Escape from Ever After from Sleepy Castle Studio and HypeTrain Digital is a charming RPG adventure in which fairytale and storybook characters must fight back against capitalism. Check our Escape from Ever After review!
Escape from Ever After from Sleepy Castle Studio and HypeTrain Digital is a charming RPG adventure in which fairytale and storybook characters must fight back against capitalism. The story begins when fairytale adventurer Flynt Buckler storms the castle of Tinder, his evil dragon arch-nemesis. It’s then that Flynt realizes that the castle has been turned into corporate offices! With Tinder gone and her castle packed with people working a regular 9-to-5, Flynt realizes that the even more evil Ever After Inc. is the one responsible for this. You are going to jump into the shoes of Flynt for this journey.
Why did things get to be like this in the first place? It seems that storybooks are considered an untapped market that can be mined for valuable resources, with large profit margins to consider… especially thanks to the cheap labor. Tinder’s castle is now Ever After Inc.’s corporate headquarters, so you’ll have to team up with Tinder and other characters in order to find a way to fix things before it’s too late. You also now need to get a job at Ever After Inc. Oh, and did I mention that this game pays homage to Paper Mario?
This is why the combat is going to feel a bit familiar for those of you who have played games in the beloved series from Nintendo. Combat is of the turn-based variety, and if you want to maximize the effects of your actions, you’ll have to time your commands so that Flynt and the rest of the party can deal more damage, reduce incoming damage, and earn as many experience points as possible – more on this in a bit. Flynt and each potential companion will have unique skills for you to make good use of, and you will be able boost them with special trinkets that you’ll collect along the way.
You can play through Escape from Ever After by picking one of three different difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, and Hard. The Easy difficulty setting will allow you to focus on experiencing the game’s story, since battles will be less challenging. The enemies you fight against will have less health and will deal less damage to your party. The Normal difficulty setting offers the standard experience, balanced to challenge you without making you feel overwhelmed. As for the Hard difficulty setting, it’s one that will test your skills every step of the way. Enemies are going to be tougher and will pack a punch, so you’ll need to make every single one of your actions count!
During combat, you can choose to use a regular attack, spend some Mocha Points (MP) to use a powerful special attack, use an item to recover some of your lost health or a caffeinated beverage – during combat or outside – to recover some MP to use the aforementioned special attacks, defend, encourage the team, research enemies to reveil their health, weaknesses and other info, or try to run away from battle.
On top of all that, you’ll need to keep an eye on the meter at the top of the screen that shows your current Synergy Points (SP). You can use SP to use some even more special actions as a team. SP are recharged as your party members work together by performing timed action commands and blocks. To start with, you’ll be able to use a skill that will recover some of your HP and MP so that you can carry on with combat.
As your party members defeat enemies and bosses, they will gain experience points. As expected, once the party has gained enough experience points, all party members will get to level up. When this happens, characters will get a free refill for all of their HP and MP, as well as get to pick a boost to their maximum HP, MP, or trinket points (TP), which, as the name suggests, are needed for equipping the trinkets that you find.
Speaking of which, trinkets are an important part of this game. You can equip trinkets to boost your party members and their abilities. You could get to learn new moves or obtain special bonuses for battles. One example is the Buckler Barrage trinket for Flynt. When equipped, it will allow him to attack one enemy multiple times in a row to deal a ton of damage. There’s also the Health Boost trinket that will increase your max HP by 5 points when equipped.
The coins that you collect while exploring each area or from combat can be spent to unlock new decorations for your office at Ever After Inc. HQ. You can also use coins at the vending machines to completely recover your party members’ HP and MP. Or you could visit the shop to get new costumes for your characters or items to aid you in your mission to destroy Ever After Inc. from the inside.
You should always use the Research ability in combat when you first run into an enemy. If you use it and get its timing action just right, you’ll be provided with valuable information about your opponent, including its max HP, extra defense stats, as well as a short blurb about them. All of this will be added to the Bestiary, and you’ll then be able to see their HP when you fight against them again.
Escape from Ever After is a charming RPG adventure in which fairytale and storybook characters must fight back against capitalism. The story begins when fairytale adventurer Flynt Buckler storms the castle of Tinder, his evil dragon arch-nemesis. It’s then that Flynt realizes that the castle has been turned into corporate offices! With Tinder gone and her castle packed with people working a regular 9-to-5, Flynt realizes that the even more evil Ever After Inc. is the one responsible for this.
Why did things get to be like this in the first place? It seems that storybooks are considered an untapped market that can be mined for valuable resources, with large profit margins to consider… especially thanks to the cheap labor. Tinder’s castle is now Ever After Inc.’s corporate headquarters, so you’ll have to team up with Tinder and other characters in order to find a way to fix things before it’s too late. You also now need to get a job at Ever After Inc. Oh, and did I mention that this game pays homage to Paper Mario?
The game offers the option of choosing between favoring performance for a higher overall framerate or favoring resolution to get the sharpest experience possible, so that you can pick the one that best suits you. There’s also the option of activating Assist Mode to be helped with timed actions when attacking or defending. You’re looking at around 15-20 hours before you can roll credits and see everything the game has to offer, which is a good length for a game such as this one. Escape from Ever After is out on Nintendo Switch with a $24.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Escape from Ever After review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by HypeTrain Digital.
