The Escapists 2 - Big Top Breakout (PC) Review

The circus theme of prisoners entertaining spectators is a concept not often utilised, and harkens a bit to the anime Deadman Wonderland, although this game is not violent like that at all. While the prisoners do in fact perform on this map, it is more typical circus fashion of fire-breathing or hula-hoops.

As to what the DLC does, it is simply another map to play on, with different things to learn, and different things to try. The root of the game stays the same, which presents some issues. The most notable is the control scheme and RNG can wreak havoc on an escape plan. All too often, a carefully acquired item is lost due to something occurring (usually an inopportune fight that you get caught in) or a mis-click, and this frustration of how long it took to get can sting.

For some reason, the controls are oddly not very intuitive. Using WASD on a keyboard is okay in itself, but how many other buttons need to be pressed is problematic. Far too often, when something like wanting to pick something up, or look at something specific occurs, suddenly the wrong thing is clicked (sometime hitting someone, for example), which leads to getting beaten by the cops, losing all items/progress.

The circus theme is a fun diversion compared to the more typical prisons found in the base game, and given it is paid DLC it is fairly fleshed out. There are a few players online, so there is still a community to hop into games with. While the level is new, most of the action remains nearly exactly the same, which can be an issue depending on the player.