Team 17’s The Escapists is now available for your Android or iOS device, and it’s a new prison escape game where your job is to craft, steal, brawl, and ultimately break out of jail. According to the game’s description, your role is that of an ex-con who’s back behind bars, and it’s up to you to come up with an escape “by any means necessary.” What kind of escape is this? The description does offer some options, such as causing a riot, digging a tunnel under the walls, or impersonating a guard by stealing their uniform and trying to blend in. And there’s also a crafting mechanic, as your escape may be determined by the right combination of items as you try to bust yourself out of prison without getting caught.
Before planning your escape and thinking of what items you should be crafting, it’s important that you know what you’ll be getting yourself into. We recommend that you check out all the tips and tricks included in our The Escapists strategy guide, as we’ve tried to come up with an all-around guide to help you in your quest for freedom, whether you’re a first-time inmate or someone who’s been trying to break free from your in-game prison for quite some time.
1. Don’t Try To Escape So Soon
It’s oftentimes the first thing inmates think of when they get locked behind bars, but you shouldn’t rush into anything when playing this game. That means you shouldn’t plan a quick escape – you should take your time and spend your first few in-game days in jail to acclimatize yourself to your surroundings. Observe the daily on-goings in the prison, and don’t act too suspiciously. Look for those places where guards don’t often head to, and take note of the times when nobody is watching you; this is important, because the best time to escape is when there’s no one around to foil it.
2. Try Stealing A Guard’s Uniform
Now that you know the basics and understand the importance of staying trouble-free early on, let’s move on to the first form of mischief you can pull off while incarcerated. That would be to steal a guard’s uniform – if you’re able to do this, that would allow you to wander around the prison grounds without having to worry about getting busted. Well, most of the time, at least – there’s a chance you will still be caught and punished for impersonating a prison guard, but it gives you the best chances, especially early on, of exploring the outside world.
3. The Basics Of Crafting
Crafting is one of the key mechanics in The Escapists, and one of the first things you should do while looking around is to look around for items. These items may run the gamut from wires to kitchen utensils, and they can all be used to create a new item or help you in your cause in their own separate way. For example, you can use your cutlery to chip away at the surfaces, meaning the ground or the walls, or in some cases, the fences. When it comes to the recipes, some of them are unbelievably simple, such as cutters, which you can craft by mixing duct tape with two files. You can also create a pouch with some foil and duct tape.
4. Be Careful With Deadly Weapons
You may also find some items such as screwdrivers and nunchucks, and as you know, these can both be used as deadly weapons, or seen as such by the prison guards. If you’re caught carrying these items, you can be caught and you will certainly find yourself in a pickle. But you can avoid getting caught by hiding them in a pouch – we explained the recipe for a pouch above, so make sure you’ve got one before carrying contraband items like the above-mentioned weapons! Also, you can keep these items and others in a stash area, which can be done by unscrewing vents or digging a hole in your cell.
5. Communicate With Your Fellow Inmates
The Escapists has no shortage of NPC prisoners whom you can communicate with, and you can rely on them in a pinch, buying anything from basic files to those potentially nasty screwdrivers. They may also send you off on quests or missions, such as beating up another prisoner in exchange for money. This mechanic, as we’ve noticed, is quite similar to the one in Mdickie’s Hard Time, and a great way to get the stuff you need, may it be new items or additional cash.
As a bonus tip, it pays to be a nice guy in prison, as you may encounter an inmate whom you can befriend or make good use of (you are an ex-con, after all), while building up your reputation and popularity. And once you’ve built that up, you may get a chance to form a gang or join one, though the risk here is that you may be targeted and followed around by other prisoners and challenged to a fight.
6. Work Prison Jobs
Working a prison job is another thing you can do to earn in-game currency in the game. The best job, we’d say, is laundry duty, as this affords you with the perfect opportunity to steal a guard’s uniform and blend in with the people keeping you in jail. Your job would ostensibly be to collect dirty clothes and take them to the washer/dryer, but think of the mischief you can pull off in this job!
There are other jobs aside from laundry you can work, in an effort to make more money and collect more items for your crafting recipes. However, you will need to replace the person doing that job by getting them fired. That would mean beating them up during working hours, as that may cause them to miss their work schedule and get sacked from their job.
7. Miscellaneous Tips For Escaping
Last, but not least, let’s run through some other tips that you may find handy while trying to conduct your own prison break. First of all, make sure you’ve brought enough food with you so you don’t get tired and hungry while escaping. When it comes to using the roof to escape, you will need a rope or a grappling hook in order to get down, and that will require some crafting recipes. And when digging a holes, do not, in any event, dig outside while the sun is up, as you’re sure to be caught in the act. Basically, the thing when escaping is being as crafty (pun unintended) as possible, and being patient as you come up with solutions to your problem.
That’s all for now, as far as our The Escapists tips, tricks and cheats are concerned. Do you know more hints? Let us know yout thoughts in the comment section!