Escape From Lava Review (PC)

At the root of all evil is a bottomless pit of laser beams and erratic drones, spiked columns and a metropolis on the precipice of a lava-induced meltdown. And I, as reluctant as I am to believe it, have little choice but to rag doll my way through it all in an attempt to reach the helicopter that idles at the tallest point of the tallest tower. Between myself and freedom, there are undead monstrosities who have the power to buckle my legs and send me into a fiery oblivion, as are there countless obstacle courses and barbaric contraptions, all pitting against me in an hour that could be my last. The goal is simple: Escape From Lava. Getting out of it, however, is probably one of the most difficult things I’ll ever have to do. How in the blue blazes did I end up in this predicament?

To be overtly honest, Escape From Lava isn’t visually appealing to the naked eye. If anything, the city that it aims to encapsulate is more of a fever dream of jank—a cesspit of blocks, floating pillars, and illogical objects that have no fixed place in its chosen biome. It’s the sort of obstacle course that you wouldn’t want to tackle to boost your confidence; it’s a distinctly different kind of trial—a floating isle where, if the lava won’t kill you, then the shoddy mechanics will make every effort to belittle your abilities. To put it simply, it’s the kind of spot where you would sneakily send your worst enemies to, if not to witness their downfall, then to bathe in their fluctuating emotions as they mindlessly attempt to escape the inescapable.

The Floor Is Lava

If you’ve played the classic schoolyard game before, then you’ll know how this works: the lava spreads from one area to the next, and those left behind are tasked with making their way across the field to an exit point. The exit point here, of course, sits atop a helipad on the far side of a sandbox—a fiery world that, for some reason unknown to us, has a lot more than a few oddly placed buildings. Aside from the crumbing walls and decaying structures, the world also houses a horde of zombies—enemies who, rather annoyingly, can flick you from the edge of the apex in a mere heartbeat—and a plethora of Total Wipeout-like set pieces, such as swinging blades, barbed fences, fireball-emitting canons, and a tedious bag of tricks that you will no doubt learn to hate after a few minutes of play.

Of course, if the movements were fluid and the controls, in general, were coherent, then none of these things would be a problem. And yet, Escape From Lava poses one incredibly frustrating challenge: figuring out how to tackle and outsmart its inner workings. Take the zombies, for example. Weirdly, you can use a tool to attack them, as well as break walls and shuffle objects and what have you. That said, even if you are somewhat efficient with your chosen tool, the undead rarely seem to flinch at your efforts. Nine times out of ten, these fleshy beasts are more likely to swipe you off your feet than suffer the consequences of your actions. And I’m just going to call this for what it is: an absolute nightmare.

Molten Mechanics

I can’t say that Escape From Lava is a difficult game, but the shoddy level layout and half-baked mechanics make it so that even the simplest of maneuvers are difficult to execute. Jumping, for example, should be an easy move. However, I for one came to find that several platforms were too far apart for me to cross, even with a perfectly timed lunge. And that constant lag minced with questionable results often led me to feel more frustrated than entertained, annoyingly. Sadly, that carried over in a similar fashion from the moment I entered the game to the second I boarded the helicopter, too — and that wasn’t great.

Suffice it to say, with the right amount of elbow grease and a little extra time in the oven, Escape From Lava could amount to something much greater. It isn’t quite at that stage yet, what with all of the commotion surrounding its third-rate existence, but I’d like to believe that there’s still hope for it yet. If, for instance, it can comb out the absurdly high hit boxes on the zombies, as well as straighten out the controls to make things feel a little slicker and not nearly as wooden, then sure, it might be worth coming back to. For the time being, though, I can’t say that it’s worth the trouble.

Verdict

Escape From Lava will stay with me for a long time — though perhaps not for the right reasons. I’m a little frustrated, if anything, because even though I did manage to flee from the molten pits of its scorching sandbox several times over, I was never left to feel truly satisfied, or that I accomplished a great deal. It’s a lot like a project from an unfinished game jam—a product that, while still largely playable, never left its alpha phase and amounted to much more than a bog-standard prototype. Don’t get me wrong, it is still with its own special brand of cookie cutter components, and it still manages to deliver an experience that’s memorable, despite all cards being against it. But it‘s an infuriating uphill struggle, to say the least.

Of course, if you’re one for taking on a challenge, no matter its size or level of complexity, then you might find yourself having a surprisingly good time here. I can’t say that it will leave you feeling better about your decision, but it will certainly give you something to chuckle about as you make every effort to stabilize the situation and come to terms with your fate, be it aboard a helicopter drenched in sweat, or at the bottom of a lava pit smothered in disbelief and regret.