• News

The Artful Escape strikes a chord with September release date

For those about to rock, here's the game for you, as The Artful Escape is finally about to release.

Ozzie Mejia

July 29, 2021 12:04 PM

1

It's been a very long time since The Artful Escape first saw life as a Kickstarter project. Nearly five years later, the brainchild of Beethoven & Dinosaur is about to finally cross the finish line. Thursday's Annapurna Interactive Showcase kicked off with a new trailer for the musical adventure, one that concluded with an official release date.

One other interesting takeaway from this latest trailer for The Artful Escape is that it's the first one to feature full voice acting. As Annapurna Interactive has done for some of its games, like the upcoming Twelve Minutes and Open Roads, the publisher has enlisted some big-time stars to voice characters. Teen Wolf star Michael Johnston will lead the way as Francis Vendetti, supported by actress Caroline Kinley as Violetta. Other Hollywood heavy hitters include Game of Thrones' Lena Headey, Fargo's Jason Schwartzman, Kingsman's Mark Strong, and Predator/Arrested Development legend Carl Weathers.

For the uninitiated, The Artful Escape is a blend between a rock opera and an adventure game. It follows the story of Francis Vendetti and his quest to find a stage persona en route to musical superstardom. In a presentation evocative of movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and music videos from the mind of the late David Bowie, The Artful Escape will challenge players to run and jump across time and space in pursuit of greatness.

The Artful Escape has come a long way since its 2016 Kickstarter and its original 2017 reveal. Now it's ready for release. Look for it to come to PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X, and Xbox One on September 9. And, yes, it will be available through Xbox Game Pass.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?