The Escapists is free on Epic Games Store

For this week's entry in Epic Games' free game of the week program, fans have The Escapists.

The game is available for free on the Epic Games Store from today through September 30. Users will only require a free Epic Games account to claim it if they do not already have one.

The Escapists comes from Team17, the same studio known for the Switch classic, Overcooked 2, which was also free on Epic Games a few weeks ago.

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Why get The Escapists off the Epic Games Store

From the first glance, the game may look like a cross between Streets of Rogue and Rimworld. Other than its visuals, though, it is far from either. Epic rightfully categorizes The Escapists as "strategy".

The title is closer to an adventure game in terms of structure if they were non-scripted and freeform. It drops the player into a prison compound with one ultimate goal: the titular prison break.

Gamers can achieve this goal in several ways. There are some basic RPG elements like stats progression, so users could, theoretically, hit the prison gym and get strong enough to brute-force their way out.

Most players, however, will find themselves favoring the preset routine the prison has given the prisoner. For one, failing to follow the rules will make things much more difficult as they accumulate more and more heat.

The gameplay boils down to exploration and experimentation. It fits the prison break theme perfectly, as users run various sidequests to acquire useful items and scout out possible escape routes.

The game has several 'levels', i.e., prisons to figure out and break. complete all the content, gamers will sink anything from 20 to 30 hours on average. The DLCs add some interesting spins to the exploration-survival-crafting gameplay routine of The Escapists, but the free Epic copy does not have them.

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PC requirements

Rendering its pixel graphics does not require much in terms of PC resources. As such, any functional modern computer can run it with no issues.

• Operating System: Windows XP and above
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4000, ATI Radeon HD 4800, Nvidia GeForce 8000 or above
• 2 GB of Storage Space