Point and click games were all the rage when video games made their transition from being played on first gen consoles to being played on the newly affordable personal computer being rolled out of Silicon Valley. These new computers offered a new platform for developers to take a growing number of players on a journey through the worlds they created. Without Escape, by eastasiasoft and Bumpy Trail Games, is a point and click horror game created for a new generation of consoles, but it falls short of a refreshing take to an older style of game.
Without Escape is based in a suburban home with playable environments including the bedroom you start in, an entryway area, and a handful of other spots in a typical home. The gameplay is pretty simple and consists of pointing to objects in the environment and clicking on them (duh). Your cursor switches to a magnifying glass when you come across an object you can interact with and these objects serve as the base for how you progress through the game. The environment retains all the looks of a normal home, albeit with some dated technology, but the environment leaves a lot to be desired. As a whole, the setting feels very stagnant and closer to still frames edited together rather than a video game. This took me out of the tone of the game and really detracted from some very thoroughly planned scares.
An interesting aspect of this game was the puzzle element where new spaces to explore or new objects to interact with would only appear if certain objects were interacted with before. This led to some thorough searching of the room (and some mild frustration), but it also supplied the most interesting part of this game. The time and tension built up through setting the progress of the game up as a puzzle, helped build suspense for the scares that were to come. The scares themselves were well executed with some seriously creepy things appearing throughout the game. It started with blood running from a picture and didn’t let up until I had finished the game.
Something I feel was missing through my play of Without Escape is there is a lack of a hint feature or anything indicating where the next step should be to progress through the story. I understand that this helps to maintain the puzzle aspect of the gameplay, but there were definitely points in the game where I was taken out of the story while I tried to figure out what objects/rooms to investigate next. Maybe even something as simple as a slight glow to the item or objective that should come next would help the tougher points in this game tremendously.
Overall, Without Escape will serve as an excellent bit of nostalgia for people who enjoyed the golden age of point and click games, horror, or even those who enjoy puzzles, but I think this game left quite a bit to be desired. There were opportunities for Without Escape to reintroduce a new audience to point and click games, but many were missed leaving the game feeling more like something I could’ve played on a floppy disk than a game for the Xbox One.
6/10
Check Out the Without Escape Trailer:
Without Escape is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.
For more information, please visit: https://www.eastasiasoft.com/games/Without-Escape
Xbox One Review
My first console was the original Playstation and I would play Twisted Metal every now and then but games didn't hook me until I played the original Halo at my friend's house. As soon as I picked up that controller, I knew I needed an Xbox and I had to have that game. Since those early Halo days, I've branched out and played any game I could find with a great story and memorable characters but Master Chief is still my favorite. @thenotoriousTGT on Twitter
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