The Awakening
27 February 2021
at home
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
After having played Low Memory, I had to get my hands on the other Escape Tales games in the series. And it was definitely not a disappointment. The first game in the series, The Awakening, has a very different story line. You play a character named Sam, whose wife died a number of years ago. Now, his daughter is gripped by a mysterious illness and has fallen into a coma. Her doctor has little hope for her recovery, but you follow a trail to find out about a ritual in a mystical book that might save her life.
This game is played through an immersive story based on many decisions by the player. You can severely affect the plot and outcome with your decisions throughout play. This makes it such an interesting and unique experience. The Awakening is quite a dark game, with lots of occult and magical references. However, it is a lot of fun to play, but also anxiety inducing with the intense decisions to be made along the way. The story seems quite thought out, with many forks and surprises thrown in to make it more interesting.
I played The Awakening in one go in just over four hours, with a few breaks thrown in. I ended up with a fantastic ending, but nosed my way around the game book to see what other endings were possible. Throughout, most of them seemed quite a lot more devastating than the one I got, so there is definitely potential for defeat.
As it’s a linear story, it doesn’t have a lot of replay value, though a completionist may find it interesting to try the other choices to see the unique puzzles and plot points that result through those. I for one cannot wait to play the next escape tales game and hope they release more in the future!