*Note: I received the game for free for my honest review. Thank you to Sleepy Castle Studio and HypeTrain Digital for the PS5 game key.
I was excited to check out Escape from Ever After because it looked cute and totally gave a Paper Mario feel with the art style. We're introduced to storybook character Flynt Buckler who as he enters the castle is ready to face his nemesis Tinder the Dragon discovers things have changed drastically. Not only has the castle been taken over by a greedy megacorporation known as Ever After Inc. it's also been fully redesigned in what can only be described as office cubicle hell complete with other storybook characters. Right from the start, the humor and jokes about this are funny and smart and had me laughing at poor Flynt wondering what the heck was going on as he talks to the receptionist who is Red Riding Hood in the lobby.
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| Flynt Buckler begins his adventure. |
Red Riding Hood immediately recognizes Flynt as a main character and calls the regional manager Mr. Moon who is actually a moon. He seems kind of nice at first offering Flynt a job which is a little surprising, but when Flynt decides to pass on the job opportunity he's thrown into a dungeon. I was shocked and amused to find Flynt's cellmate was none other than Tinder the Dragon. Tinder is looking a little smaller as she explains that Ever After Inc. swarmed into her castle and forced her to wear a collar that makes her look like a tiny cute dragon. She's very grumpy about this and ready to torch the corporation to the ground. Flynt and Tinder reach an agreement to work together to escape the dungeon. This gives a good tutorial into how the battle system works. I'm very bad at timing and puzzles so I did appreciate that I could change the game settings to play the game on easy and have autoblock on. This made the battles more fun and less frustrating for me.
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| Flynt and Tinder get ready to battle. |
Once they've escaped the dungeon Flynt and Tinder agree to continue working together and come up with a plan. They're going to get jobs at Ever After Inc, and climb the corporate ladder in order to destroy the whole thing from the inside. It was interesting that Mr. Moon didn't hold a grudge and was delighted to do the job interview for Flynt and Tinder. The interview had me laughing at Flynt trying to give polite answers while Tinder kept giving answers heavily laced in sarcasm. Somehow, they pass the interview and are hired and are shown to their office where they can check emails to get their first assignment as well as some side quests like throwing an office birthday party for Pinocchio.
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| Tinder's sarcasm is gold. |
The gist of what Ever After Inc. can do is they can use a device known as a telepager and they can enter the worlds of the chosen storybook. Flynt and Tinder are given clearance to do this and enter their first storybook world which is The Three Little Pigs. The Pigs were not the heroes in the story and surprisingly the wolves were the good guys including The Big Bad Wolf who is actually a bard and says everyone calls him Wolfgang. I absolutely adored Wolfgang. He's just a happy little guy who loves to share his not so great songs with everyone and is funny without meaning to be because of situations going right over his head. Wolfgang does have very useful abilities that incorporate his music such as playing a song that makes plants grow huge.
Two more interesting characters are added to the group as the adventure continues with a skeleton witch named Eva and a cute one eyed teddy bear named Patches. The entire group agrees that Ever After Inc. must be stopped and they need to save not just themselves, but all the storybook characters from the evil machinations of their corporate greed. Each one has their own unique abilities that can be used to get through various puzzles and storybook areas. There's also a badges system where each character can equip a badge that boosts battle abilities. There's also cute outfits that Flynt can equip as part of the story for several of the storybook worlds. I loved exploring all the different worlds. I did feel some of the puzzles were a little rough in places when it wasn't quite obvious what to do, but because I enjoyed the story and all the characters it did not detract from my enjoyment of the game.
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| Checking the party's stats. |
I think what makes Escape from Ever After stand out is that while yes it seems like a Paper Mario clone, it's very much its own thing with a truly original story and characters that are quirky, funny, and imperfect and yet they manage to become friends and work together really well. The story itself has a lot of heart not just in the main story, but in the side quests as well. My personal favorite was Cthulhu finding love and their romantic partner giving them a hilarious grand gesture with the help of Flynt and friends. There's even a side quest involving an epic dungeon crawl in a tower called the Stairs of Success that can give some pretty great rewards. All of these things come together perfectly to make a fun whimsical adventure with fantastic storytelling, wonderful characters, and a lot of beautiful touching moments throughout all of it. I loved this group of unlikely friends coming together and learning things about themselves and each other. When I got to the ending I was a little sad to say goodbye, but I was also happy that I got to go on this fantastic adventure with them.
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| The power of friendship! |
*Escape from Ever After is available on the following platforms: Steam, Nintendon Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and Playstation 5
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