I loved the original Escape Goat. I thought it was brilliant from start to finish, and it was easily one of the best games of 2013. I loved the puzzle design. I loved the platforming. I pretty much loved everything. The only thing I complained about was the vintage 8-bit artwork. Escape Goat 2 builds on the already spectacular design of its predecessor in every conceivable way. Oh, and it looks beautiful.
Playing as a sure-footed goat, you take on stages that will require you to flex your intellectual muscle in order to be successful. The levels are products of genius design, as they are deceptively difficult and filled with unpredictable twists and turns. Escape Goat 2’s levels have a sinister design, as you’ll often find yourself unexpectedly crushed by a boulder or shocked by lightning just when you thought you were home safe. Oh, and its all very intentional. Its as if the developer Ian Stocker knew you’d be standing right there at that moment, and decided a giant rock should fall on your noggin. They say that cats have nine lives, and apparently goats have at least 300 from my experience. You’ll need every one of them!
Where Escape Goat 2 surprised me the most with in its innovation over the original in terms of game mechanics. I honestly wasn’t expecting the game to introduce new abilities, as I felt the original game’s gameplay was so awesome. I didn’t even think there was room for improvement, and yet, here I am playing Escape Goat 2 and it feels like every environment introduces a brand new mechanic. Whether its one-way doors that can lock you into a pit or a cape that lets your magical mouse literally fly across the screen, the game is filled with new items that completely revitalize the game and its puzzling. With each new mechanic comes new ways to puzzle the player, and the game does this wonderfully.
As I mentioned previously, one of my only peeves with the original was the graphics. Honestly, even though they weren’t particularly inspiring the game was so good you completely forgot what the game looked like anyways. You were too busy thinking and platforming to care. Escape Goat 2 looks so damn good you can’t help but notice how awesome the environments look. Its more than just a new layer of paint and some bloom effects; everything looks like its been completely redone. The lighting adds a fantastic visual element to the puzzling, and the goat and sheep have new animations which just make the whole experience look and feel so much smoother. As a whole, the game just looks and feels amazing.
This is usually the point in the review where I make note of Escape Goat 2’s shortcomings… but honestly, there aren’t any. The only thing I can think of is that it isn’t launching with Steam Workshop. Even then, that isn’t vital to the game’s core experience and the game is just so damn good. It will be added very shortly, just as it was in the original, and community-built stages will give goat lovers more reason to boot the game up again and again.
Honestly, I love this game. I think it’s one of the most complete indie gaming experiences I have ever had. Every element of the game works flawlessly together and it is an absolute blast to play. You have to buy this game. I don’t care if you consider yourself a fan of indie games or not. This is simply one of those games that will make the AAA-lover in you convert to the indie-side forever. It’s that damn good.
