The Artful Escape Reviews

As a guitar-shredding odyssey throughout a stunning cosmos, The Artful Escape delivers on its name tenfold. It is a short tale and I'm in no hurry to book a return trip to the Cosmic Extraordinary, but it remains an unforgettable journey thanks to superb art direction, an uplifting story, and stirring guitar solos by cliffside.

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The Artful Escape is a great visual-novel and a rock and roll dream. It is one of the best looking games I’ve played with an equally interesting narrative. However, the severe lack of interactiveness really drags down the game.

The Artful Escape is an enigmatic coming of age story, wrapped in reverb-laden riffs and space opera shenanigans. It is quite unique, and absolutely unmissable.

A dazzling intergalactic rock opera.

Are you ready to shred on your guitar and discover how groovy the universe really is? In The Artful Escape, you will become Francis Vendetti, a young musical prodigy trying to find his place in this world. After spending most of his life in the shadow of a famous relative, it's time for Francis to look to the stars and discover his true potential.

Rock opera and space opera meet for some artful escapism.

The Artful Escape was announced a whopping four years ago during Microsoft’s E3 2017 presentation. Four years! I can’t believe how long it took for the folks at Beethoven & Dinosaur and Annapurna Interactive (a publisher I still have largely mixed feelings towards in terms of their library) to deliver their musical opus. I’ve been eagerly waiting for this game ever since, even though I had no idea of how it would play or what it would be about, besides having a protagonist who wielded a...

A space opera about legacy, self-discovery, and identity, The Artful Escape is a masterful musical narrative adventure. Developed by Beethoven and Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive, this audacious journey follows a teenage guitar prodigy who has an overwhelming reputation to live up to. Traversing levels literally out of this world, this guitar-shredding and harmonious introspective game is a milestone in story-telling. This is a spoiler-free review, which I believe is the best ...

A tour de force of light and sound, The Artful Escape is unlike anything else you’ve played. With no easy genre label to stick on the game, the only way you’ll know if you’re going to enjoy it is to try it. It’s a trip alright, one that will have your foot tapping and your head rocking from start to finish.

The Artful Escape is a brash, bold and beautiful musical journey with a simplistic gameplay hook and all the interdimensional jellyfish deities you can shake a quantum-powered space guitar at. It's the next-best way to spend an afternoon indoors to dropping acid.

You better have to choose if it’s worth spending your spare cash, because it might not be the game for you and it might be for others.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some moments where the two collide together in this really wonderful way. You’ll sometimes find yourself sliding through these bizarre alien worlds playing your guitar, where the music and visuals match in a way I haven’t seen since Journey. But for the most part, Francis’ guitar playing starts sounding a bit too repetitive and begins to overwhelm the soundtrack rather than play in harmony with it. Worst yet, some of the ending musical set pieces build up to these sweeping crescendos that just come to a sudden stop when it felt like it should have gone on for a moment more. Really jarring camera cuts to odd angles/compositions during these moments don’t help either.

One man’s musical mission is an audio visual delight, but there’s not enough room for expression or mastery.

The Artful Escape provides a strong narrative adventure focused on self-discovery, identity, and expression that musicians, artists, and just about anyone can find something to relate to. While the experience stumbles a bit due to some dull platforming areas, the groovy universe Beethoven & Dinosaur have crafted is one that players should take the time to fully explore.

“The role of the artist is not to give the audience what it wants. It’s to show the audience things they never even dreamed were possible.” I’m paraphrasing a bit of dialogue from The Artful Escape, a new game from developer Beethoven and Dinosaur, and although the story centers on a young musician trying to find his creative voice, I suspect that this little credo was the inspiration behind the game itself. The Artful Escape is indeed a surprising and entirely welcome change from the vast legion of copycat games that feel more like marketing exercises than the byproducts of creativity and passion.

The lack of challenge in The Artful Escape, not just in its play but in its emotional texture, somewhat shreds the odyssey.

While The Artful Escape does a strong job with its presentation and sense of style, it still suffers the same drawbacks as most adventure games, particularly with the boring-at-best game mechanics. The celebrity voice cast does well enough, though I only recognized Weathers during my time in the game. The trip here isn’t long, though it does manage to be memorable thanks to its relentless desire to look like a Liz Frank-emblazoned Trapper Keeper. Depending on the drugs you keep handy, this could be the ticket. 6/10 space slug discos

The Artful Escape is a story about a young artist who struggles with his artistic identity. Does he follow in the footsteps of his uncle, a man he didn’t even know, or does he unleash his desire to become a rock star despite what people may think of him.

The Artful Escape takes its focus on identity even further by letting you choose the rock persona you want Francis to take on. There’s a point in the story where you’re given the opportunity to use a character editor to completely customise Francis into the rock god that suits your personal style and even name your new persona. You will then take this look through the rest of the game which further helps immerse you in the story.I know I sound like a broken record here, but I can’t say enough how refreshing The Artful Escape is. In a sea of third-person open-world collect-a-thons, first-person shooters, and free-to-play action games, it’s nice to be able to just rock out and chill to something that doesn’t require lightning reflexes or demand intense attention from you. But at the same time, it immerses you and draws your attention anyway through a perfect mix of art, music, and narrative.It doesn’t ask for an unreasonable amount of your time or your money but is also on Game Pass so there’s no reason not to try it out. Even if only to create some incredible wallpapers for your Xbox or PC. Oh, and something that I’ve bemoaned in most recent Xbox titles that isn’t an issue here is…achievement artwork! Yes, The Artful Escape actually has decent achievement artwork for those wanting to spruce up their dashboards.If an interactive story (or point and click adventure if you will?) that mixes in platforming and colour match game elements doesn’t necessarily sound up your alley as a gaming experience, then I still implore you to do yourself a favour and still give The Artful Escape a chance to take you on its journey and soak up the experience that it is for it’s visual and aural splendour.

Here's a fun fact about me. I love rock music. Ever since I was a kid, I have been listening to rock music from my era including your usual suspects like Metallica, Van Halen, Aerosmith, and The Doors. In addition, I have experience with Latin American Rock and pop bands from those ages like Los Enanitos Verdes, Caifanes, and Rata Blanca. You can just imagine how excited I was when I found out about this game that pays tribute to rock music itself called The Artful Escape.

The Artful Escape perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being transported away by a David Bowie track to a far-out world filled with colorful characters and wildlife and great music, but its gameplay falls flat, offering little depth past its first tutorial. While the game is short enough for its systems to never feel too egregious, it never reaches its full potential through its story or its mechanics. Fans of zen games, nice visuals, and quippy dialogue may want to pick this up, but do not expect a deep experience in playing The Artful Escape.

Gripping his shimmering guitar, the performer formerly known as Francis Vendetti steps onto the ultimate stage for an astronomical rock showdown. Success means universal glory and fame; failure, a laser-based annihilation. The moment is awesome, but for all its undeniable show-stopping power, this crowning event doesn’t outshine the game’s more thoughtful moments. The Artful Escape’s strength lies in the protagonist’s relatable journey of self-actualization, which serves as a crucial foundation for its dopamine-spamming extravaganzas.

Beethoven & Dinosaur's musical odyssey across the universe isn't as adventurous with its gameplay as its venues, but that doesn't stop The Artful Escape from being a fun ride.

The Artful Escape is a kaleidoscopic coming-of-age story that is a joy to move through, even if the actual gameplay is sometimes hardly there.