9, 2021, on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. It'll look great as one of the best Xbox games joining Xbox Game Pass this month. You can take what you want from it, make it one of your best comfort games if you want, but at the very least, it's a cool game to look at. It's also a story about the power of music, the art of creating, and the journey to becoming your true self. It tells a contained story about one guy, his famous uncle, and the whole of the cosmos, and does it well. The game is precise in what it wants to portray and doesn't overstay its welcome. The Artful Escape has been in the works since around 2015, and the effort shows. It makes you want to pick up that old David Bowie album, put on makeup, and just rock out. It's a gorgeous, dizzying journey through colorful, futuristic visuals and an electrifying soundtrack. The Artful Escape is a game for the people who might be too scared to put themselves out there or might feel shame about exposing their true voice. I think a lot about what it means to be a creator, and I'm sure many people do, too. You can spend more time focusing on the visuals instead. The Artful Escape isn't very "game heavy," but that allows the text and message to shine even brighter. We should be able to pick the guitar back up and try again until we get it right. Like Francis, we shouldn't be punished for hopping into something new and messing up. Also, the fact that the game is forgiving is in its favor. It's exactly as long as it needs to be, for one, with Francis engaging in several impactful performances that extend his legacy in the cosmos. However, I don't think any of this is to the detriment of the game. I know of a few players who might skip this on the basis that interactivity, while important for showing off the power of music, is toned down. I fell off some of the platforming sections a couple of times and messed up some of the music combinations, but the game is forgiving and either puts you back in immediately where you messed up or allows you to try again. For example, it's short (only four hours long, and that's pushing it), and its controls are simple. There are things about The Artful Escape that might be off-putting to some players. There's not much I can say in this section. The game ends on a positive note where Francis can become who he wants to be without shame, and that feels important to witness, regardless of whether you're an artist or not. We don't all have the privilege of going on galactic journeys with an all-star cast that features the likes of Carl Weathers or Lena Headey, but we can put ourselves out there in small ways, and create the things we want to create. I adore games that tackle these issues in many cases, but The Artful Escape feels different - at the very least, more hopeful. (I know imposter syndrome impacts many of us here at Windows Central and our sister sites.) Creative people always seem to have something holding them back, whether it's the fear of rejection, the shame of living in somebody else's shadow, the hesitancy around revealing a part of yourself, or just the sheer thought of tackling a large project causing you to put it off altogether. Whether you connect with Francis will depend on how much you connect with his spiritual and physical journey as an artist coming into his own, but I feel like there's something there for all of us. I can honestly say that watching a giant cosmic being talk about god playing pinball (and how pinball was created by the gods as the perfect game) was new for me. The game is also hilarious, pulling upon Francis' awkwardness for good fish-out-of-water scenarios, but it also uses your expectations to pull out the rug and present you with mundane observations and digs. It's not challenging, but it is rewarding in a unique way. You don't feel like you're playing guitar, but you feel like you're interacting with the creatures you're paying for, like you're playing specifically for them. While it's still simple to rip into some epic chords while sliding down hills, the game also presents a rhythm mini-game that allows you to jam with the creatures you meet by repeating a series of light prompts, similar to a game of Simon. I'll admit when I first encountered the "press X to play song" prompt, I was hesitant about how the game would depict the art of playing music. This is why it all makes sense when Francis (or the Glorious Galvatron, as I named him later when you can customize his persona down to his outfit and makeup), slides and leaps over colorful landscapes, or when you launch into an epic electric guitar solo at the push of a button. Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
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