In time honoured Team17 tradition, The Escapists 3 is busting out of the shackles of 2D and stepping into the third dimension. OK, so this is really only the second time they’re doing it, Worms 3D was actually the sixth game in the series, and they’re not slapping a ‘D’ on the end of this game title, but you get what I mean. This one’s in 3D now, but that’s not all that Team17 has been scheming.
One of the most important aspects to get right for this kind of transformation is the visual style, and see how you can use it to adapt the gameplay for the better. Team17 explained to us that yes, they did try out a whole bunch of different visual styles before settling on the 3D ‘chibi’ style with big heads – there was even a prototype with 2D – but some user testing and talking to the community helped them to narrow down the look.
It’s still a familiar fixed view point, though you’re able to zoom in from top-down to fairly close to the ground, but being in 3D opens up a bunch of new possibilities, or at least makes them a whole lot easier in modern game development. Customisation options no longer need to be redrawn in all the sprite angles, and can instead be draped around the regular animation rigging. For the prison world, physics allow for things like dropping items from a rooftop down to the ground below, pushing guards down stairs, knocking people out and dragging KO’d rag-dolling characters around by the leg. Heck, you can even grab someone unconscious by the feet and spin them round like a helicopter to fend off onrushing guards!
The heart of the game will remain largely the same, though. You’re incarcerated and looking to escape instead of seeking parole. There’s a time schedule to abide with each day, a variety of jobs for you to keep up appearances with – now revamped to hopefully be a bit more interesting in the long run – but you’ll really want to find the gaps in the schedule and busy work where you can sneak off to explore and scheme.
One example of what you might find was being able to slink into the Warden’s private area, where they’ve kept a swimming pool all to themselves. It is a swimming pool that’s surrounded by lasers though, and you’ll have to take the time to figure out the sequence of levers with which to turn them off, with a reward chest awaiting you at the end.
There’s now a skill system in the game, letting you earn experience and then apply it to the specific skills that you would like to use. It’s through this that you’ll earn things like the ability to see vision cones for guards and security cameras, or the Hinge Buster ability, to let you very, very noisily smash a door right off its hinges.
The real positive for this system is that, while you’re not pigeonholed into a specific class, you could play the game in co-op and each assume a particular role as you level up. The Escapists 3 will feature four player co-op online, or two player local split-screen, or even mixed split-screen and online.
And once you do make it out – perhaps by hang gliding gracefully from a rooftop down to the ground outside the fence – those skills or the tools you have might determine a little of what you can do next. Instead of a cutscene, as in The Escapists 2, you’ll be kept in control as you take one of the routes available to you around the edge of the map.
All in all, the jump to 3D brings plenty of possibilities and potential, and it feels like a nice stylistic continuation, if not quite as charming as the 2D originals. With some revamped and expanded gameplay ideas, the skills and the co-op, it feels like 2027 could be a great year to go to prison. And then break out again.
