore and we never felt lost, it was always relatively clear what was being asked of us and it never became a slug to advance to the next point.

Furthermore, the randomization keeps it interesting. Just died and think you can easily unlock the safe with the same code as last time, or grab the same key at the same location as last time? This is not the case; the codes and locations for everything are randomized each round, providing a lot of replayability and keeping you motivated.

She’s coming for you.

The “ghost” is nicely introduced, the turning on of the tv, the laughter or screaming that can be heard, and the way she runs at you terrifyingly all add to a nice main “enemy” to be scared of.

She can be a bit unfair at times because she sometimes spawns right next to you, causing almost instant death and feeling unfair, but this happens very seldom.

Aside from that, there are no complaints about her; she's frightening, makes you feel like a prey, and has good pathfinding.

I need an adult

The difficulties range from “Oh well, this is kind of hard, but I can make my way through it” to “Mom come pick me up i’m scared”

At easy, she’s a bit more forgiving, giving you a bit more time in between each hunt, not being as fast, and in general making, you feel a bit more comfortable. While in “nightmare mode ” (the hardest mode) She makes you wish you could just stay in a locker the entire game.

Switching between difficulties can definitely be felt, and each difficulty you go higher provides a new challenge.

Lore

There wasn't much of a story to speak of, as the game is primarily about getting out of the house, but there are some nice lore bits scattered around to give you an idea of what's going on, and to really immerse you in the game, there are some notes and emails that you don't have to read through, but can, and they definitely help to build the game world.

Maps

At the moment, there is only one map, which will take you about 1.30h -2h to complete (With dying, which you will at the start) That isn't much, but considering it's only 3 euros and in early access, I can't really complain, especially since the developer has stated that he intends to add more maps, ghosts, and lore. Speaking of which, here is the developer's view on a few things:

What is your vision, what challenges have you faced, and how has the release gone so far?

The release was difficult because I didn't have a team to properly test the game, but thanks to the reviews and discussion threads, I've been releasing around 5 updates per day to fix the game. For the time being, it's almost bug-free, and I'm excited to add new ghosts, locations, lore, and other cool features.

How long will the game stay in EA?

I really hope it might be in early access until at least summer 2023, but I can't predict it right now because there is still so much work to be done.

Conclusion

This game is a steal at 3 euros; it's scary, has a supportive developer, has almost no bugs, and is engaging. I would recommend this game to anyone as it is a rare gem in the horror game market.

8.5 out of 10. 9.0 out of 10 with a better settings menu and the potential to go even higher with new map releases.

We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn’t impact our review in any way.