The Escapists 2 vs The Escapists 3: Every Confirmed Difference

Is the Third Game a Sequel or a Remake?

It is a sequel — the third numbered entry, not a remake or reboot of the 2017 game. Nothing in everything we know so far reads as a retread: the new game rebuilds the loop in full 3D, restructures progression around XP skills, and ships five new prisons with their own routines, characters and secrets. It is also not out yet — the release window is 2027 — so every comparison below pits a finished game against confirmed announcement facts, and we label which is which.

Every Confirmed Difference at a Glance

One reading rule first: the left column describes a game you can play today; the right describes one documented from official announcement materials only. Facts can change before launch, and anything official has not addressed is marked unconfirmed rather than guessed.

2D Top-Down vs Full 3D

The most visible difference is dimensional. The 2017 game renders prisons as flat sprites viewed from above — the same top-down language the series started with in 2015. The third game is the first fully 3D entry: a chibi cast moving through real spaces with a fixed camera that tilts from an overhead strategy view down toward near ground level. The full analysis lives in our 3D gameplay overhaul guide; the short version is that geometry unlocks everything else: staircases become weapons, rooftops firing positions, a shove or a ragdoll drag a physics interaction instead of an off-screen stat roll.

The same shift explains the customization gap. Characters animated on standardized skeletons no longer require redrawing sprite sheets for every outfit, which is why the new game ships a character creator, cell customization and emotes — things the hand-drawn sprite era could not offer.

Three Stats vs the XP Skill System

The 2017 game builds escapes on three trainable attributes — Strength, Speed and Intellect — raised in the gym and the library, alongside an inmate opinion system. The new game moves progression to a different model entirely: you earn XP by playing and unlock the skills you choose, with no job locks and with skills carrying across prisons. Whether the old stat triangle returns alongside the skill tree is unconfirmed — official materials are silent on it. Only two skills are confirmed by name, both broken down in our skills and XP deep dive: vision cones revealing guard and camera sight lines, and Hinge Buster, which rips a door off its hinges very loudly.

Prisons, Escapes and Hidden Zones

The older game shipped with 8 main prisons, 3 transport prisons on moving vehicles, and 6 DLC prisons — and its Steam Workshop prison editor is a beloved part of its longevity, which is why the community has made an editor the top request for the sequel. The new game launches with five prisons, each with independent routines, characters and secrets, including confirmed hidden zones like the warden’s laser-guarded pool — profiled in the five prisons overview.

The structural change is what happens after the wall: in the 2D games, clearing the perimeter essentially won the escape, while the new game continues with post-wall pursuit sequences through dense forests, gusty canyons, ancient catacombs and dangerous waters, guards and searchlights still hunting. The confirmed toolkit (vents, wire cutters, rope climbing, roof gliders, rappelling, disguises, tunneling) is itemized in the escape methods guide.

Multiplayer: Co-op Then and Now

Multiplayer is not new to the series — the 2017 entry introduced its first online multiplayer, supporting up to four players in both co-op and versus modes. What is new is the shape: 2-player local split-screen, 4-player online, a rare mixed mode where a split-screen pair joins an online session, and a crossplay label on the Xbox store page. Our multiplayer and crossplay guide covers every confirmed mode. Two honest gaps: matchmaking is unannounced, and whether versus returns is unconfirmed — official materials describe co-op only.

Platforms: Where Each Game Lives

The shipped game is everywhere: PC, PS4 and Xbox One in August 2017, Switch in January 2018, and a mobile version — The Escapists 2: Pocket Breakout — on iOS and Android in January 2019 with 13 handpicked prisons. The new game is deliberately narrower: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2 only. No last-generation consoles, no mobile version — the mobile fact check explains the APK trap, and the platforms and editions page tracks every store listing as it goes live.

Is The Escapists 2 Still Worth Playing?

Yes — and that verdict is not nostalgia. It holds a 91% Very Positive rating across more than 11,000 Steam reviews and a Metacritic score of 75, it is a complete game with eight main prisons plus transport and DLC facilities, and its Steam Workshop support means custom prisons are still there to play. With no price, date or editions announced for the sequel, it remains the cheapest way to learn the series’ loop — routines, contraband, escape planning — while you wait for 2027.

What a comparison cannot tell you yet is how the new game feels to play, how it performs, and how deep five prisons stay interesting over a hundred hours. Those answers need hands-on time. When previews land, this page gets updated with dates attached — the running fact ledger stays in everything we know.

Sources

• Wikipedia — The Escapists 2, for release dates (August 22, 2017; Switch January 2018), platforms, and the series’ first online multiplayer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Escapists_2
• Team17 — The Escapists 2 Guide to Freedom FAQ, for stat-system behavior: team17.com/news/escapists-2-guide
• Steam — The Escapists 2 store page, for the 91% Very Positive rating and the DLC catalog: store.steampowered.com/app/641990
• Official The Escapists Wiki (Fandom) — Prisons page, for the 8 main / 3 transport / 6 DLC prison counts: theescapists.fandom.com/wiki/Prisons
• TrueAchievements — Statistician achievement, confirming the three maxable stats (Strength, Speed, Intellect): trueachievements.com/a237952/statistician-achievement
• Team17 — The Escapists 2: Pocket Breakout launch announcement, for the January 2019 mobile release and its 13 prisons: team17.com/news/the-escapists-2-pocket-breakout-out-now-on-ios-and-android
• Steam — The Escapists (2015 original), for the series’ starting point: store.steampowered.com/app/298630
• Team17 — The Escapists 3 Steam page and official announcement trailer, the source of every third-game fact above (mirrored and cited across this site): store.steampowered.com/app/3602260