Upon exiting the hole, I came to the realization that I probably should’ve acquired something to cover up it up-a guard immediately noticed the mess I had created, beat me down, and removed the trowel from my inventory, too. Unfortunately, no sooner had I dug a yard beneath the prison did the game inform me that I would need support beams to ensure that the facility's floor didn’t come crashing down on top of me.

It’s also important to remain sneaky in plotting your escape and cover your tracks as soon as you lay them.įor instance, when I managed to get my hands on a trowel I immediately began digging beneath my cell.

As acquiring contraband is critical to escaping the prison, it’s also necessary for you to hide contraband you acquire in your cell’s desk and the desks of your fellow inmates. If a guard does manage to track you down and beat you up, you’ll immediately be transported to the on-site medical room in order to recover, and any contraband you’re carrying will be disposed of.

That being said, if guards remained omnipresent then it’s unlikely that you could actually achieve anything in The Escapists, so it’s perhaps in the best interest that they remain a little dim-witted. You can lessen this heat by simply avoiding the guards for an extended period of time, and though there are quite a few of them, they aren’t exactly the brightest folk.Īfter garnering over 90% heat I often managed to avoid a beatdown simply by hiding in the library which, considering the prison is armed to the teeth with security cameras, probably shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. There you’ll also see your health, available cash and fatigue level, which can be reduced by showering, resting or eating. In between these roll calls you’ll be told to take a dinner hour, exercise at the prison gym and, if you choose to assign yourself a job via the job board, carry out your in-prison duties that range from laundry, to woodwork, to metal work.įailure to appear at the right place at the right time will result in the guards being alerted to your wrongdoing, and the amount of “heat” you’ve managed to attract shows up in a meter on the upper left corner of the screen. Your day begins with a morning roll call, and ends with an evening roll call. If you were locked in a real prison, you wouldn’t have someone tapping you on the shoulder saying “Hey, you might want to find a trowel in order to dig yourself outta here”-you must learn these things for yourself. The Escapists doesn’t give you many pointers as to what you should be doing outside of your prisoners’ daily schedule, which makes sense given the context. You name your prisoner, you’re assigned daily tasks, and you’re required to show up for roll calls, dinner time and shower breaks ( gulp) lest you want to incur the wrath of the incredibly violent guards. The goal of The Escapists is, as the title suggests, to escape the prison you’re locked inside (the cause of your imprisonment is never made apparent, so you’re not burdened with the guilt of being a murderer, being a rapist, or any other heinous crime your li’l player-character has gotten involved in). As a man who also lives on the right side of the law, it’s unlikely that I’ll ever find myself incarcerated, but should I suddenly “go wrong” and swap my current lifestyle of tea-drinking and pasta-munching for baby-slapping and puppy-punching, then just know that the second I step foot in my cell I will melt into a puddle of tears and urine.įortunately The Escapists, from Mouldy Toof Studios, portrays the experience of life inside the clink in a virtual realm meaning no murders are required for entry, with the prison you inhabit receiving a cheery pixelated makeover so as to completely rid it of the overwhelming claustrophobia and fear that is presumably apparent in a real prison. As a man who appreciates personal space, the concept of prison terrifies me.

The escapists map editor