It looks like The Artful Escape, a kaleidoscopic 2D side-scroller following a budding musician through space and time, is on its way to PlayStation.
A runaway success with the GAMINGbible team, it snagged the silver medal in our list of the best games of last year. "The Artful Escape is twofold: its visuals are dazzling and its story touching and tender, the whole experience distinctly grounded despite the galaxies it sends the player spinning through. Few games of 2021 made us smile as much as this one," we said. If you're a tough nut to crack, it's not just us who thought the game was one of the highlights of a very strong year in the industry. At The Game Awards, The Artful Escape was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music and Best Debut Indie Game and appeared on plenty of other media outlets covering the games you mustn't miss from 2021.
Yada, yada, yada. What you actually want to see is this joyfully colourful adventure in action. Take a look here!
The game follows Francis Vendetti, the nephew of the fictional folk music legend Johnson Vendetti. On the 20th anniversary of his acclaimed album, Francis is set to play some of his uncle's songs, but he is conflicted over his love for rock music and wanting to honour Johnson's legacy. As if his woes have been heard by the universe, Francis meets an alien the night before the concert and he is looking for a promising artist to play the opening act of a show. It's best I stop there if you're intrigued as this game is packed with splendid tunes and eye-popping visuals that you won't want to spoil for yourself.
Despite the fact that neither Annapurna Interactive nor Sony have announced that the game is coming to PlayStation, Well-Played.au found The Artful Escape in the "Just Announced" section on the PlayStation Store. Curious. I booted up my PlayStation to see if I could find the same, and I can confirm it is there. This is only discoverable on the console's store and not the web or app version and it doesn't seem to detail a release date at the moment. Still, it is exciting to think that this gem is going to become available to a whole new audience in the near future.
Featured Image Credit: Annapurna InteractiveTopics: PlayStation