Escape: Sierra Leone

Escape: Sierra Leone is a single-player, first-person survival game about exploring an island chain and finding a way to escape. Set during Sierra Leone’s 1997 civil war, it follows a civilian on the Banana Islands, occupied by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who are searching for diamonds and recruit, kill, maim or enslave the people they encounter. You begin without weapons or supplies and must decide where to go; there are no quests, forced objectives or markers directing you beyond the goal of escaping.

Explore and survive

The island chain, loosely based on the real-life Banana Islands, covers approximately 21 square kilometers of hand-painted terrain, including jungle and beaches. You can scavenge across the island without loading screens or invisible walls, with loot placed by hand rather than generated randomly. You interact with the environment by, for example, picking locks, opening doors, cooking over a campfire, fishing and hunting wildlife.

Survival means managing food, ammunition, weapons and other supplies in a 12-slot inventory. You can die from bullets, disease, dehydration, starvation, car crashes, wildlife or falls. A 24-hour day-and-night cycle, changing strengths of rain, wind and a 28-phase moon cycle shape the conditions on the island.

Choices and escape

You decide how to pursue an escape and how to deal with other people. Encounters may include requests for help, which you can accept, ignore or respond to by killing the person. Your choices affect how events unfold. The 1.0 release is planned to include at least four escape methods and a minimum of eight endings influenced by your decisions.

Combat and equipment

Combat is optional and described as realistic and brutal. Bullet physics account for gravity, wind and speed, affecting penetration, damage and accuracy; wounds produce corresponding animations and sound effects for both characters and the player. Weapon handling includes loading and unloading loose rounds into magazines, cleaning guns and clearing jams. A quick reload is also available: it is faster, but drops the old magazine on the ground.

Safehouses and vehicles

Safehouses are the only places where you can save. They also provide places to store supplies and clean weapons. You can find and fuel different vehicles, including a diesel-powered truck and a gas-powered motorboat.