When comparing One More Dungeon vs The Escapists 2, the Slant community recommends The Escapists 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best indie games for the Nintendo Switch?” The Escapists 2 is ranked 19th while One More Dungeon is ranked 26th. The most important reason people chose The Escapists 2 is:
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.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Interesting ranged weapon play
Staves act as the ranged weapon to shoot projectiles at your foes, as well have some magical attributes like freezing, poisoning, and burning.
Staff use is limited as ammo comes in the form of various crystals (fire, ice, and acid) which can be found scattered around the maps. Some staves, such as the Ice Beam Staff, only consume ice crystals. However others, like the Mirror Staff which causes your shots to bounce off walls, requires 1 crystal of each type to use.
Some enemies are also weak to certain damage types like fire or acid, so you'll have to plan and manage your crystals appropriately if you want to do max damage with staves.
Between the sheer variety of staffs and micromanaging your crystals to use each staff to it's full potential, everything comes together into a ranged weapon system that's both interesting and functional.
Pro It gives you a fresh experience every run
The dungeons, items, and enemies are procedurally generated. This ensures the levels are truly random each and every time, with items, bosses, traps, and secret rooms scattered about in new places every run. You'll never play the same map twice.
Pro Retro art style
The simple pixel art is full of charm for those that enjoy the bloated 8 bit style, and it takes a lot of it's inspiration from games such as the original Doom and Minecraft. The blocky textures, chunky pixels, and 2D enemies are a definite nod to old school gaming. It's a visual feast for retro lovers.
Pro You can customize the gameplay with Mutators for an added challenge
Every time you kill an enemy, you earn points which can be used to purchase Mutators. These Mutators are game options that change your experience a bit, and are a great way to try something new or add an extra layer of difficulty. Some examples of Mutators include starting the game with 1 hit point, reduced view distance, extra power ups, and extra enemies. There are quite a few to choose from, and you can activate 2 at a time which means you can mix and match them to find your perfect challenge.
Pro Barebones gameplay but still quite fun for a few hours
One More Dungeon is a fairly basic first person dungeon crawler. Roaming around dungeons, picking up power ups, killing enemies, avoiding traps, and using a variety of different weapons. There's no looking up or down, so combat is pretty straightforward. Run up and hit a monster, or line up your ranged attack. Bosses have a few simple mechanics but nothing fancy. Dungeons are randomly generated so you'll never play the same one twice.
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 Repetitive gameplay
The randomly generated maps are very similar to one another. In most cases, they require a bunch of backtracking due to bad layouts, meaning a lot of play time is spent walking instead of fighting. Enemies either blindly charge at you or sit at the same predetermined distance to shoot at you, without any kind of noticeable strategy behind their actions. Overall, the similar maps and predictable enemies just don't change things up enough from level to level to retain your interest for long.
Con Melee weapons feel imbalanced to play with
The melee weapons seem to hit a little off center and to the right of where you're actually aiming. You can adjust for this with a little practice, but it just doesn't feel good to control. Also, the range on most melee weapons is so low that they're almost effectively useless since you have to be practically right on top of enemies. During the early game, you'll be too weak to be up close and personal with enemies, so the sheer difficulty discourages any kind of melee play.
Con You can't look up or down
There's no Y-axis which means you can't look up and down. This greatly reduces the immersion in the environment and your only perspective is limited to a straight on, first person view.
Con There's no story
The only goal is to escape the various dungeons, and there's no kind of story to keep your attention. While this may be okay for some, those who prefer at least a basic story with their games might be disappointed.
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.