A Way Out Review (Antwog)
A Way Out is a cooperative adventure story game developed by Hazelight and published by Electronic Arts. It was released in March 2018. Introduced to A Way Out at The Game Awards 2017, Game Director Josef Fares made a comedic appearance in an interview at the show. I suppose its marketing achieved its aim, it showed Fares’ personality and brought attention to, at that point, his upcoming game.
Story
A Way Out features a story focussing on Leo and Vincent, two prison inmates that are planning to break out of prison. Purely in co-op, Leo and Vincent are disparate individuals. Leo prefers violence and fighting, contrast to Vincent being diplomatic. This juxtaposition shines in the concept of the story, from their voice acting, such as Leo’s brashness and Vincent’s calm demeanour, to their dialogue and how both prefer to attack the task or react to a situation. Their character development throughout the story was engaging and the climax of the story, emotional.
Bringing Leo and Vincent into the narrative, A Way Out’s six-hour story is logical, yet an expected progression, but it results in an immersive and tight story. The context is finely introduced, including how Leo and Vincent went to prison and their motives. Through this character development and foreshadowing, the story builds to an excellent ending that is a fitting end and had a hint of cliffhanger. A Way Out uses cutscenes as its main storytelling tool and it works incredibly well in the co-op context, feeling like an interactive movie.
Co-op
The co-op system is fantastic and integrated incredibly well into the story and gameplay mechanics. The split screen underpinning the co-op allows both players to explore the world. For example, when entering into a cutscene, the screen adjusts to the character in the focus. It is a seamless transition and one optimised very well, only encountering rare stutters in cutscene transitions. The split screen also does not feel cluttered when both characters are doing actions simultaneously, but I think it could have benefitted from players entering into dialogue concurrently.
Accessing A Way Out before starting the game however, could have been better explained. It was not overly clear your friend had to download the game through Origin, after several attempts of trying to access it on Steam.
Environment and Graphics
A Way Out’s art style and graphics quality is really good. The textures are colourful and clean and the environments are beautifully detailed and eye-popping. The colourfulness and vibrancy of the scenes improve as the game progresses, highlighted in the scenes after Leo and Vincent’s escape and the traversal on the boat.
Conclusion
I conclude by noting A Way Out is an excellent co-op adventure complemented by a seamless co-op system that is integrated very well into the gameplay. Leo and Vincent are superb personalities, backed up by an engaging cast of other characters and an overall straightforward, but thrilling story. For $39.95, I recommend this at full price.
Rating
9/10
Pros
• Logical and tight story supported by a positive juxtaposition in Leo and Vincent
• Cutscenes and the integration of co-op into the gameplay
• Beautiful and detailed environment and colourful textures
Cons
• Accessing co-op could have been better explained
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222700/A_Way_Out/