Watch our first look at The Escapists for Xbox One

Windows Central has been livestreaming a wide variety of Xbox One games on Twitch every Saturday for quite a while now. As our viewership continues to grow, so does the number of games we want to share with you! Thus we'll now be streaming a different game every Wednesday as well. That's twice the chances to tune in and chat along with your fellow readers while our staff showcases a great game.

Tonight we kick off our regular Wednesday streams with an early look at The Escapists, the Xbox One exclusive sandbox game in which players have to break out of prison! The Escapists doesn't launch until February 13th, so our stream is a great chance to learn what the game will be like before release.

Update: The stream has ended. Check out our replay for a merry old time. We even embedded the chat in the video this time so you can follow the viewers' conversation!

Watch live video from EastXTwitch on Twitch

The Escapists

In this game from Mouldy Toof and Team17, you play as a prisoner who is determined to escape the prison from where he has been incarcerated. It plays out like a sandbox game mixed with simulation and role-playing. Your prisoner can hit the gym, earn funds by performing jobs like laundry and mail delivery, and more typical prison activities.

To break free of the gray walls of confinement, you'll have to work and plan. A crafting system allows you to create useful tools like wire-cutting shears or a life-size dummy from scavenged objects. The bits and bobs you pick up and make will come in handy when you finally make a break for it – there are approximately 200 items to find and more than 50 things to make with them!

The Escapists features six different prisons to break out of, starting with a minimum security hole and escalating all the way to the hellishness of a POW camp. With an impressive degree of freedom and many possible solutions, this one should keep players who have finished Grand Theft Auto V busy with more delightful video game crime.

The Escapists will be available to download on Xbox One on February 13th, just in time for Valentine's. It should cost $14.99, just like the Steam version.

The Escapists

The Stream

We'll be streaming The Escapists for 60-90 minutes tonight, starting at 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific).

To join us, please follow me at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch and tune in during the stream. You can watch the stream right here in this post, but you'll need to watch from the Twitch website or a separate app to participate in our always delightful stream chat.

What's the best way to experience Twitch? If you don't have a PC, you can get the Xbox One or Xbox 360 Twitch app and watch from the comfort of your couch. Or grab the unofficial app Livegaming for Windows Phone. It has plenty of great features, including the ability to chat along with your fellow viewers. Unfortunately you'll have to add our channel to your favorites from the Twitch website, outside of the app.

I'll be available for a few minutes before and after the stream if you have any questions or just want to say hi.

The Escapists

Streaming schedule

Each Wednesday, we'll livestream a new, classic, or upcoming game just for fun with no prizes. Every Saturday, we'll stream a different game and give out free copies of that game as prizes. The stream always starts at the same time: 8pm Central (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific).

Here's our upcoming schedule:

  • Saturday, January 31 : The Golf Club from HB Studios
  • Wednesday, February 4 : TBA
  • Saturday, February 7 : Fibbage from Jackbox Games - Play along with us during the stream!
  • Wednesday, February 11: TBA
  • Saturday, February 14 : Guacamelee from Drinkbox Studios
  • Wednesday, February 18: TBA
  • Saturday, February 21 : Chariot from Frima Studio

We hope you'll tune in as often as you can! Set a recurring alarm on your phone so you'll always know when it's time for the stream to start.

Thanks to our Twitch stream moderators Kalelcanfly and DerekDoesIt (who goes by isi mcf here at Windows Central) for moderating our streams and giving away the prizes!

Paul Acevedo

Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!