A Way Out

A Way Out from Hazelight Studios is a cooperative action adventure designed exclusively for two players, whether locally on a split screen or online, and the game cannot be completed solo. The story follows two convicts, Leo and Vincent, who together plan an escape from prison and then flee both justice and old debts, while an unexpected friendship gradually develops between them. The gameplay constantly shifts genres and perspectives, from stealth and puzzle-solving to car chases to shootouts, and the screen is split between both players for almost the entire game, who often tackle different but interconnected tasks at the same time.

On Xbox One the game ran smoothly and made use of the Friend's Pass feature, which let one player buy the game and invite a friend to play together for free, an unusually generous move for its time. The cinematic direction, following both heroes in split screen like an action thriller, gives the game a distinctly filmic feel, supported by atmospheric music that accentuates both the tension of the escape and the quiet moments between the characters. Contemporary reviews praised above all the inventiveness of the cooperative design and the emotional ending of the story. A Way Out became a celebrated example of how an entire game can be built around a shared experience between two players, and it inspired other cooperative titles that followed it.

Throughout the game the players maintain two completely different perspectives on the same situation, with one proceeding impulsively through force while the other prefers to outwit the guards through cunning, and the game uses this contrast even in moments when their paths temporarily split on screen and they need to cooperate remotely through communication outside the game. The short playtime is deliberately compressed so that no passage grows stale, with the developers choosing to sacrifice length in favor of pacing and constantly surprising the player with new gameplay situations. As a result, A Way Out became a reference point for discussions of how much a shared experience between two players can deepen the emotional impact of a story about betrayal and friendship.

Why play it: For players seeking a cooperative experience with real emotional impact, A Way Out stands out for the contrasting perspectives of two convicts and its deliberately compressed pacing that never lets a single passage grow stale.