Microsoft’s Xbox E3 briefing on Sunday saw the debut of a new trailer for The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti. The game will be an XBox One X console exclusive, and will make its debut “when it’s damn ready.”
That means there’s no official release date just yet, but the game will also be coming to PC. But it looks like PlayStation gamers will be left out of the fun. And it's their loss, because the visuals on this game look absolutely sumptuous. We’re excited to spend some time with the game this week at E3.
Check out the new trailer for The Artful Escape below.
In a press release following the event, Microsoft described the The Artful Escape as “a video game about great expectations, famous folk singers, lingering shadows, space gods, hallucinogens, individuality, reptile shops and wild imaginations. It's an action, adventure, exploration, narrative-driven, musical-laser-light-battle kind of game and is the debut release from Beethoven & Dinosaur.”
If the first few seconds of this trailer don’t catch your eye and grab your attention, it’s hard to imagine what would. A charming, autumnal city street with falling leaves gives way to an alien-looking winterscape, craggy peaks glistening with snow. Francis glides through the air to soaring guitar riffs, sending sparks flying in the air as he moves nimbly from place to place.
Annapurna also revealed a bit more about some key features of The Artful Escape. These include:
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind -style musical jams. Using his “LoudJacket,” Francis Vendetti summons holographic ampliers and cannonades of impossible laser arrays.
- Create your own stage persona from the sci-fi beginnings of your backstory to the sequins in your facepaint.
- Converse with all manner of being: disenchanted publicans, nostalgic villagers, lumbering alien wildlife, and reality defying-behemoths.
- Walk, run, double jump, air walk, light cannon, trip, and climb across the multiverse. Traverse landscapes made of sound, triggered by your movements, as if the world itself were an instrument.
Player.One’s own ND Medina got to preview an early version of The Artful Escape at PAX East back in March, and she was highly impressed by what she saw. She wrote, “The Artful Escape starts from 9000 and takes off from there, much like a rocket ship taking off to Mars. Nothing is out of the realm of possibility for The Artful Escape, and the demo made my breath catch with wonder. I have never felt more riveted by a title’s enchanting possibilities.”
Be sure to check back in with Player.One throughout the week for more E3 news fresh out of Los Angeles, including some hands-on time with The Artful Escape.
