June 19, 2017 by Paul Curtin
One of the biggest surprises and best-looking games at this year’s E3 was EA’s A Way Out. Although the publisher might have setup Anthem as their show stealer, it was developer Hazelight’s unique co-op game that we’re dying to play first.
A Way Out is very different than Hazelight’s critically acclaimed previous game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Instead of one player controlling two characters at once as was the case in Brothers, this time the developer is focusing on forcing two players to work cooperatively together through the entire game’s story.
The first look at A Way Out ‘s gameplay shown at EA Play looks good… Rockstar/Naughty Dog good. The gameplay mechanics are said to have been designed to be played only in split-screen — either on the couch or online. Interestingly, as the developer explains in the first look, one player can be in a cutscene while the other can be controlled and freely moved around the same area. With so much freedom being given to two players, the developer is teasing many unique outcomes for each scene based on how the player interacts with the environment.
Playing through entire games with another person is always difficult, so it’ll be interesting to see how Hazelight’s new social experiment will play out. With the developer building the game specifically designed for split-screen co-op multiplayer, A Way Out could be another revolutionary concept just as we saw with Brothers. Considering this is the first we’ve seen or heard of the new action game and they’re already showing off so much gameplay, it’s a good sign that we might be getting our hands on the game soon.
A Way Out is set for release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in early 2018.
