Escape from Ever After Review

Video GamesReviews

Mar 5

Escape from Ever After is the Paper Mario we have at home

*Escape from Ever After* Credit: Sleepy Castle Studio / Wing-It! Creative / HypeTrain Digital

Escape from Ever After from Sleepy Castle Studio and Wing-It! Creative and published by HypeTrain Digital. The game has an imaginative story with funny writing, but it’s unmistakably a Paper Mario clone with ultimately uninspired gameplay.

I love this game conceptually. Classic fairytale adventurer Flynt Buckler goes to fight his nemesis, dragon Tinder, only to find out that Tinder’s dark fortress has been converted into corporate offices. It turns out that real-world corporation Ever After Inc. has been taking over fairy tales, and Flynt soon finds himself in the dungeon alongside a weakened Tinder. Naturally, Flynt and Tinder decide to put aside their differences and become new hires to take down the company from the inside. The setup provides fodder for some great writing and a genuinely funny skewering of corporate culture. The varied storybook settings across genres are fun, as well.

The gameplay is where my feelings on the game begin to cool. Like Paper Mario, the turn-based combat relies on timing inputs to land better hits or defend from attacks to avoid or reduce damage. In theory, that should keep battles engaging. In practice, landing the timing rarely felt satisfying enough to justify how central it is to the system. It doesn’t help that performing well is tied to generating one of the game’s two MP resources, synergy. The added pressure makes fights feel tense, but mostly in a frustrating way.

You’re limited to two characters in battle, with the option to swap in reserves after the first switch at the cost of a turn. Characters all have different abilities, and choosing the right ones for a fight matters. Flynt’s shield throw can reach enemies in the back row, while other party members can ignore shields or hit specific enemy types more effectively. There’s some genuine strategy there, and the ideas behind the combat are solid. It just never feels very good.

Exploration takes place in small 3D environments, with light platforming and puzzle-solving. Progress usually involves using each character’s overworld abilities; for example, Tinder breathes fire, Flynt throws his shield, and Wolfgang (the not-so-big-or-bad wolf) plays songs that trigger different effects. It works well enough, but again, it feels very familiar. Nothing here is bad, it’s just not especially memorable.

The problem is that Escape from Ever After is so close to Paper Mario that it constantly invites comparison, a comparison it doesn’t win. The premise, characters, and writing deserve something that feels more like their own game. Instead, the whole thing comes across as a rougher take on Nintendo’s formula. The art direction doesn’t help; if it weren’t so derivative, the similarities might not stand out as much. As it is, the game feels like the poorer cousin of the series it’s clearly borrowing from. And having played Born of Bread, another Paper Mario-inspired RPG that feels more polished, the comparison is hard to avoid.

There’s still a lot here I like. The premise is clever, the writing is great, and the world is fun to spend time in. I just wish the gameplay had its own identity to match.

Escape from Ever After is available now on Steam.