Hellraid: The Escape Review

Hellraid: The Escape is an impressive title, a combination adventure-puzzle game in which you find yourself in a series of chambers immersed in a plot driven forward by phrases of mysterious notes.. In order to work past the mechanisms and enemies that populate each chamber the player has to successfully solve a different fair but challenging puzzle. It’s a simple premise, and one that we’ve seen before, but approached here with the polish and enthusiasm of The Escape, it becomes an adventure worthy of exploring.

Hellraid: The Escape runs on a version on the Unreal Engine, which is impressive itself, especially on mobile platforms. In The Escape it provides not only an impressive quality to the graphics and physics but also lends the title a familiar feel. Anyone who has played even a handful of big budget console games will immediately be at home with the movement and aesthetic of The Escape.

This is not an action game. You have to figure out how to use the environment to dismantle your enemies, or cobble together a buff via brewing potions to help you avoid them altogether, like giving you super speed to avoid an otherwise invulnerable enemy. This is the genius and the hook behind The Escape. This is not a hack and slash title. Brainpower and preparation (as well as some trial and error) prevail throughout. The game also includes side quests in the form of finding “crystals” each chamber has a number of them hidden away, but it’s a system I largely ignored. The puzzling is done so well. I found myself so engaged that I just wanted to see check out new set of challenges rather than stick around and scour areas I’d completed.

Hellraid: The Escape is a beautiful game. The character models are terrible to look at (in a good way) and the environments and fire effects are some of the best I have seen in mobile gaming. In fact, the biggest incentive for the crystal collection meta-game is going back to explore the pretty and suitably gothic feeling chambers. It’s a game of magic, and horror, a title with sumptuous graphics and grotesque character models. If you enjoy a cerebral puzzling horror adventure, The Escape will undoubtedly rate high on your mobile game list.

With stunning visuals, gameplay delivered by way of the Unreal Engine, a phenomenon that has been tremendously influential in gaming for decades now, enthusiastic puzzling, and an interesting story arc that keeps the veil on well enough to keep you hungry for more, to say nothing of the cool way The Escape tied its reincarnation mechanic into its narrative, (something almost every game ignores as a an accepted mechanic of gaming in general). Hellraid: The Escape is a trip that nobody would be disappointed in taking. While it is not quite a grand European tour, it is like a trip to the country to check out the beautiful leaves in fall. It isn’t rewriting any conventions but it is using established thinking to create an experience that is as engaging as it is rewarding.

The single recurring mechanic that doesn’t work so well are the platforming sections. They are not bad per se, but they do unfortunately take you away from The Escape’s superb puzzling, and in context can be frustrating, which speaks volumes about the quality of the game’s puzzles For example, the tilt sensor seemed at the same time too sensitive and slow to respond. Balancing across narrow paths is tricky. Once you get through one of these sections at least you can rest easy knowing that the next one won’t appear for quite a while.

Replete with the polish and creativity of an AAA release, Hellraid: The Escape is one of the best mobile action-adventure titles we’ve seen this year and easy to recommend. If you have an appreciation for puzzlers and eye candy, The Escape is the game for you. In fact, anyone who enjoys immersive gameplay and well-constructed worlds will enjoy Hellraid: The Escape.