Why You Should Play
- Engaging, story-driven gameplay that can be played locally or online.
- Well-developed, believable characters with distinctive personalities.
- Unique interactions prompted by cooperative decision making.
- An emotional narrative worth seeing through to the end.
A Way Out is a cinematic co-op game created by Hazelight, the studio headed by Swedish game developer Josef Fares. After Fares made waves during The Game Awards in 2017, A Way Out began to garner attention for its dedicated co-op gameplay and unique interactions. A Way Out’s punchy narrative follows a pair of inmates who must collaborate with one another to pull off an epic prison break during the 1970’s. With its distinct characters, action-packed gameplay, and nuanced interactions, A Way Out is a cooperative experience that you and your co-op companion won’t soon forget.
Gameplay
The story of A Way Out revolves around two inmates named Vincent and Leo, who meet while serving time in prison. After getting acquainted, the two inmates coordinate a plan to bust out of prison in order to seek revenge on a common enemy. Vincent and Leo start out as a bit of an odd couple, but the pair solidify their friendship after bonding over hardships.
Vincent and Leo each have their own distinct personalities. Leo is brash, confident, and has no trouble reacting to a situation using brute force. Meanwhile, Vincent tends to be calm and collected, often taking a more diplomatic approach to get himself out of tough situations.
The contrasting personalities of the two inmates help to diversify the game by opening up different gameplay options for players to choose from. You and your co-op buddy will often have to decide how to handle certain situations using Vincent and Leo’s different approaches, ultimately impacting how each major event plays out.
The gameplay in A Way Out alternates between heart-pumping action sequences and thoughtful puzzle-solving, with movie-like cinematics interspersed throughout. Vincent and Leo may be busy solving environmental puzzles in one chapter, then sprinting through the forest trying to escape vicious dogs in the next.
In A Way out, you and your co-op partner will have to coordinate with one another to get past guards and handle tough situations on your trek to exact revenge on your most loathed enemy. For example, one of you may need to distract an NPC with some light conversation while the other breaks into an office to steal something.
During your downtime, Vincent and Leo can also interact with objects in the environment to share nuanced moments with eachother, such as playing a game together or teaming up for a brief jam session.
In some cases, you both will have to agree on whether to take Vincent or Leo’s way out when things get dicey. Your decisions impact how events play out in the immediate future, easing your journey ahead or making things more thrilling depending on what you choose.
Visuals and Performance
A Way Out’s crisp visuals and unique split-screen layout makes for engaging gameplay, particularly during intense action sequences. Both Leo and Vincent’s characters are well-acted and believable, making the emotional narrative that much more immersive.
If you’ve played Josef Fares’ previous game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, you’ll likely enjoy the A Way Out. Though Brothers was not a co-op game, the two titles share similar cooperative gameplay mechanics that give both games a very familiar feel.
Game of the Week
Josef Fares and the team at Hazelight managed to create a unique, dedicated co-op experience unlike any other. Although the game requires two players to play, one of the best features of A Way Out is the fact that you don’t need to convince your friend to buy a second copy.
Thanks to the Friend Pass feature, players can team up with a friend online to play A Way Out using only one copy of the game. If you own the full version of A Way Out, any friend on the same platform can drop in to play each chapter with you once they’ve downloaded the free trial, giving you yet another reason to delve into this engaging experience with your best co-op companion.
A Way Out is a story-driven adventure, leaving the most powerful moments for last. We won’t spoil anything here, but you’ll definitely want to see the game through to the end to find out what becomes of Leo and Vincent.
If you’ve recently started playing A Way Out with a friend and need help getting out of a pickle, check out our A Way Out Walkthrough to find out how to get through each of the game’s five chapters.
