Escape Lala – Retro Point and Click Adventure

Genre: Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

Escape Lala is a Graphic Adventure released on PC in 2019 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2022. Much as the extended title indicates, this is a “Point and Click” style game in a very literal sense – the game will only work in handheld mode using the touchscreen, with players tapping on areas of interest on the screen to interact with them.

Also as the extended title indicates, the visual presentation here is decidedly nostalgic, using 2D pixel art visuals that evoke classic games in the genre like the old LucasArts games, though don’t expect a LucasArt level of writing or characters, since… this game largely has neither. There’s no story, no indication of who you are or what you’re trying to do (aside from the vague overall goal of escaping your location). This presentation is backed by a somewhat annoying synthesized soundtrack, although there are some nice touches here, like the sound becoming a tad muffled when you go to underwater areas.

Before getting to the gameplay itself, there is one other major thing I should make mention of here – this is an extraordinarily short game. You will likely finish it within 20 minutes or so. This is pretty absurd, but since the game is selling for under $1, it feels hard to complain too much – you are paying a tiny bite-size amount for a game, and you’re getting what you pay for.

Apart from the game’s length though, the quality here is surprisingly excellent. The puzzle design is very clever, there’s some good variety to what you’re meant to do, there are some fun little surprises sprinkled throughout, and if you get stuck there’s actually a very good hint system here, where players can gain hints by spending coins they can collect as they explore. All of this is well done, and I feel like this quality game design would do well in a game that was 10 times bigger.

However, that’s not what Escape Lala is. Rather, this is a game that aims to deliver players with a solid 20 minutes or so of Graphic Adventure gaming for less than the cost of a candy bar, and in that goal it largely succeeds. Like a candy bar, this isn’t a full meal, and you’ll very likely be hungry for more once it’s over, but as a light snack between bigger experiences, this can be pretty enjoyable.

tl;dr – Escape Lala is a Graphic Adventure that takes a minimal approach to the genre, with the entire game easily completed within 20 minutes, which doesn’t seem too terrible since the game costs under $1. It’s excellent while it lasts though, with some solid puzzles and a clever hint system. Just be aware that this game requires players to use the touchscreen. Overall, this is a decent Graphic Adventure, albeit a very small one.

Grade: B-

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