[Another review] A WAY OUT

Let’s start with our passionate developers. Hazelight Studios, the same studio that Brothers a Tale of Two Sons, was engaged in the development of the game, is a game that is available either for joint passage or passing one player on the same gamepad. The originality of the passage style is also visible in the A Way Out project – games in the Action/Adventure genre, which is only in cooperative mode, so the passage in the Forever Alone style will not work.

A little about the plot. The game will tell us the story of the two characters of this work: one of them – Vincent is calm and thoughtful, the other – Leo – impulsive and slightly reckless, which, due to some circumstances, found themselves in one prison and, due to some other circumstances, managed to be awarded. The basis of the game is precisely the story that unites the main characters in the desire to take revenge on a person named Harvey. The narrative itself begins somewhere in the middle of the game, showing the players a flight scene on an airplane and making it clear that the main characters have already managed to escape from prison. However, players can trace the whole history of the relationship between our criminals from their very acquaintance, as well as giving motivation for uniting forces and escape. From the very beginning of the game, players can get acquainted with the characters through small notes when choosing a character.

The main characters, although they have opposite character traits, get along very well

It is worth noting that the characters for which you can win can be changed right during the passage from the main menu. In general, the game tries to play drama, but, frankly, one of the heroes worked deeper and better than the other. Players have the opportunity to observe the history of the relations of the main characters, but it cannot be said that they undergo some serious metamorphoses or grow over themselves as they pass. In my opinion, this cannot be called a minus, because someone will spit frankly for this, because the heroes still turned out to be at least similar to people with their own problems, experiences, overcoming, past and character traits. For example, Leo repeats more than once during the game that he is afraid of heights.

Speaking about mechanics and, in principle, the following issues interested in the implementation of this project:

– how well the separate screen mode is implemented? What a sin to hide – passing in a separate screen can be felt quite painful players.

– How the sound and voice acting of dialogs is realized? Whether the sound paths are superimposed on each other, turning sound accompaniment into an illegible mess?

– how well and stable the connection https://euphoriawins.uk/ between the players works, whether it will be necessary to wait for long loads?

– In general, is the game so roofing as it was presented by Yusef Fares on The Game Awards 2017 or is it just a pretentious dummy? Give about everything in order.

One of the examples of good use of the split screens, in my opinion, can be called Lego Marvel Super Heroes, where there was a dynamic separation of the frame. That is, if the characters are in close proximity to each other, then they are displayed in the same scene, if at a sufficient distance from each other, then the screen was divided.

An example of a dynamic split screen. As the Hulk comes closer.

… screens "connect", forming a whole picture.

I would not be surprised if in the game A Way Out did something like that. But, the developers went along a slightly different path-and I personally got used to the local screenshot separation regime quite quickly, although I admit-this is subjective and one of the players can scare away such a decision.

Most of the game, the heroes will be divided clearly in the middle

Separation does not always go clearly in the middle of the frame, sometimes separation can shift towards a particular character, showing the greatest importance of action in one of the scenes.

Sometimes, for example, in KAT scenes, the separation completely disappears, combining the plot lines or showing a branch of only one of the characters. In general, it is really felt very very cinematic and contributes to immersion in history. And in some scenes, the camera shows just so stunning and beautiful transitions and moments shot, so to speak, with one double, which simply cannot but pay attention to it and say “yes, it was cool”.

The fears with sound were not justified either. If suddenly both characters wanted to start a dialogue, then each of the players will simply hear his line of remarks a little louder than your virtual bro. By the way, for the owners of the PC version, if someone had problems with the fact that the default microphone was used in the game itself, then you can disable it in the settings of the Origin client himself, and play using the program that is convenient for you. Well, this is, you never know who had such a question.

Speaking about the stability of the connection and the optimization level, then everything works just fine. No too long loadings, and check-in-laws, with unsuccessful outcome, are close to the place of failure of the task. The game, nevertheless, is not deprived of bugs (at least I met a couple during the passage), but the above checks of the receipts save the situation, and you do not lose precious minutes to reproduce already familiar moments. In addition, players can observe the stability of connection in the lower right corner of the screen. Separately, we can say thanks for the fact that in order to play with a friend on the network, one copy of the game is enough, all that needs to be done to send an invitation to a friend and wait until he sets the game on his system.

A peculiar "pulse" of the game

The plot narrative takes place linearly, except for the very end, where you … well, technically, they just let the ending, although they do not do it in the forehead. But we will talk about the ending a little later. There will be no spoilers, don’t worry. Nevertheless, the passage is diluted with a certain insignificant variability, which is also a small plus and encourages a repeated passage. QTE is also woven into the narrative, but they are served extremely organically and to the place, creating the impression of the use of a mechanic and mini-games that differ from each other.

It is clear that all these mechanics are not disclosed too deeply, but it is to the extent that the game is required in order not to reduce the degree of interest and the speed of the narrative.

The scriptwriters skillfully juggle the aforementioned pace, the dynamics does not sag, carrying more or less calm scenes with fairly drivers and exciting. In addition, I, at least once, came across a moment of non -linearity of passage, that is, the problem could be solved in more than one way.

Now let’s talk about endings. In total, there are two of them in the game, which do not depend on your behavior throughout the game, so do what you want and how you want. I immediately want to say that many players closer to the final will create a suspicion of some kind of trick, or possible secret ending, but the developers drive the players into a clear framework. Unfortunately, one of the endings with one single gesture is so contrary to the character of one of the characters that the ending is instantly knocked out of the general tone of the narrative and there is a feeling … mmm … not even crumbling, but of some kind of lubrication. It was as if you were running a marathon for several hours, and right in front of the finish managed to slip on a banana peel. Here I could hit deeper explanations and my own thoughts, but I will give you yourself to go through this game and form your own impressions, because this is one of the best games for cooperative passage in the Action/Adventure genre. Yes, the game is short enough, but in my opinion, if it was filled even more, it would most likely venture to be excessively protected and sagging in some moments. On average, one passage takes about 6 hours. Quite funny and interesting hours, I must tell you. This is one of those games in which it is better to play yourself, and not watch the passage. Therefore, if you have friends and a desire to spend a couple of evenings after an interesting story, a driving narrative and a variety of gameplay, then I definitely advise you to take a closer look at A Way Out! If you have something to add or share constructive opinion, I am mercy to write in comments, and if this review seemed interesting to you, I recommend that you subscribe to my YouTube and Twitch channel. There are still many interesting things ahead!