How 2 Escape from Breakfirst and Just For Games is a co-op experience in which you’ll have to work together to solve a series of puzzles before tragedy strikes. Check our How 2 Escape review!
Are you ready for a very challenging puzzler for you to feast your eyes on today? How 2 Escape from Breakfirst Games and Just For Games is a game that works very similar to the JackBox party games, where you download a companion app. If you have a smartphone – any smartphone will work fine – you just use your phone camera to scan the QR code to take you to the actual app in the store of your operating system and download it. You might need to download some extra data when you open the app for an update here and there, but once you have the companion app – or someone who will be playing along with you has the companion app – you’ll be ready to go.
How 2 Escape is a two-player cooperative puzzle game. The main player will have the game on their PlayStation, and a friend or a member of your family needs to have the downloadable app – which, yes, is free to download. The goal of the game is to work together as a team to solve puzzles, and you need to work together without looking at each other’s screens.
The game does have a story, and it revolves around a brother and sister who find themselves in a sticky situation, with the sister being on a runaway train. Emy is trapped on the speeding train, and her brother Johann is her lifeline, feeding her information on how to escape. The story continues with some twists as the game progresses, and new problems arise that need the other to help with escaping. This is where the companion app comes into play.
The gameplay is asymmetrical. There is no online component, no online functionality whatsoever. The game is fully offline, so you need a partner, and it doesn’t matter whether you are near or far. You can definitely play this one with someone not in the same location as you communicate over the phone or on a chat app – you’re not really supposed to be in the same room anyway! And to make the game even more challenging, each room is timed, putting you and your friend under stress to scramble to find a way to escape.
There are special coins dotted around the levels that can help to give you hints. If you get stuck, you can use a coin and pick a puzzle you are stuck on. Pretty nifty, huh? So once you pick a puzzle you want help with, place a coin, and a ticket will pop out. You’ll then need to ask your friend to help you by letting them know what the keyword on the ticket is so that they can use the companion app to help you move one step further toward safety.
It is also worth noting you do need to have some pen and paper handy. I have three notebooks nearby at all times – each one of a different size, which is handy for different things and saves on paper wastage. Love em! So yes, make sure you have a pen and some paper close by. Many puzzles will require this unless you have a perfect memory!
The puzzle types are plentiful. Some are easy, and the answer will be right in front of you. Other times, you need to think about your surroundings and what you have written on paper, and also cooperate with your friend/family member. I played the game with my godson, and he is in a different country! We had to time our gaming sessions due to his job – and, of course, time zones, but as things got rolling over the course of a week, we ended up having a lot of fun and had a chance to catch up on life as well!
The trophy list is a nice one with 23 Silver trophies and a trio of Gold trophies for you to work on, which means that this one has a Platinum trophy waiting for you! You’ll see some trophies pop up here and there as you progress further and further into the train. Several trophies are tied to completing segments of the train without dying or without using a clue, which will certainly take some practice and effort. There are also trophies tied to finding all coins in each area and completing each area very fast before specific time limits are up. Are you up for the challenge?
How 2 Escape is definitely worth a purchase since it brings us an experience that is very different from what other games have to offer on Sony’s console. As you work alongside a partner using the companion app, you’ll need to rush through each area of the train so that you can stop it before it’s too late. Emy must be saved at all costs! How 2 Escape is out on PlayStation 5 with a $14.99 price tag. There’s also a PlayStation 4 version of the game available at the same price as a separate purchase. You could also go and give the Nintendo Switch version a try.
Disclaimer
This How 2 Escape review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Just For Games.
