Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  In general I would say this is an improvement over the first one. The audio detection works better in general, even though it still has a couple hiccups here and there where it just doesn't properly work, could be fixed with a bit of fine tuning or letting players manually tune the map to their liking. But if you find that song where the audio detection just works, this is hands down one of the most satisfying rhythm games you can play currently Presentation is solid. the satisfying slow mo jumps now occur more frequently and at points where it makes sense, they might just need a bit of tweaking, because sometimes they can sorta ruin momentum. The sound wave effects of the environment are also solid. No problems with blurry images or eye strain. I also see potential upwards with new environment additions, more dynamic backgrounds and the planned workshop support. tldr: solid game currently, has potential to be even better
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  Great game! Of course, it's frustrating that it's impossible to connect your Spotify, but finding the right songs in mp3 is not difficult. In terms of graphics, I would not say that I have gone far from the first part. But now you can enjoy the bust of a musical girl to your heart's content ))) In terms of control, the game is well friends with DualSense (But the game stubbornly believes that I am an Xbox fan) and you can also play from the keyboard, but I do not advise. Gamepad only! Oh yes, and a separate plus for the song Wild by Aeseaes. Super super super! I recommend it to all fans of rhythm games.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  Smooth visuals. Intuitive controls. Improved song detection. Very nice. Exactly what I was hoping for with this sequel. Extra points for the devs' awareness of how noisy visual filters affect recordings and live streams. If you like pressing buttons to the beat of your own music library, you should get this game.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  Early access review, features could change

  Excitements

  -The over the shoulder camera angle is awesome, I haven't had any issues with being able to see which button inputs are upcoming. -The aesthetic is on point IMO. -The detection algorithm does feel different from ME1, it hasn't yet gotten confused (ex. overlaying beat inputs when there is no beat) with the music I've been using (various electronic, punk, R&B). It also seems quicker performing the first analysis of tracks. -Notably cheap price compared to other new release indie games.

  Disappointments

  -The track tempos (walking/jogging/running) don't carry any weight. The inputs don't change in pacing or frequency. There should be faster/more frequent inputs in the more intense sections IMO. -Flying tempo is not present in this game. -The obstacles are too similar (hop/vault/big vault, slide/slide/more slide) -The detection algorithm can sometimes be TOO good for a track. To the point where it feels like you're just tapping your finger to the beat and there's no difficulty. Overall reccommend.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  Pretty similar to the first game, albeit in 3D now. This change seems to have fixed the eye strain issue of the first game. The algorithm seems to be a bit better than the original game, though some tracks just really don't jive well with it still. Only complaint is that the input detection seems kind of wonky. I find that to get consistent registration I need to hit the button a lot later than it feels I should, otherwise I just get a million too early misses. Overall good game though, look forward to future updates, was well worth the wait.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  I don't normally write reviews, but here goes anyways. I consider myself a rhythm game "veteran" (please note that just means I have a lot of experience, not that I consider myself a "pro") and so seeing one of my favorite little simple games had a new version, I had to check it out. Pros: - Graphically, the updates over Escape 1 look awesome. The character model is satisfying, the environment is very smooth, the "ocean" looks cool, and most importantly, the notes' readability is so, so much clearer than in the first game. - I was able to play for a solid 4 hours without my eyes hurting from watching the "blur" of the notes that was very present in the first game, and the flow is much easier to read in general. - The new falling droplet notes during slow parts of songs is pretty cool, though it seems very rarely used in my experience from the song generator, could be my choice of song genres but i feel it could be worked into most songs that have any dip in the bpm really. - The new Shirobon tracks are awesome. Didn't try the other ones since they're not really my genre. (Sorry, fellow Austinites) Cons: - In exchange seemingly for the smoother graphics and experience, the "course" and "obstacles" have seen a significant reduction. In the first game we had cliffs, rails, walls, narrow passageways, etc to really vary up the course and keep things interesting. In this version, we just have one straight track and every obstacle looks the same. Its very quick to get boring visually, especially for viewers rather than players. - The shift from horizontal to vertical has really seemed to dampen the "speed" of the character movement, when playing the same song side by side between versions, Escape 2 feels incredibly slow paced, like a soccer mom out for a jog rather than a girl running and jumping at breakneck speeds to "escape". - In Escape 1, when a song hit its peak at a high BPM, we would launch into a flying / gliding mode to really just start tearing up the level and this really felt like the peak of coolness when playing. In Escape 2, if you're lucky once in awhile if a track has a dramatic raise in bpm, melody will visibly show a little "sprint" takeoff animation for half a second before speeding up. It's really incredibly disappointing. I witnessed maybe 1 song total that included this in the included tracks. - Probably my biggest complaint, from both the official preloaded tracks and custom generated tracks, I can't help but say that the game feels way, WAY too "easy". I want to state again that while I'm a rhythm game veteran, I am by no means a pro, so I am not really looking for impossible difficulty 500 keys per second gameplay here, I still value a mapping following the song and being fun over pure difficulty, but I do think there needs to be a middle ground. It feels like the mapping engine is playing far too "safe" compared to the one in Escape 1, to the point where most all songs I loaded, I felt like I was playing a human metronome, not an actual song. Rarely, if ever, would the notes follow anything other than the base bpm of the song as a whole, aside from occasionally picking up on vocals as slide notes. - The dive notes are cool. The first time or two. But the more I see them the more awkward they look. I think the animation on them can be improved somewhat, if maybe the jump is a bit higher? the flip is a little faster? It just looks a lil bit awkward as it is, I always feel like she's gonna land on her head before completing the flip, lol. And just a personal suggestion, since it seems to pick those up whenever theres a pause or sudden slowdown in a song, following it up with falling droplet notes while she's crouched on the ground from landing the jump followed by launching into a sprint when the song picks back up would feel like a really cool way to jump back into the song momentum. - In Escape 1, after loading a song and getting the statistic readout, it would include some information that basically stated how confident the engine was about the map it created for the song and whether it would be accurate or not. This is missing entirely from Escape 2, where we only get the multicolored bar that has.... no real explanation whatsoever of what it means. We also don't have the option to go Back from this screen once it has loaded this far, forcing you to start and exit out of a song if you don't think it ended up mapping very well. - While it's certainly an extra functionality, most all modern rhythm games these days will have either built in, or available via mods, some sort of streamer integration. I'm not sure how well it would work in the game, but having some way for a streamer's chat to put in song requests would be a very welcome QoL feature. In summary: It's a solid game for the price tag. It does a couple things better than the first game visually, but at the same time feels like a definite downgrade in gameplay features. It is still early access so maybe some of the things can be improved, but as it is, nothing truly stands out about this game compared to any other rhythm game currently on the market. While this review was mostly negative, I'm still leaving the overall rating as a 'Yes' simply because it has potential and it is still enjoyable overall.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 1, 2022

  An enjoyable follow up to the original game, but at the moment it doesn't do much more than iterate on an already solid base. Based on the dev's previous work and involvement with the community, I'm sure that the game will continue to grow and improve greatly from its current state. The Pros: + Beat detection has been noticeably improved. + Track generation seems to accommodate a wider variety of music. + The 3D graphics are clean and result in a lot less eye strain compared to the first game. + Provides about the same level of challenge as the first game. + Fairly accessible achievements, not a difficult game to 100%. The Cons: - The camera placement is not great and cannot be adjusted currently. The character model blocks a considerable amount of your view of the upcoming note until it is right under you. It is particularly hard to make out when the note's arrow is down or right facing. - No workshop and pretty limited customization currently, but we know that these features will be added in the future. Personal Preferences / Suggestions: * An A/V latency calibration option would be greatly appreciated. * Controller support could use more configuration options. Maybe I'm weird, but I'd personally like to configure it so that the D-pad/L-stick work as the WASD inputs, and ABXY/R-Stick works as the arrow key inputs. * I don't know if this is a bug or intended, but currently on Intense difficulty when multiple colored notes appear consecutively, they will always appear in a clockwise pattern (i.e., if the first input is D, the next will be S, then A, then W, then back to D) until broken up by an arrow-key note. This makes these sections pretty predictable, as you really only need to pay attention to the first note in the sequence. A wider variety of possible patterns could make it less monotonous without making it feel random or unfair. * Due to the camera angle, it's hard to tell exactly when you're able to successfully hit a note. I got a huge amount of "Too Early" misses until I got used to the placement of the character and the delay that I needed to use. If the note pulsed or glowed slightly at the moment that you're able to hit it, that could give the player a nice visual indicator.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 2, 2022

  Melody's Escape 2 is definitely harder than part one. I think it's mostly because of the 3D view. I also feel like sometimes the game is not responsive to my buttons (not because of a bad controller/remote.) I found a fix with turning the FoV (field of view) in the game to max (96) and it made the game more responsive. (Note: This was played at 60fps with v-sync on) Overall, atm I feel like the game is complete, but can use more terrain dynamics and better speed adjustments to songs. (I miss the flight option that Melody takes when a song speeds up.) There are 4 terrain obstacles currently. Jump over obstacle, duck under obstacle, slide, and jump over gap.) Would love to see more terrain obstacles that fit in with the run and keep Melody running smoothly, like hills, running on walls, wall jumps, huge fall jumps, fly up, flips, etc. Some of the more dynamic stuff like flips can be mods from communities, but it would be awesome!
• gamedeal user

  Oct 2, 2022

  I really like the new graphics and the design, it's a big improvement over the first game. The ocean looks great, the movement is smooth and the animations feel good. Note readability is a big improvement over the first game with the lower two difficulty levels. On Intense difficulty all obstacle notes have the same purple color, no matter their direction, which makes it a bit harder to read in my opinion. Now that that's out of the way: let's talk about the mapping algorithm. I kinda wish there was some UI to show the mapping confidence like in the first game. Some of the songs I tried felt like they were mapped off-beat and thus weren't fun to play. Personally I also feel like the slow-mo jump is a bit overused in some songs. Most of the songs I've tried were mapped pretty good though, including songs from very different genres. Overall I think there could still be a bit more polish and the mapping algorithm has some room for improvement but it's fun to play. I'm excited for the 1.0 release! Edit: I've played Melody's Escape 2 on the Steam Deck now. Runs perfectly fine out of the box but I had some considerable input lag with my external controller. Maybe we could have some input lag calibration please?
• gamedeal user

  Oct 3, 2022

  For what it is trying to be, a relaxing and immersive rhythm game, it's a good enough product and a vast improvement over the first game with its visuals and general improvements like better hit detection. Unfortunately, the problems I had with its predecessor are still present but in the interest of time, I'll just dumb it down to a small list: - Map coding is still wonky and most songs that I have tried that are more 'complex' musically resulted in very weird or unfitting parts where an intense section is chill but mid-chorus it sped up rather than starting from the climax of the song. - It's way easier than Melody's Escape 1, and the challenge usually ends up being having to constantly remind yourself that you are still playing rather than just listening due to how dull the gameplay is. - Why are the instructions imprinted on the road? This thing works when it was 2D but now that it's 3D, Melody is blocking most of the incoming notes and not only that, I spent most of the time looking at the ground rather than the visuals happening off to the side. Why not in the middle of the screen or on a bar to the side? - The animations are stiff as hell and Melody's actions just doesn't feel smooth, at least not like the first game. Not only that, where are the crazy flying sections? There needs to be more variety when it comes to different parts of the song. That's all I can remember for now but it's not like I dislike the game, it just doesn't feel like it's worth the purchase when it's the supposed 'improved' sequel. Not much has changed aside from the jump from 2D to 3D and I don't know if relying on the workshop once again for your game's lifespan is really a good idea. Obviously, this is just Early Access and things are subject to change but as of the time of writing, I gotta give it a no. Not to mention that this isn't even worth its current price tag, which is asking way too much for the lacking amount of content and features.