Don’t Escape is one of the games I remember and occasionally think about when playing small escape games. In an age where it was all about escaping whatever place you were trapped in, Don’t Escape offered a spin; you didn’t have to escape but instead you had to make sure that you’re stopping yourself from escaping. Or you’d hurt people when night came and you turned into a warewolf. The whole gameplay premise is explained right from the title.
The play area consist of just a house, with one room, that you rotate through and visualize one side at a time, and a small outside scene. With pixelated graphics, simple animation, a music track and some practical sounds effects, the atmosphere it created was great.
You could finish the game without completing the implied objectives (by pressing the skip time button), resulting in a bad ending. This meant replayability. You got the good ending only when fully stopping yourself from causing any harm when turned into a warewolf.
A few notable design elements:
- it put a great spin on the genre, you had to lock yourself in instead of escaping
- it offered replayability by letting the player finish the game before completing the objectives
- it allowed the use of items on the player character, such as a potion
If you wish to play the game, it can be found on websites such as Newgrounds or Armor Games. The game is part of a trilogy, available on Steam or for free. A fourth game in the series was launched in 2019, Don’t Escape: 4 Days to Survive, and it’s available on Steam.
Scriptwelder’s website: https://scriptwelder.com/