When comparing Õkami HD vs The Escapists 2, the Slant community recommends Õkami HD for most people. In the question“What are the best games for the Nintendo Switch?” Õkami HD is ranked 29th while The Escapists 2 is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose Õkami HD is:
Throughout the game, you can use three types of melee weapons: mirrors, rosaries, and swords. Each one can be used to weave combos in tandem with your character's acrobatic movements, smashing or slashing the demons you encounter. The real highlight of Õkami, however, are the paintbrush techniques, which can be used for attacking enemies or manipulating the environment. You simply select your paintbrush, which slows the game's speed to a crawl, allowing you to draw anywhere on the screen. For example, drawing a single line over a demon or object will slash it, drawing a circle in the sky will cause the sun to rise, and drawing a path from a body of water will create a waterspout. You don’t need to draw the lines perfectly, it is enough to roughly match the required drawing. It's a really fun and creative way of fighting normally not seen in games.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Unusual and one-of-a-kind combat methods
Throughout the game, you can use three types of melee weapons: mirrors, rosaries, and swords. Each one can be used to weave combos in tandem with your character's acrobatic movements, smashing or slashing the demons you encounter.
The real highlight of Õkami, however, are the paintbrush techniques, which can be used for attacking enemies or manipulating the environment. You simply select your paintbrush, which slows the game's speed to a crawl, allowing you to draw anywhere on the screen. For example, drawing a single line over a demon or object will slash it, drawing a circle in the sky will cause the sun to rise, and drawing a path from a body of water will create a waterspout. You don’t need to draw the lines perfectly, it is enough to roughly match the required drawing. It's a really fun and creative way of fighting normally not seen in games.
Pro Large, enchanting, and atmospheric world
Õkami, though not an open-world game, still has a vast map, consisting of seven regions and numerous subregions. You have an opportunity to explore all of Japan and experience everything the country has to offer, going from tall dense forests, over the picturesque coasts, to frosty mountains. Along the way, you’ll find history, rooted in Japanese mythology, and you'll meet a lot of imaginative characters. Some of them might only keep you company for a few missions, but you still get invested in their stories and development.
Pro Unique and breathtakingly beautiful art style
The unusual art style takes inspiration from traditional Japanese woodblock paintings, called Ukiyo-e. Crisp black contour lines and explosions of color after successfully bringing back life into the world give a constant impression of being inside a work of art: every tree, every building, and every figure looks like it was painted with ink.
Pro A lot of different activities
Apart from the main storyline (curing the Demon-cursed areas by looking for guardian sprouts and letting them bloom), there are ample employment opportunities – characters in this mythological Japan need all kinds of help, so you'll get a lot of missions and sidequests. The paintbrush techniques get a lot of use in these missions as well, for solving riddles and puzzles. You might need to win a race to get a guard's mask back to him, look for a lost bunny, or defeat a bunch of demons so that a drunk guy could keep his name as the best warrior in the land. Or you can just fish or feed cute animals.
Some sidequests need to be at least partly done to move the story along, some of them are totally optional. However, every good deed restores your status as a God: if you do good in the game, you get points, which can then be used to increase your health or the amount of ink you can carry, and that keeps the player motivated.
Pro Encourages experimentation and creativity
There is no right or wrong way to do anything, and it's entirely a risk vs reward scenario for anything you want to try. You are only limited by your creativity in escaping, as each prison has almost endless possibilities and encourages the player to make the best use of their inventory and be creative in handling every situation.
Bed sheets can be used to cover cell windows from the prying eyes of guards, desks can be moved to reach out of reach vents, crafted tools can be used for various purposes such as breaking through walls or doors, and shovels can be used to dig holes. You can try to sneak around guards, or opt to hide in vents until they're out of sight. If you're feeling especially brave, you can even attempt to fight the guards and take their keys allowing easier access around the prison.
Pro Good balance of game systems make for a rewarding simulation
Taking action in the game uses up your stamina, so you'll still have to make time for things like eating and sleeping if you want to have energy for things like digging through walls, fighting other inmates, or cutting through vents and gates.
Items such as shovels and cutters have limited durability, so they can't be used endlessly. Raw materials can be found around the prison to craft items, or you can buy items from fences using money earned by running fetch quests for other inmates. No matter how you acquire them, crafting materials and finished goods are limited so you'll have to use your items wisely.
Time is an important factor that has to be managed too, with certain activities having to be done at certain times. This limits the amount of time you have to roam the prison, since you have to show up for meal times and roll calls. Free time can be used to craft, roam the prison to determine the guard patterns, or finally put your ultimate escape plan into action.
Juggling each and every one of the various aspects of the game results in a very deep and rewarding simulation experience.
Pro Solid progression of difficulty
The difficulty increases as you progress, with each prison becoming just a little more intricate and more challenging to escape from than the previous. The prisons themselves get more complex with more obstacles to overcome such as tougher guards which results in more ways things can go wrong. The progress feels good and natural, as you're always building on what you learned in previous prisons to escape from the newest one.
Pro Great pixel art style for retro fans
If you enjoy a more retro style, then this game is pure eye candy. Simple but charming, the pixel art is colorful, with the sprites having a nice variety in animations when they're shoveling, searching, running around, fighting, or partaking in any kind of activity that would require movement. The tile sets for the game world are nicely detailed, colored and shaded. You won't get tired of looking at the same tiles over and over due to the sheer amount and variety of the art assets created for the game.
Pro Lots of replayability
No two games will play out alike. Each prison is an open sandbox, so it's definitely not a linear experience with a defined escape blueprint. Prisons can be replayed over and over to beat your previous time, measured in how many in-game days it took you to escape, which leaves plenty of room for trying new things on each successive playthrough.
Pro Co-Op multiplayer mode adds a new depth to gameplay
Working together creates a whole new experience with loads of possibilities. In co-op mode, you play with up to 3 teammates either online or locally as you work towards escaping the prison together. This adds a whole new dynamic to gameplay as working together creates experiences that just aren't possible when playing solo. Someone could distract the guards, while another searches rooms for crafting materials. One player could run around collecting items, while another scopes out the guard's patrol patterns. Some can complete quests to collect money while others are working on digging tunnels.
Pro A couple of alternative prisons add a change of scenery
Tired of bricks, cold floors, and cement cells? For those who want a change of scenery, there is a prison set in the wild west, and even a futuristic space prison. This adds a little bit of variety to the look of the game while keeping the same gameplay mechanics. It's a nice touch and gives your eyes a break from staring at the same tilesets over and over.
Cons
Con Indiscernible dialogue voice-over can be grating
The voice-over was done by actors actually saying the text that's shown in the dialogue box, but then the recording was speeded up and resulted in a cartoon-like gibberish. These high-pitched voices can become quite annoying over the 40-60 hours of gameplay, luckily, the voice-over can be turned off in the settings.
Con Long unskippable cutscene at the start
Right at the start, there is a ~18-minute long, slow cutscene that you can't skip. Later there are some more cutscenes, but these can be fast-forwarded through.
Con Getting caught by guards can be overly punishing
It's frustrating when you spend several hours grinding quests for other inmates, collecting items, crafting, and carefully planning your escape, only to get caught by guards and lose all your items or killed. This effectively means you have to start over, wasting hours of your own time and days of in-game time.
Con Can feel grindy at times
Running around doing fetch quests for other inmates, or searching for crafting materials for hours on end can get stale after a while.
Con Tutorial doesn't cover much
The tutorial will only walk you through the barest of basics, resulting in the player having to learn the game's various mechanics on their own.