Escape from Life Inc

Quirky Lost Vikings style game made by a 15 year old. It's well designed, goofy, and has a lot of charm.

[b]escape from life inc.[/b] is a puzzle platformer. I don't like platformers because of all the platforming, and this has that in spades as well. it's not supposed to be too hard, which I found out to be untrue, but I don't have much experience with the genre. there are [b]3 characters to control[/b], a fish (bob) heading off to school to meet his schoolmates (a group of fish is also called a school, see?), an eagle (ern) trying to join some kind of bird corps, and a reindeer (rick) rejected by santa. they all get caught by life inc. and have to escape, as per the title. switching between them is possible anytime with 'q' and 'e' (tab, number keys or mouse wheel as an option would've been nice), and besides moving, sprinting and jumping around, they have [b]special abilities[/b], unlocked progressively. things like wall jumping, attacking, lighting up dark spaces, fitting into small spaces, etc. pressing 'f' will make the others follow the currently selected animal. it's a toggle and stays in effect even after switching characters, so you might want to be careful, but [b]if anybody dies, they just respawn very close[/b], so no big deal. there are buttons to press to open or activate things and crates can often be pushed around to serve as platforms. rick also works as one. despite the lenient, practically non-existant death penalty, [b]platforming is as frustrating as ever[/b], and there are [b]stealth and combat sections[/b] as well, the latter a lot more annoying than the former, but there's also less of it. I really wish the chapter 3 elevator section had a checkpoint [i]after[/i] the cutscene, as I kept dying due to very little health, the enemies' longer reach and my general lack of gaming skills. [b]the world is pretty big and the game balances linearity and openness well.[/b] the mostly open areas have some sections cut off until you get more skill unlocks, shortcuts and teleporters are also available eventually, so it's [b]kinda like a metroidvania[/b]. it's often enough for a single character to be somewhere, the others will catch up, but there are places where all 3 have to be taken separately before you can continue. the place is [b]packed with other creatures[/b] to talk to, some even have quests (or just a pun). there are [b]2 kinds of collectibles:[/b] 9 pieces of fruit, both found and gotten as a reward, unlocks an easter egg behind a door, and while you only need 20 animals near the end for story purposes, there are about twice as many to be found. the graphics are good, cartoony, I liked the music, and the writing was fine as well. separate volume settings, resolutions, windowed mode, unrebindable controls and [b]multiplayer for some co-op platforming[/b]. settings are available while playing, and there's a separate slider for 'voice clips', so [b]I could get rid of the annoying gibberish[/b] during conversations. hallelujah! [b]no manual saving, only checkpoints[/b], but they seemed frequent enough. there's a reason I mostly avoid platformers, and while [b]I enjoyed a lot about the game[/b] (basically everything [i]except[/i] the platforming and combat), [b]wouldn't really recommend it if you're not into the genre, but otherwise definitely[/b]. even if you don't go for all the collectibles, it [b]should take about 4 hours[/b] and obviously some more with all the optional areas and creatures.

so, here you go, whoever you are. I have seen your posts on reddit about your game and as much as i am trying my best to be supportive for developers like you, i hope i am the first one to buy your game. And you, who reads this, if you are enthusiast like me and if you would like to support developers like this guy, this game is just a very good opportunity to do so. Escape from life inc has fun puzzles, funny dialogues and whole game is just enjoyable. Well, at list first chapter was good enough for me. I just like this kind of games and if you are anything like me, you would probably enjoy it as well.

An awesome puzzle game with fair and interesting puzzles. Its the perfect length and the humor made me enjoy every moment of it. The developer has been kind enough to give me a key since I had been following from the beginning but I would definitely buy it.

The story doesn't take itself so seriously (oh my, those puns). The character design and physics don't feel so tight. The environments won't blow you away. But it's still a great story-based puzzle platformer! Actually the characters' abilities only [i]seem[/i] arbitrary at the start, where there's obviously the "strong" character and the weak ones. But the set of abilities develops throughout and you will see that the particular combination of characters is actually thoroughly explored in the platforming puzzles. Surprising level of ingenuity in the puzzle design. The story also unfolds quite richly, even if at the start it seems totally predictable. It doesn't have unnecessarily crazy plot twists, which is a good thing in my book. Good to see that the story is tied to the game world quite organically. I should add about what people might call "bad controls": it is true that movement of characters and objects is "floaty", i.e. you can't change your direction in midair, but this is for the most part an intentional design choice (e.g. wall jumping doesn't let you just climb a wall). So yeah, it can be seen that this game is a labor of love, and I'm glad that I experienced it. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Heard about this game a while back and have had it on my wishlist. Was super excited to try it today and I'm happy to say that I couldn't stop playing! It was quite a lot of content too! Really good puzzles, a nice compelling story with funny dialogue and lots of little hidden things. Great work! :)

I really want to recommend this game. I like the sweet simple story and the quirky characters. But the controls are just not optimized enough for me to do it. I made it to chapter two before I had to quit. It's really sad, because I really wanted to play it and see whether I would make it out of the lab. So when the developer fixes that, I'll be back as fast as a tick on a cow.

Was habt ihr mit 15 Jahren gemacht? Spiele entwickelt? Ich für meinen Teil kann sagen, ich hätte gerne Spiele entwickelt, doch ohne adäquates Internet und wenig verfügbaren Ressourcen war dies damals schwer zu erreichen. Ganz im Gegensatz zu Power Burger, einem 15-Jährigen Entwickler aus Schweden, bereits mit 8 Jahren hatte er erste Gehversuche in der Spieleprogrammierung unternommen. Nach nun eineinhalb Jahren Entwicklung hat er sein erstes “großes” Spiel fertiggestellt. Wir haben uns sein Machwerk mal etwas genauer angeschaut. Drei Tiere, wie sie unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten Escape from Life Inc ist ein skurriler Puzzle-Plattformer, bei dem ihr zwischen drei Tieren wechseln könnt: einem Fisch mit Beinen, einem arroganten Adler und einem stotternden Rentier! Jeder der drei Protagonisten hat seine eigenen besonderen Fähigkeiten um Rätsel zu lösen. Entweder spielt ihr es mit zwei Freunden, wo jeder einen Charakter steuert, oder ihr wechselt per Knopfdruck zwischen den Tieren hin und her. Ja, dieses Prinzip kennen wir schon von Spielen wie The Lost Vikings oder Trine. Der Entwickler PowerBurger gibt auch offen zu sich von diesen Spielen inspirieren zu lassen. Besonders interessant ist der Fakt, dass dieses Gameplay sehr flüssig wirkt. Immer wieder stehen wir vor Rätseln, welche von uns mit den uns gegebenen Fähigkeiten lösen müssen. Wer jetzt aber nur einen simplen Rätsel-Plattformer erwartet, irrt sich gewaltig. Immer wieder kommen rasante Jump-and Run Passagen oder Gebiete in denen wir Sicherheitssysteme umgehen müssen. Jederzeit kann das Gameplay seine Nuancen ändern und überraschen. Wie ein guter Film Grafisch bewegen wir uns in einem typischen Pixelart-Stil, jedoch sind gerade die Tiere ein absolutes Highlight. Schön gestaltet und flüssige Animationen, die sogar ab und zu einen Hauch von Mimik zeigen. Man merkt, wie viel Herzblut in dieses Projekt geflossen ist. Der typische Sound aus der 16-Bit Ära reiht sich perfekt in das Gesamtbild ein. Eine weitere Inspiration wird einem im Laufe des Spiels noch auffallen, denn je weiter wir fortschreiten, umso mehr entwickelt sich das Spiel zu einem Metroidvania. Es gilt neue Fähigkeiten zu entdecken um vorher unerreichbare Bereiche erkunden zu können. Somit gilt es immer mal wieder an altbekannte Schauplätze zurückzukehren. Zwischendurch noch mit ein paar anderen Tieren gesprochen, eröffnen sich uns neue Quests oder wir erfahren, wo wir als Nächstes hinmüssen. Eigentlich kann man Escape from Life Inc. in keine richtige Genre-Schublade stecken, es stecken so viele Elemente in diesem Spiel, dass es fast schon ein neues Genre begründet. Ein Spiel für Jedermann Besonders gut geeignet ist das Spiel ebenfalls für ein jüngeres Publikum, welchem bei den Rätseln natürlich geholfen werden kann. Da es aber keine Leben gibt, kann man immer wieder einen neuen Anlauf starten, wenn man in den späteren Abschnitten ebenfalls auf Gegner trifft. Kein Permadeath oder Game Over. Zum Teil hatte ich auch ein paar mal meine Probleme knifflige Sprungpassagen zu meistern, um so glücklicher stimmte mich die unbegrenzte Continue Anzahl. Mit knapp 6 Stunden Spielzeit hat der 15-jährige Entwickler ein schön erzähltes Abenteuer geschaffen, welches besonders durch seine Charaktere und die Dialoge an Tiefgang gewinnt. Escape from Life Inc. sollte eigentlich bei jedem auf der Festplatte sein. Einerseits um dieses ehrgeizige Projekt eines angehenden Entwicklers zu unterstützen, zum anderen da es sich um ein sehr liebevoll gestaltetes Spiel handelt, welches auf den ersten Blick normal wirkt, aber im Laufe des Spielens viele neue Facetten eröffnet. Steht ihr auf Plattformer, Metroidvania, Pixel und eine coole Story? Dann schlagt zu!

I bought the game after I saw it on imgur. I had a great time playing through all chapters. The puzzles start out fairly easy, but the second half of the game the puzzles become more intricate and some of them are actually quite challenging. The graphics are charming and reminded me of Seeders. Great first published game from a very young developer. Keep it up!

Lost vikings style plattformer with lots of humor, creative puzzles and a great story. I've played it in Beta and loved it, especially as couch co-op. It's massively impressive that it's made by such a young guy, and all on his own. Super happy to be able to support this with a purchase!