If you’ve been itching to return to the nostalgia of some split-screen co-op gameplay, overcoming trials and stories from your couch with a good friend by your side, a new EA game called A Way Out should prove to be exactly what you’re looking for.
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The story-driven title from EA and Hazelight had its reveal trailer released during the EA Play conference at E3. Josef Fares, the writer and director of the game Brothers — A Tale of Two Sons took the stage to talk about the game, sometimes stumbling over his words with how excited he was to talk about the co-op experience.
Plenty of games will feature co-op gameplay, but Fares says that this particular prison escape game is built from the ground up to be a co-op experience. In fact, that’s the only way that the game can be played. That’s right, you either play with someone else, or you don’t play A Way Out. Fares said that the goal behind this game was to create a story-driven ride that wasn’t based around a drop-in, drop-out experience that people could use whenever they felt like participating.
“The game is designed for split-screen co-op only,” Fares assured. “And I mean only.”
In A Way Out, players will take control of either Vincent or Leo, two men who find themselves stuck in prison together. They don’t know each other at first, but they’re going to have to get to know each other very well if they hope to work together in order to break out of prison. They’ll have to work together once they eventually do break out as well, as the trailer makes it evident that their adventure doesn’t end simply because they’re outside of the prison walls.
Some of the features that Fares discussed include the ability to play online if you’d prefer, but you’ll still have to play with someone to progress through the story. This means that players won’t have to worry about being bogged down by clunky AI if they can’t find a partner right away. Players can also control Leo or Vincent while the other character is in a cutscene, both observing the story while also being a part of it.
A Way Out is planned to be released for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in early 2018.
