Hellraid: The Escape Review (iOS)

Several times in the past, developers and publishers have tried bringing PC and consoles franchises to mobile devices. The jump to the mobile environment wasn’t always successful, especially when a team tried to replicate the original experience too faithfully, without taking into account what makes a mobile game a really good mobile game.

Hellraid: The Escape is another one of these experiments, as the game can be considered a mobile spin-off of Hellraid, a PC action title. Luckily the developers have taken a completely different approach with Hellraid: The Escape, creating a title that’s one of the more interesting iOS titles released during 2014.

Hellraid: The Escape is a first person puzzle game with a great atmosphere and really solid gameplay experience. Gamers willbe taking on the role of a nameless prisoner who has no idee on who he is and why he is in this hellish place. Luckily, another prisoner offers the main character the chance to escape the place, granted that he is able to find him. Hellraid: The Escape’s story is presented in a really nice way. The game doesn’t feature any cutscene but offers more on the overall plot after each puzzle has been completed. Not everything is clearly revealed, leaving a sense of mystery around what is happening in the prison. Gamers will have to piece everything together themselves, something that not too many games do nowadays.

The Hellraid: The Escape gameplay experience, as mentioned earlier, is just as good as its story. The game features very little action, with the exception of some not too good platforming sections, but just plenty of clever puzzles to complete. All of the game’s puzzles are located inside “Chambers”, which include a few rooms where all the puzzles’ elements are. The puzzles themselves are pretty varied, with the later ones being quite complex but also very rewarding. Luckily the first puzzles have been designed so to ease the player into the game’s mechanics, so there’s a really nice balancing to the whole experience that never makes it feel frustrating. A hint system will also make sure that you are never tuck for too long when trying to solve a puzzle.

Hellraid: The Escape nice gameplay experience is enhanced by the great atmosphere created by the graphics, which look really gorgeous. The game’s color palette is somewhat limited but it manages to create a really unique atmosphere that just adds up to the whole experience.

Hellraid: The Escape is a really great experience full of great gameplay features, nice story and unique atmosphere. With the exception of the platforming sections, which aren’t that many, there’s really nothing wrong with the game. The team tried to do something different to bring a PC franchise on iOS and it definitely succeeded in doing so by offering a really unique experience.