Last of Us Escape The Dark Review: Let's Roll

Joey Evans takes a look at the new Last Of Us Escape The Dark.
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[@cbazler]

Ouch. A "6" from Joey is like a "4" from anyone else.

[@SPQRKlio]

I expected something like the board for This War of Mine-sombre grey, b&w, and brown-without looking like it was photocopied. Edited myself, because I thought I went a bit too hard: I get it that this is the aesthetic, but am not loving this product design 🤔

[@mudsongs]

In the series, I've only played Escape The Dark Sector, which borrows heavily from the creepiest scenes of science fiction, everything from Star Trek: The Next Generation to all the Alien movies. Knowing those references probably increases the enjoyment. The game is more about theme, much less about strategy, though it does offer enough intense tactical moments that are so much fun, they keep the game afloat. But it contains some seriously unsettling images that turn off players who are unfamiliar with that particular style of black and white '70s magazine artwork. It recreates the feeling of those creepy science fiction stories exceptionally well, though. My biggest issue with the game is the rulebook. The rules are simple but the rulebook makes it too complicated and it doesn't include player aids for all the players, and it sounds like they've continued with that in Last of Us. That seems lazy to me. When I heard they were making Last of Us with this system and artwork, I thought it would be a good fit. But it looks like they needed to keep it more contained like the previous games in the series. That's too bad.

[@evanspeterg]

Might have to add this to my shelf of recent mushroom themed games.

[@hamakakun]

I thought you transition to black and white for a sec😅. the board looks more boring than a beige euro.

[@RichardLearnsGames]

Oh good. Now whenever someone get flack for their love of beige euros, they now have "it could be worse. It could be black and white".

[@scottchladek1770]

Had the same thought at first, totally looked black and white

[@senchinosenchino2098]

Me too 😂

[@mikaeki5245]

I thought Joey was going for a "cool noir black&white" atmosphere, but man this does really not look good on camera. Should have been in color.

[@demiser21]

The Escape the Dark system doesn't interest me. I wish CMON didn't seemingly cancel their Last of Us game because I would much rather play that style.

[@therealBocaStudios]

It’s a huge disservice to make this game in B&W..this world has such amazing colorful enemies and characters…it’s just a cheep production and a reason to avoid for me…

[@gregede9027]

I have this game and have played it several times. Still haven’t won yet. I think your summary is absolutely spot on Joey and extremely fair. I felt very underwhelmed by its heavy reliance on ‘the luck of the roll’ dice play. I feel that the game also falls very short on theme. Many people mention the lack of any kind of ‘open world’, something that was referred as ‘going to be present’ in the initial pre-launch fluff about this game along with the total lack of any colour in this board game and those who have played the console games know how beautiful the backdrops and panoramas are and how they link so strongly to the theme. So Yes, Joey, I agree with your review and would add that this is very much a huge disappointment given the source material and especially so at this price point. Two player aids indeed!! So I, like many l’m sure, will sadly pass it along after a short period of time and look at our empty wallets with regret! 😢

[@massive323]

6 is a bit generous I feel. This was my most anticipated game-i went all with the deluxe version, which has a ridiculously high price point for what you actually get, first play was a massive let down. Super limited replay ability from the off due to limited number of cards and rolling dice fingers crossed for 3 hours. Straight NO

[@rasmusolesen5307]

Very sad to hear about the gameplay design and replay ability issues. I love the grungy 80s B&W style, and was really looking forward to painting the deluxe version in the same style before playing it. Now i should probably try it before investing to much time in the miniatures.

[@GeeEmm81]

An average board game of an average IP. Sounds about right.

[@philthephreak]

What a terrible waste of a tremendous IP. Hope someone else gets ahold of this and does it justice. I would be all over that!

[@mename7670]

The all black is a big turn off

[@therealBocaStudios]

Especially for a IP world that is so colorful..it’s obviously a cost cutting measure

[@koalabrownie]

@@therealBocaStudios Their previous games were both black and white. I think it's more their style at this point and is likely meant to try and set a mood. That said- it's very divisive. I have the sci-fi game, Dark Sector, but didn't pick this up nor the original.

[@TheBoardandtheBeautiful]

I thought there was a black and white filter applied to the video at first! What’s with the complete lack of color? That’s ugly!!! TLoU is a crap IP now anyway. Hard pass!

[@nobled1050]

As another fan of Escape the Dark Castle, glad to see Joey's thoughts on this, but yea I think it works best for a short ride

[@brotherfranciz]

Damn, being a fan of the video games, I had preordered the deluxe version... The game is still in it's wrapping and based on your review, I'm not sure I want to open it and miss out on reselling it unopened for full price... Kicking myself for having this board game addiction!

[@kaza3490]

Agree with this rating, luck based dice rolls are rough but to base victory or loss on that after 2 hours of play? Oof it's painful

[@PickleTheHutt]

I do not like the other "Escape the x" games at all as I felt like there was little to no player agency along with an extreme dislike of both the art style and black and white blandness. I had hopes that the changes made in this version would fix the player agency issue and while I still hate the B&W choice, the art itself does look better to me. This game is an improvement in every way (player agency and art) over the other two, but not by enough to make me enjoy it. I rate Escape the Dark Castle a 4 while Last of Us gets a 5. Maybe in a few more releases they'll add color and enough other improvements to actually produce a game I enjoy.

[@pauls3585]

A good honest review 👍

[@braddimond7119]

No sure if i like the black and white.