The Escapists: a prison break sim from the creator of Spud's Quest

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Let's forget that there was an official Prison Break game for a second and get excited about The Escapists - the hugely promising title from Spud's Quest creator Chris Davis. It's a top-down prison break sim asking you to meticulously plan and execute your own escape; it's the opposite side of the coin to Introversion's Prison Architect, and something I've wanted to see explored in greater detail since Chronicles of Riddick's cruelly teasing opening few hours.

As you can see, The Escapists is quite the departure from Spud's Quest, Davis' love letter to/evolution of the old Dizzy games. The Kickstarter - for there is always a Kickstarter - asks the following question, to which the only sane response is "Hell yes":

"Surely a game that encapsulates the tension and thrills of meticulously planning and executing a perfect prison escape would be fun, no?"

Hell yes. However, escape here involves more than shooting everyone up, or trying to row away from the island while being chased by a giant balloon - you'll have to stick to a schedule to avoid arousing suspicion, craft the tools you'll need from stuff lying around the prison (or, instead, steal them), make use of/stay off the radar of your fellow cons and guards, and eventually build your own escape tunnel while keeping it hidden from the people that might reasonably want to cave it in.

Davis is only asking for £3,000 to make The Escapists happen, and he's so far raised £300, with 32 days left to go. If you like what you see, head here to throw your money at the screen (or alternatively, use it to back the campaign). There's also, naturally, a Steam Greenlight page .

Tom Sykes
Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.