I feel a little conflicted writing this review; this game is a passion project by a single developer and like most people I love a good under dog story - but it's better to be completely honest in these situations. This is a very average game at best, with a lot of rough edges. -The default controls are strange, I was able to remap them in the options menu so not necessarily a problem right - well certain things can't be changed, such as pressing 'down' to interact with characters and going through doors. (there's no tutorial to speak of so I had to mash buttons to find that out) -The main character floats a little bit making some platforms tricky to jump on. -The level design is very 'meh', both visually and in terms of how things are placed in the scene. -The enemies are quite fun to kill in fairness and have different attack patterns that reward good timing. But their visual designs are kind of boring and their placement in the level and how they spawn is also a little weird at times. This is a game that does have some charm to it and it's not terrible by any stretch. But at the same time it's very obvious that this is the work of a single person. A few extra hands or months in development would have done it a world of good. I'm going to give it 3 star instead of 2, because it's so cheap, I had roughly 2 hours of play time and I still feel I had good value for money. This might be worth checking out in a sale if you REALLY love action platformers but be wary of it's lack of polish.
While I can see why some people would not be into this kind of game, I personally found it really engaging. It scratches a particular itch incredibly well and doesn't out stay it's welcome. You have to make sure your character doesn't starve or freeze to death like in all survivial type games, but on a top of that you have a minimalist crafting system. Your inventory will be twenty odd items instead of hundreds, and items can be crafted with small quantities which takes away a lot of the annoyance that you can experience when there's too much micro-management. This is a game that oozes charm as well, inbetween 'levels' you're drifting down a river on a makeshift raft and occasionally you hear country music recorded by a close friend of the devs. I'm by no means a fan of most country music, but it's hard not to have a smile on your face when those type of moments happen. Later on in the game however things can get a little bit samey; it would have been nice to have a bit more variation in the environment as well as some other aspects. (the ending is good enough to make up for it though) But even with these small flaws, I can still safely recommend this for most people. I'd definitely take a gamble on this when it's on sale if you're currently on the fence.
A nice step up from the first game, this sequel is a nice visual upgrade both in terms of art style & technical lighting effects as well as more levels. Escape Goat is one of those games where you can switch your brain off a bit and just go into a zen like state of puzzle solving. It's not about super quick reflexes or adrenaline rush gameplay, it's more patiently thinking things out. Each level gives you infinite lives and a quick way to reset, meaning you can take your time (for the most part) and try out different ideas if you can't think of what to do straight off the bat. The levels are smartly designed as well and there's enough variation between each section (which containing 4-5 levels each) that it keeps the gameplay fresh and interesting. Escape Goat 2 is a great, polished puzzle platformer that's worth checking out if you're into the genre or fancy a nice change of pace from other more frantic games.
I'll start by saying that I'm not the biggest fan of this genre, I dip into it every now and then when I hear that somethings particularly good. This game was supposedly in that catergory but I just could not get into it. The writing and characters are very bland, it's set in the post apocalypse and yet you could in all honesty use the same dialog in a different setting with no real problem - everyone seems to talk in a contrived way about dull things. Was that suppose to make things relatable? The only effect it seems to have is that there's no sense of atmosphere or 'punch' to anything. Add to that the antagonists being cartoonish and the main character being made of cardboard and you don't have much in the way of narrative to keep you going. It's all down to the puzzles at that point and they are competent but uninspired sadly. Avoid unless you are a die hard fan of the genre or this developer.
