One Escape is a puzzle-platformer featuring three robbers who come up with a plan to rob a bank. Something goes wrong during the heist and they get caught, are locked up tight in jail, and are now looking for a way out. You need to find the keycards, avoid the guards, and escape the jail while you still can.
You play as the three animal convicts and switch between them as you wish to play their specialised levels. Dook is a duck who can climb through air-ducts, Gor is a gorilla who can climb specific walls, and Hog is a warthog who can punch boxes to move them around to access higher areas. Each character must sneak through the room, avoiding guards and security cameras by hiding in the shadows, and move to the next objective until you finally unlock the path to the exit.
Sneaking around is a very cut-and-dry process. You approach an obstacle, such as a guard or camera, you wait for them to look the other way, then you press the action button to duck into patches of black on the back wall. You can move while you are back there, albeit slowly, to prime yourself to exit the shadows and continue on your way. It’s a simple mechanic, but it’s charming and I never felt that getting caught was the game’s fault.
Each of the three character’s set of 20 levels progresses in difficulty as you work your way through them, with the complexity really locking in near the end. As the gameplay overall doesn’t employ too much variation, being able to change it up at any time by swapping to an animal when you’re bored with the one you’re currently playing as makes for a dynamic experience that keeps the puzzle-solving fresh. Getting caught right at the end of a level is a bummer, but it’s typically a simple mistake of judgement that you can fix on your next attempt.
Sixty levels isn’t a terrible amount, but not horrible for a mobile title. Perfect for small chunks of play or extended play sessions if you want to run through the whole thing in one go, there’s an option for you here. While I didn’t experience anything terribly frustrating, if you’re not a decent platform gamer, you’ll find difficulty with some of the tasks asked of you later on. Bounding from wall to wall as Gor can easily spell your doom if you don’t time your jumps well.
Likely the best way to play is to give each character a go and figure out what is your favourite. Whether it’s the stealthy duck approach, the airbound ape action, or the Sokoban-style of Hog’s punching play, you can’t help but appreciate the uniqueness of each character’s mechanics. Finding your way out of the jail as these anthropomorphized animals is a fun experience, but pacing yourself might keep you from getting burnt out quickly.
Download One Escape from Google Play Store | Download One Escape from the App Store