The Escapists 2

The Escapists 2 builds upon its predecessor rather impressively. While the crafting expansion can lead to confusion when trying to plot your escape. Still, it's a fantastic improvement on The Escapists and well worth your time.

The Switch version of The Escapists 2 is the best way to experience the new title from Mouldy Toof Studios. The game is basically the same as the one already released on PC and console, but it better suits the idea of a "touch and go" approach. There are some small smudges here and there, but the online multiplayer is a real treat.

With its sandbox style approach to escaping, sometimes you might find yourself flapping in the wind and unsure what to do next. The pacing of the game has been improved since the first one, with less time spent waiting around. The 16-bit style visuals have also been given a nice step up, with the game overall looking and playing great.

The Escapists 2 improves on its existing formula, offering up another great sandbox experience with a little more bite.

Quotation forthcoming.

More of a refinement of the original than seeking to right its wrongs, The Escapists 2 on Nintendo Switch adds more of what fans enjoyed in the first place, whilst still not quite advocating enough time to entice a newer crowd.

The Nintendo Switch hardware itself is just perfect for Mouldy Toof’s endlessly entertaining vision.

The idea that stuck with me while playing, is that The Escapists 2 is a puzzle game, where there’s no real right or wrong answer. You’re practically thrown in the deep end, into a jigsaw puzzle with very few edge pieces to work backwards from, but plenty of pieces from the middle. How you put them together and come up with the solution is up to you.

A great sequel that refines and improves the original prison break format with more variety, better graphics, and some fun multiplayer.

There’s a lot of “downtime” where you’re just waiting for things to happen, but that’s prison. You’re learning the routine of the jail, finding openings, and in the meantime, there are plenty of “quests” for other prisoners you can complete to build up your arsenal and keep yourself busy until you find the perfect opening. And as in life, in The Escapists 2 proves that duct tape can fix anything. If you’ve never played the series, or if you love it, it’s certainly worth the $20, especially if you have a friend to play with.

The Escapists 2 expands the idea of the original title and goes beyond; it packs a lot of prisons from which we can find some original and sometimes funny ways of escape. And this time, we can bring friends to the party, since it has cooperative and versus modes.

The Escapists 2 is an ingenious, multi-layered clockwork sandbox that offers you a wide range of routes to freedom. Its tough demands and myriad competing systems can lead to frustration, but a winning sense of humour and knock-about fun always brings you back for another jailbreak attempt.

With the arrival of local cooperative games, Nintendo Switch version of The Escapists 2 becomes a must if you like games that make use your imagination and think out of the box. On the other hand, the lack of extra content could ward off those who already tried desktop versions.

The Escapists 2 is a management-strategic game that improves some aspects of the predecessor and adds a successful multiplayer component.

Great sequel of one of those special games that offers something different. A good version for Switch.

The Escapists 2 made me escape away from my Switch for a while. It simply made me feel bad and confused! But if you like complex micromanagement and doing time... well dig right in, inmate. This game truly is great for people who simply - don't like it simple.

The Escapists 2 is a well-made sandbox game and a fun continuation of the series. While the title gives you a good amount of freedom and tools to spend your time in fun ways, it can also get rather repetitive and overwhelming. The Nintendo Switch version mostly runs well, although the two-player limitation on local play is disappointing.

The scope is impressive, though, as a large amount of variables make The Escapists 2 a dense, packed game. That all becomes too overwhelming, sadly. It just feels like a niche product that a small group of people that adore the concept are going to sink a ton of hours into while many others just bounce off of it. For an open sandbox game that relies on the user to enjoy the experience utilizing their imagination, the journey to the goal just isn’t enjoyable enough. My hope going in was that I would be spending time coming up with creative ideas to fool guards and bypass security. Instead, what I found was that I would often pray that my first plan would work so that I would have to go looking for more tape and files.

This action puzzler, now avaiable on Nintendo Switch console, is the same - funny - title released on other platforms some months ago. Very good, indeed.

The Escapists 2 is a solid improvement over its predecessor, and a fun prison escapade in its own right. While all of its parts don’t come together in the most ideal manner, busting out of prison remains a blast when you finally manage to conquer the obstacles set against you. Combine that with a staggering amount of variety and replay value, and you have a package that’s well worth going under for.

The Escapists 2 has an undeniably solid premise for a game and features a downright charming visual style and soundtrack but the monotony of its restrictive gameplay will probably make you feel like a prisoner yourself whenever you play it.

As things stand, for all its excesses, The Escapists 2 is nonetheless a can’t-miss game on Switch. With a delightful pixel-style that fills the screen with details, it’ll be hard to take your eyes off the screen as you make your way through all the different prisons on offer. Most of us might never have the, uh… joy… of breaking out of prison, but The Escapists 2 does a swell job of showing us just how entertaining it can be!

Ranging from the simplistic to the absurd, the Escapist 2 offers a great variety of ways one could escape from prison. Scoping out a new prison for its vulnerabilities and formulating a plan to carry out is a great time, but getting to those thrilling moments of misadventures are often plagued with days of scavenging, looking for those one or two materials I desperately needed and as the tedium began to set in, I wasn’t looking for a way to escape from the prison but rather from this cycle of boring, repetitive gameplay.

The Escapists 2 certainly isn’t a bad game. The best way to play the game is with a Switch. It looks phenomenal and the controls are good. Although the game has a lot of ‘downtime’ and can be boring at times the whole idea is great, even more in co-op.

As it currently stands, The Escapists 2 isn't a bad game. Those able to overlook its flaws will find something wholly unique and immersive, and even those who aren't should find things to enjoy within the first several hours of gameplay. At the same time, however, it's painfully clear that a few more quality of life improvements would have made the game so much better. For those looking to become the next Andy Dufresne, The Escapists 2 will certainly whet your appetite. Unlike the movie, however, don't expect it to be smooth sailing.

The Escapists 2 is a sandbox game that brings some absorbing gameplay to the Nintendo Switch eShop. Thanks to its visuals and varied maps, free-roaming gameplay and demanding difficulty level, The Escapists 2 will certainly please those looking for a challenge, even if it might frustrate in certain moments.

The Escapists 2 puts you in the shoes of a prisoner and tasks you with grabbing the dangling carrot of freedom. If you are a fan of the previous game or a fan of resource management and strategising then this game will be right up your alley. With the ability to play with others, this can end up being riotous fun. However, as a newcomer to the series, I found the mechanics to the game a little overwhelming and unwelcoming - which unfortunately detracted from my enjoyment of the game.