Point and click games used to be the standard for exciting games that gave the player more control over the world. Players would pick what to interact with and how they would approach problems. Point and click games have survived into the modern age and with Don’t Escape 4 Days in a Wasteland, scriptwelder has created a game that builds on the series while still challenging players to go against their basic instincts.
The world ended a long time ago. David, a survivor, wanders what is left of the world. David has not been sleeping well. Every night, he seems to have a dream about some sort of danger. These dreams are more like prophecy and he will have a limited amount of time to make sure he is prepared when the danger comes. Sometimes it is a huge swarm of insects or a huge heatwave. Sometimes it is a much more human problem.
The Don’t Escape series built it’s name on forcing a player to think of all the ways things could go wrong. You would try a certain combination of actions, only to find you had missed some key part. The series then added a time element, actions took a set amount of time to complete . With Don’t Escape 4 all these pieces have come together in the best way possible. You might not think getting gas is stressful, but try to get it with only a few more hours until your doom arrives.
The visuals and sounds are awesome. Emotion is created from the little bits of information you get. This is a pixel style, but it feels more real. After you have secured yourself, you get a breakdown of what you did, or failed to do. You might think this would hamper a replayability, but the answer is not given to you straight away. You might find you want to have a perfect run. Also, the dangers change with every play-through. Surviving the hoard and surviving the heatwave require much different actions.
Don’t Escape 4 takes everything that is good about the point and click genre and adds an element of surprise and invention. Every game built on the last one and this seems like the culmination. Forcing the player to not fight or run is a genius way of making gamers have to confront a problem with no other option then making themselves as safe as possible. It might be the end of the world, but it is not the end of your world.
8/10
Available on PC
