Review of The Artful Escape Switch: A Guide for Pitch-Hikers
Our Verdict
A roaring cosmic escapade that would make Bowie proud, The Artful Escape tells a beautiful story of artistic integrity and brings it to life with show-stopping visuals that never relent. It’s a slightly better story than a game, however, and I hope the Switch version gets a tune-up down the line.
I felt like The Artful Escape was designed just for me the moment I viewed it for the first time. I was weaned on a hearty diet of psych-rock, including Ziggy Stardust, T-Rex, and Iggy Pop, thanks to a passionate grandfather. At twelve, I had the good fortune to see David Bowie live, which was a life-changing event that helped shape my future. I'm still a musician at heart, but clearly not a very accomplished one given that you're reading my writing on video games.
I took up guitar lessons, joined bands, and have struggled greatly throughout my life to find my identity and my position in the music industry. I was so curious when a game that seemed to be a Double Fine production by Wes Anderson was released to tackle these subjects. I basically want to adore The Artful Escape, that's what I'm saying. Regretfully, my ideas are a little more convoluted.
The Artful Escape had me enthralled from beginning to end despite my conflicted emotions, and I really appreciated the performances, the narrative, and the visual aesthetic. However, it makes tragic sense that a game about finding your true self would have some kind of identity crisis.
Okay, let's begin with the positive. The Artful Escape is the tale of Francis Vendetti—or is it?—since he is the nephew of well-known folk singer Johnny Vendetti and has spent his whole life under his influence, despite never having seen him. Francis is a musician too, but he feels that everyone expects him to perform folk music because of his family and striking similarity to his uncle. Francis is really scheduled to perform just his uncle's songs at the approaching anniversary of one of his uncle's albums.
This begins Francis's journey of self-discovery, and he also meets Violetta, a young sound and lighting designer. Francis has a lot more in him and can shred the guitar like Mick Ronson did in 1972, as you may immediately discover when you start messing around with his instrument. We hear Johnny Vendetti's folk song drifting on the wind as he makes his way back through his hometown of Calypso, where posters of his uncle's likeness are displayed on every corner, subtly reminding us of his influence over this town and Francis.
But just as Francis is about to go to sleep, he is visited by a celestial creature who calls him to a concert taking place in another galaxy, where he will be trained by the renowned musician Lightman (a superb performance by Carl Weathers). Francis then embarks on a journey of exploration across the most hallucinogenic regions of space, seeing some bizarre species and providing some nasty guitar solos for each planet he visits.
This is a great idea for a game, and it's beautifully realized thanks to amazing voice acting, sound effects, and an artwork that falls in between a children's pop-up book and an oil painting. Each site masterfully employs layers of sound, color, and depth to make each space come to life. like I was always eager to go to the next place, explore a new planet, and explore a vibrant landscape full of bizarre alien animals, I sometimes felt as like I was having to struggle against the gameplay itself.
The majority of the levels are played like a typical platformer, with you continually running from left to right. However, at any time, you may press Y to rip some sick guitar solos. Similar to the harp in Skyward Sword, this adds an appropriate guitar solo over whatever music is playing. It's a wonderfully enjoyable addition that really enhances the game's flavor. However, the platforming seems flimsy and nearly unnecessary; it's not excellent enough to enjoy really, but it's awful enough to sometimes get in the way. I often failed for very inexplicable reasons.
This isn't Sayonara Wild Hearts, where the gameplay revolves on rhythm and high scores. In fact, the platforming and music in the game are even looser than in Rayman Legends' music levels. It is entirely up to you to just explore, try new things, and take in the surroundings. Although sliding down slopes is fascinating, hopping through these stages doesn't seem tight or difficult enough to be enjoyable. Additionally, since there isn't much to indicate what constitutes a platform and because it impedes the game's pace, I periodically fell through gaps.
Either a tighter experience with difficult platforming, or a game where the music controls take center stage instead of platforming, is what I would like. Sometimes there are musical bosses that function as a Simon says game, in addition to the standard Y button to shred. You jam with extraterrestrial beings and have to follow their routine in order to participate. It's a game about creating your own route, so although it's fantastic, it seems a bit underdeveloped since there's not much opportunity for experimenting. Even yet, I find that this aspect of the game is the most enjoyable, particularly when it comes to some of the more challenging combos and the more magnificent late monsters.
Seeing Francis develop is really fulfilling outside of the boss fights, which is fortunate given it's the main focus of the game. We accompany him as he has a revelation, then we collaborate with him to develop his new identity, selecting a name, his past, his attire, and more. I believe that slightly customizing his voice is what I would really want to do. Choosing some of the musical accompaniment (such as the guitar distortion kind, additional cowbell, disco drums, etc.) or, most importantly, having the opportunity to compose a riff would be my first choice.
You may play simple patterns on the guitar when you're paired with extraterrestrial beings, but the notes are always changing to fit the melody. I would like having the opportunity to compose a farewell grand riff in the vein of Animal Crossing's town theme song. It's a true distinctive rhythm that inspires the player to use even more creativity and adds a poignant element to performances. In a game centered on self-discovery as an artist, there's a lot of handholding and very little opportunity for creative expression. It resembles a musical rollercoaster more than anything else, but that's not always a bad thing. To be clear, I like the game; it's not always necessary for it to be as fantastic as Rocksmith.
Fortunately, the music never fails to impress, paying respect to the genres the creator so obviously loves while creating a unique sound of its own. The Artful Escape approaches every song with a loving earnestness and innate absurdity that perfectly complements the tone of this video game, from the whimsical folk that haunts the village of Calypso to the cosmic prog-rock that's broadcast to the whole galaxy. Even while it might be challenging to hold Y while jumping because B is the jump button, being able to hold Y at any time to perform an accompanying guitar solo never gets old. It would have been fantastic to map this to a shoulder button in this case.
The narrative of individuals grappling with the definition of artistry finally resonates with me, despite my own annoyances. This is in addition to the brilliant and continuously hilarious vocal performances by Lena Headey, Jason Schwartzman, and Mark Strong portraying the exotic extraterrestrial species, the two protagonists giving outstanding performances, and the great fusion of the psychedelic music with the visuals.
In case you haven't seen any trailers, the visuals in The Artful Escape are breathtaking. Every alien planet has a brand-new, enormous megastructure or enormous alien lifeform that is stunning with strobe lights and swinging neon signs. Bright colors flood the screen at all times. Even in that case, the basic platforming often gets in the way for me. Perhaps its purpose is to make it easier to just enjoy the visual spectacle.
It is necessary for us to discuss the Switch performance now. I can only assume that this game, which is now only available on Xbox, looks absolutely stunning in 4K on a Series X. The Switch version performs excellently, requiring very little time to load. All of the colors are there and seem particularly brilliant on the exquisite OLED screen. However, it's evident that this was reduced to fit on the Switch since the textures sometimes become quite muddy and blurry, and occasionally the scenery even very clearly appears while the scenes load. There are also noticeable jagged edges in several areas of the surroundings, most likely caused by alias artifacts.
Additionally, there is sometimes frame stuttering both docked and handheld. I like it when a lot of things happen on screen at once, but every now and then the performance pulled me out of the present. It frequently looks fantastic and, unlike many other games, the visual style is probably very well suited to this adaptation, so it's not a deal-breaker, but if you're seeking for performance difficulties, you'll find them. Playing this game handheld on the OLED with quality headphones is an amazing experience, so perhaps a few fixes will assist.
Though I wish I had had more fun playing The Artful Escape, I still had a great time. It seems split between a visual experience and a video game, which is made worse by the Nintendo Switch's performance problems. Though the story of a young artist rising from the shadows to forge his own path is beautifully told and at times made me laugh so hard I cried, don't let that deter you if you're a musician at heart or just someone looking to enjoy a four to five hour ride through space. This game still looks great thanks to clever art direction.