Shipwreck Escape is developer Raccoons Studio's first puzzler and unfortunately, it misses the mark. This 2.5-D side-scrolling puzzle game looks and moves in a similar way to titles like Inside, but it is noticeably clunkier and less engaging; more importantly, the gameplay loop of Shipwreck Escape simply feels unfair.
The premise of the game is that the main character, a croupier in the cruise ship's casino, wakes up from being knocked out by a fallen pipe to find that the ship is sinking. It's hard to call him the main character, however, because the male character immediately meets a female counterpart that they will play as for just as long. Throughout the journey to escape the ship, players will come across scenes of panic, will have to make decisions about whether or not to save various trapped NPCs, and ultimately discover what happened to the ship.
The main mechanics in Shipwreck Escape are a moral choices system, tandem puzzle solving, and outrunning the rising water. Sadly, each of these three main mechanics have significant flaws that lead to a less than enjoyable experience. The tandem puzzle solving is at the heart of the game and there is clearly more focus on that than anything else - but it still falls short due to how the levels are presented. In a game with complicated puzzles made of multiple moving parts that must be accomplished under the stress of a timer, the whole level should be visible to the player so they can actually navigate. Most of the "puzzle solving" didn't involve using logic to find the solution; instead it was a product of dying countless times to obstacles that quickly enter the frame until the player just memorized the route.
The moral decisions are one of the better ideas in Shipwreck Escape, as it fits right in with the world of the game but it doesn't always feel worth it, or sometimes possible, to save everyone. For example, the first person available to save just tells the croupier to "piss off" as they flee off screen, which immediately leaves a bad taste in the mouth for this mechanic. Later on, there is a crewmate stuck right above the beginning of the level and one of the necessary components to get them out is immediately covered by water and by the time the player can even circle back to help, it's already too late. Character moments aside, it sometimes feels like the player doesn't actually have the ability to save other passengers and ultimately results in ignoring them altogether.
The trailer for Shipwreck Escape specifically states to "run as fast as you can," but it doesn't actually let players. Controls are clunky and inconsistent, as kicking in vents is a quick motion but the kick to get out sends the player on their back only to get up extremely slowly. More directly contradicting the trailer's statement is that the characters have stamina, which is a huge problem when players have a limited view of the level, need to cover a lot of ground, backtrack a lot, and have to outrun rising water all at the same time.
Shipwreck Escape feels like it's actively fighting against the mechanics that it promotes. Some of the puzzles are actually pretty good, but even the best puzzles are overshadowed by the fact it takes 5-10 tries to figure out what it actually looks like. There are some other non-gameplay issues such as not saving key mapping when exiting and reentering the game, so it has to be changed every time the game opens. Puzzle games are supposed to balance being challenging but fun, but Shipwreck Escape just feels frustrating and unfair.
Shipwreck Escape is available now on PC. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam Key code for the purposes of this review.