The Escapists: The Walking Dead

The Escapists: The Walking Dead is a kind of a spin-off to The Escapists, a 2D top-down jailbreak simulation game released in February 2015 for PC. Although the new production uses very similar gameplay mechanics, we don’t assume the role of an inmate. Moreover, the action takes place in a post-zombie apocalypse world known from the eponymous comic books of Rober Kirkman. Contrary to the original, the title wasn’t developed by the independent Mouldy Toof but Team17, the creators of the cult Worms series.

Plot

In The Escapists: The Walking Dead, we assume the role of the comic original’s protagonist: a policeman named Rick Grimes. The events presented in the game and their chronology are more or less compliant with the original story. We start in an abandoned hospital where Rick wakes up from a long coma (which was the result of a gunshot wound suffered during his last operation) to discover that the United States changed past all recognition because of a zombie epidemic. In subsequent levels, we visit places known from the comic book and encounter characters created by Robert Kirkman that join the hero.

Mechanics

As mentioned before, the gameplay mechanics remained largely unchanged in comparison with the previous game. Yet again, a very important role is played by looking into all nooks and crannies and collecting various seemingly useless items that can be crafted into useful tools. Confrontation with enemies is still inadvisable way of solving problems (avoiding it is made easier by, for example, sneaking in vent shafts) but should this come to pass, we aren’t defenseless. In The Escapists: The Walking Dead, we can find more weapons than in The Escapists and, moreover, the game features a modernized combat system that lets us deal with enemies a bit more effectively.

Another innovation is the fact that the protagonist is followed by a group of survivors, so we need to ensure not only the hero’s safety but also that of his companions. Furthermore, these characters are a source of small daily quests, just like in The Escapists. The player can accept them in the hideout that we visit between missions. Performing them can, for example, keep the morale high within the team.

Technical aspects

The graphics of the PC, PS4 and XONE version have the identical style to the original The Escapists—the on-screen events are still observed from a camera placed high above the protagonist’s head (top-down view), while the visual layers resembles classical 8-bit productions.

Last updated on 25 January 2016