Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue Review: Danganron-huh?

Have you ever gone into something not entirely knowing what you’re doing? Well, that’s where I’m at right now regarding my feelings on Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue.. Even as I’m writing this review, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this game. On one hand, Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue is ambitious in size and scope, impressive in how it presents branching pathways, and, most importantly, entertaining (at least most of the time). Unfortunately, it also seems to suffer from things like railroading, reliance on padding, and really weird character development—ultimately resulting in something that’s compelling enough to draw me in, but unstable enough that it can’t necessarily keep me that way.

No Rules, No Rescue, No Choice

I have a feeling that I already know how this is going to end.

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue starts off fairly normally—or, at least as “normally” one can get with this kind of game—with protagonist Harrison “Harri” Tailor sitting on his bus, about to embark on a journey to reunite with his old group of friends. As soon as he gets comfortable, however, Harri finds himself—along with the rest of the passengers—getting gassed and subsequently transported to a remote island. The bad news? He and 10 other people have been “selected” to take part in a 6-month game-show-slash-reality-TV hybrid titled “Inescapable.” where literally anything (except tampering with recording equipment) is allowed. The good news. though, is that they get a nifty €500,000 (or possibly even more!) if they’re still kicking around after their half-year stay.

Normally, I’d go into a little more depth about the story, but there’s a bit of a snag this time around in the form of Inescapable‘s branching stories. Of course, this is also the case with most visual novels (or however you’d like to classify this game), but there’s usually a sense of cohesion throughout most routes that makes it easy to tell an overarching story. But that’s not the case this time around. Rather than slowly guiding players through potential paths or waiting until the later part of the game to lock you into a specific route, Inescapable locks you into your route one-third of the way in. Had this been done in a certain way, I wouldn’t have minded—in fact, it would have kind of been intriguing. And, to be fair, Inescapable‘s early arc is intriguing, too—but not 100% for the right reasons.

Harrison is very much your standard VN protagonist in the first portion of the game. He’s got his own backstory, and a few quirks that make him his own person, but he largely acts as a tabula rasa for the player—it’s ultimately up to them to shape him. And they do a great job with this! …Until you get locked in—after which, Harri essentially becomes a sociopath. In all but one of the endings (possibly two), Harri suddenly takes a hard turn out of nowhere into complete degeneracy—becoming either greedy, paranoid, or sexually depraved, each to an extreme degree.

Once again, I’m not against this in concept. Moral degradation of a character, especially a protagonist, can be incredibly interesting (and heartbreaking) if done correctly—such as with Suzuha’s ending in Steins;Gate. It’s important, however, that you have reasons that are both sensible and in line with the actions and state of mind of the protagonist (and, by extension, the player character). More often than not, Inescapable fails to do this with Harri, thereby unintentionally, and aggressively, tearing away the sense of self that players have slowly been building within him. Is it interesting what Harri does? I’ll be honest, yes, it is. But it no longer feels like his actions are a result of the player’s own choices—a problem that you should stay away from in VNs (which this game does not).

Of Hope and Despair

Pink blood, huh…?

Alright, let’s rip off the bandage. Yes, this game is inspired by Danganronpa—particularly Dangandronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. You’ve got a group of weirdos (let’s face it, most Ultimates are) forcibly relocated to a tropical paradise which, despite its looks, hides many sinister intentions and dark secrets.

Inspiration is completely fine. And, in all honesty, Danganronpa makes for some very good source material. But you’ve got to make sure that you don’t fly so close to the sun that you end up directly competing with said source material. Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue really, really flirts with stepping over that line. Not only does it relate to Goodbye Despair in its foundation, but it’s packed with references to the game, even going as far as to color blood pink and include an instance of a (pretend) “killing game.” Add this together with a handful of other unfortunate decisions—such as beginning the game with Jessie & James’ original intro speech from the Pokémon anime—and you’ve got a game that’s fighting an uphill battle in the beginning. Fortunately, Inescapable does get more interesting in the premise as it goes on, but it’s a shame that Inescapable’s introductory hours cling to other, more popular, franchises so desperately.

Fortunately, Inescapble‘s clinginess isn’t limitless. For all of its knicks and scrapes at the beginning, it does step off on the right foot with one important thing: its characters. Doing away with Danganronpa‘s focus around groups of highly gifted teenagers, Inecapable instead chooses a cast filled with adults of varying ages and (European) nationalities! Aside from maybe creating a premise that feels a little less copy/paste, this is one of the best things that the game could have done. While I’m still in love with the myriad text-based thrillers produced by Japan, it’s very refreshing to see something different every once in a while. Mixing up where characters come from and how old they are goes a long, long way with what you can (appropriately) do with your cast, and Inescapable handles this expertly. Also, the fact that all of the voice actors had region-appropriate accents was neat, too.

Another Day in Paradise?

I suppose I could have been captured and placed somewhere worse.

When it comes to Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue‘s gameplay, the best comparison is to the Free Time portions of Danganronpa. Each day is divided into Morning, Afternoon, and Evening segments. While a fair few of these segments are dedicated to specific events/hangouts, even more allow the player to decide what to do. While the game does, surprisingly, have a handful of minigames that the player can participate in to pass the time (as well as some that don’t), most of your decisions boil down to who you want to hang out with.

Like just about every other game out there, the people with whom you spend the most time will have a major impact on which route you end up on. It’s not nearly as obvious as it is in other games, though. While an overwhelming majority of VNs aren’t overly cryptic about what decisions lead where, I can honestly say that I had no idea where I was going to end up in this game—a feature that is far more intriguing than it is frustrating.

Sadly, I can’t applaud all of the decisions made by Dreamloop Games when it comes to Inescapable‘s route selection methods. While social interactions do make up a good chunk of where you’ll end up, they aren’t the only thing that will decide what kind of unhinged lunatic Harri will (probably) turn into. Actions such as how you behave in certain situations (including the seemingly innocuous ones), whether you decide to look into people’s pasts, and even playing this world’s version of Wordle will decide where you go. In some ways, I can once again applaud how veiled everything is.

I can’t, however, agree with how everything was coded within the game—such as the fact that playing Wordle will almost definitely bump you into the greed ending despite the game not telling you that you were earning money by playing it. Being cryptic is fine. More than fine, even. But, once again, there has to be some semblance of sense behind everything—something which Inescapable doesn’t always seem to grant us.

Another problem that Inescapable seems to suffer from is mechanical indecision. There are a ton of neat mechanics that get introduced throughout the game—such as popularity contests and the ability to see everyone’s total earnings. But none of these are utilized well… like, at all. I specifically remember taking extra time to play (and, ahem, save scum) the slots so that I would have more earnings than anyone else. I assumed that this would either alter the sub-endings (which I still thought existed at the time—they do not), or unlock a new event. Not only did it not do either of those things, but it did nothing at all. I’m not against making certain mechanics route-exclusive. In fact, I think it’s a really neat idea! But you have to make them matter, you know? Throwing something in and telling the player that it’s important only to tell them “hahaha whoops it was just a setpiece” at the very end seems kind of dirty. Or, at the very least, not well thought-out.

Maybe a Few More Rules, Next Time?

My experience with this game was a strange one, I’ll admit. I was intrigued by the premise, despite it wearing its inspiration on its sleeve, and wanted to see where things would end up. Sadly, it left me more confused and disappointed than anything else. While Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue entices its players with more complex route-building elements and a few wild moments here and there, it never goes as far as it should. I had fun with the game, but, given how close it is to Danganronpa, I’d suggest that you’re better off playing that.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed) PlayStation 5  PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC; Publisher: Aksys Games; Developer: Dreamloop Games; Players: 1 ; Released: October 19, 2023; ESRB: M for Mature; MSRP: $49.99

Full disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher.