Genre: Story driven multiplayer Action-Adventure Game
Consoles: Ps4,Xbox One, PC
Published:EA Originals, Bavneet Kaur
Developers: Hazelight Studio
Released: March 2018
A Way Out is an Action-Adventure multiplayer game developed by the swedish game developers called Hazelight studio as there debut title in the video game industry.
It is the same studio that after three years released their second game, being It Takes two which was met with a great sucess and earned plenty
of awards including Game of the year 2021 and Best Multiplayer game of 2021..A way out was published by Ea Originals for the Playstation 4, XBox One and Pc. The Studio
confirmed on a reddit post that there are not many physical copies of A Way Out and that Ea, only printed a finite amount of copies. Nonetheless the game is always available in the digital stores.
As mentioned A way out was the first game developed by Hazelight and it's safe to say the game was met with possitive comments and plenty of support. The year that the game came out (2018) had
the sales reached a million and in 2019 Hazelight confirmed that they sold atleast 2 million copies. Within 2018 the games received a fair ammount of nomination but in 2019 the game skyrocketed
with further nominations with some even resulting to their victory. In 2021, the director and founder of Hazelight Josef Fares confirmed that by 2021 the game nearly sold 4 million copies.
Last but not least, the critisisms and scores online have an average rate of 80% and some call the game A Classic Must play Co-op Experience.
Plot of the Game with Minor Spoilers
With a quick glance at A Way Out the first thought that comes to the mind is that the players are watching a co-op movie while they have to make a few gaming decissions, and thats because
the game is heavily driven by it's story. The game begins with the two main characters Leo and Vincent discussing on a plane about how they met and got to the point of where they at. As the title
suggest a way out leans more towards a prison escape and that is basically the first chapter of the game. Two 'strangers' meet in prison through some events. Vincent is new to the prison, while Leo seems
to have been there longer. Through certain events in prison, they both come close to each other and get to appreciate the actions taken by each one. Leo seems to have a plan for escaping and requests Vincent to
help him with a few tasks. In return for helping him Vincent who caught up to Leo's plan request that Leo will let him join him . They both then Co-operate in order to escape, which doesnt seem as easy as the two
herores were hoping for. While working together they both come to the realization that they both hate and seek vengence on a certain individual. One of the duo is after him because he was betrayed by him while
the other one is on a path for revenge as the person of their interest not only killed someone close to him, but also framed him for the murder.
Good and Bad of the story
One of the good things of the story can be found in it's simplicity. The plot can be summarised in four words, Escape prison, get revenge. There's plenty of things in the inbetween and alot of plot twists but
thats the core of the plot. Although the game has two main heroes it never gets confusing or making one character feeling better than the other or superior in any way. They were both build with a lot of passion and care.
Their Personalities are very different leading to their teamwork and overall dialogues very interesting any time. The game even offers the players the chance to make their decision based on what the heroes believe. (More on
this down on Gameplay) Each of the heroes get time to shine and sympathise whether or not they spent time with their families or simply put on a crusial situation where they have to make choices. Innocent interaction with items
found in the maps also give the players a better glimpse on the heroes personality. For example in the farm part of the game Vincent pets the animals and talks to them as if they were his pets where as Leo looks at a pork and comments
them being bacons. As mentioned the game offers a few plot twists that were always welcomed with suprised or even with amazment for the gameplay they offered. Last but certainly not least, the ending or better 'phrazed' the last
chapter of the game had such an impact that while experiencing it both the author and his player two couldnt believe the events that occured.
The bad thing of the game's story doesnt even classify as something bad but more or less a nitpick and that comes with one of the games endings, which unfortunately won't be further discussed on.
Gameplay
The gameplay of A Way Out is as great and fun as the plot of the game. As prior mentioned, the game is a full on Action adventure Multiplayer experience, both localy and online. The online version of the game allows one of the players to
purchase the game and then tell their friend to download a free version caled A Way Out friend pass, or a way out free trial. This "friend pass" allows a player who hasnt purchased the game to play the game with someone who did. (Basically
one who owns the game can invite someone to play it with with player two only needing the demo or free trial). On the home menu, the players select one of the two heroes Vincent and Leo. At any point the players can exit the menu and swap heroes
if they wish to change. The gameplay of way out through out the game is very simple. The players control heroes, they move within an area interacting with items and working together to solve puzzles. Interactions can be quick time events, perfect time
events and last but not least grapping and moving items. There are key items that have to be used on every chapter and there are plenty of side optional interactions with either items or people.
Key parts of the game come from the interaction of Leo and Vincent. Prior to this it was mentioned how The characters personalities are very different and this allowed the developers to allow players to choose what and who they wish to follow. Vincent is more down to
earth guy who wishes and thinks how to act on certain ocassions,on the hand, Leo is more spotaneous and usually prefers to use violence as his main approach to the same events. The player's then gets to choose which of the heroes had the better solution. Both actions will
eventually result on the same thing but the gameplay will slightly differ. For example, in the farm, Vincent suggests a way that will have the players to approach the farm and free the horses for the inhabitants to run after them, where as Leo will suggest to sneak in the
house and pretty much capture the inhabitants and remove them from the equation. Both ways will eventually have the couple 'occupied' while the two move around the farm area. These decision makings allow the game to be replayed at least once more in order to choose the
alternative option and observe what the alternative version of a particular dicision would have been.
The gameplay loves to change things with every chapter or even parts within a certain chapter to keep things fresh. In one chapter one hero looks around while the other does a certain task that requires a lot of time, in another one hero drives a car while the other
shoots with a gun and in others both of the heroes are placed on a boat and work together to avoid crushing it. In the same essence, the game swaps its genre as well. In one chapter the game is a simple stealth game, in another its a third person shooter, moreover in another chapter
it's simply a racing game and in other is a simple quick time event. Keeping things fresh with every given opportunity results in a fresh and fun Game.
Final thoughts
Overall A way Out is a unique game that does it's own original thing that as mentioned made it an instant classic for couch and online multiplayer and added to the fact that It Takes two (2021) Improved on the formula and was granted game of the year. It will leave the players with a very
satisfaying adventure, a pleasarable experience and a fascinating ending. Grap a friend either online or local and enjoy. The animation of the game is smooth and it also runs smooth on the ps5 console. The maps are huge and very well designed. The prison area looks dark and grey where every police man
has their eyes on the player, the mountain land looks like a place someone would ve loved to go camping and in general all the maps are on point for what they represent. These maps and the gameplay allow for the game to introduce unique concepts for each map. Whether or not the heroes ride on bikes
falling of a plane or shooting their way in a mansion. The challenge of the game though is pretty much calculated on the teams teamwork just like other coop story games ( Unravel, it Takes two). If a teammate is playing with the goal of of trolling the other, the team will most likely be stuck in an area.
The levels require teamwork in order to efficiently proceed. If someone dies or gets caught the game will reset on the nearest checkpoint. The soundtracks are not as memorable as the gameplay, the plot and the Characters but there are a few good pieces match with the ongoing events. The puzzles are simple
in most cases and as mentioned if the team works together none of them should stop the progression of the game's story. There are a few minigames that re fun and a bit competitive. The platinum of the game is easy to acquire and finaly the game lasts approximately 8 hours.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
