Preview – NetEscape

If I’m recalling correctly, I got access to the internet around 1994, which was fairly early in terms of the World Wide Web. I was the first of my friends to be connected, but few seven-year-olds would really even be able to grasp what the internet was. Of course, at the time, it was largely unrecognizable to what we see now. It was a much more human place. If you want to understand how much of the internet is dominated by automation, you just need to look back to the original web in all its raw humanity. Hypnospace Outlaw might be one of the few ways to see it now.

My first thought upon getting connected was how I could use it to access games. If you weren’t around, there actually were games on the internet in 1994. Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), for example. Before the Dotcom bubble popped, there were weird chat experiments like SissyFight 2000 and eclectic projects like A Tractor. What I remember most about experiences with these in my youth was how the worlds sort of emptied at night. They became dead, vacant spaces that I’d just wander.

I’ve watched a lot of games die, which might be why the idea of NetEscape appealed to me. A friend actually pointed it out saying its premise of being a games journalist collecting screenshots of a dying game for an article was something that I would do. I agree. In fact, during my early Destructoid community blog years, I did an article on City of Heroes, which was dead at the time but has since been resurrected.

There’s only a demo for NetEscape right now, and it shows that it understands the mission but maybe doesn’t know what to do with it.

EVERYTHING IS GETTING DARK

I’ve touched on the premise, but I’ll elaborate on it a bit. It centers around a formerly thriving online game called NetEscape, which is now on the verge of being shut down. The servers go offline at midnight, and you log in at 11:30pm. Your goal is to collect a handful of screenshots before everything goes dark.

Despite it being the end for the game, there isn’t a lot of turnout to see it off. In fact, you only encounter a few other players, and they’re acting pretty sketchy. One walks in circles, another sobs over voice chat, and a third just complains about pain. The horrendous tutorial assistant mentions at one point that you can communicate through emotes, but that doesn’t seem to do anything, as far as I’ve found. Chat doesn’t seem to do anything either.

That’s not the point though, because NetEscape is more about exploring a dead corner of the internet. You’re plopped in front of a virtual workstation, and boot up its antiquated UI. There’s little explanation to the game; specifically, what it was in its prime. It seems to be what you’d often see at the turn of the millenium: a glorified chatroom. Like Habbo Hotel or The Sims Online. At the time, it was pretty novel to just talk to other people on the internet.

Whatever it was, it now lies mostly empty.

INTERNET WASTELAND

It’s a good setup for a walking sim, and that’s entirely what NetEscape is. There are no real puzzles outside finding the landmarks on your list. You have a half hour to do it, and I’m not even sure if there’s any penalty if you fail to. It’s all about the atmosphere.

Weirdly, unlike Hypnospace Outlaw, which depicts an internet that no longer really exists, you can find desolate online games. I mentioned A Tractor earlier, and you can still find it on Steam. I’ve logged back into it, and it was empty, though it seems to have periods where people are playing it. The Sims Online also came back for a while as the fanmade FreeSO, though that was shut down at the end of 2024. You can probably find other instances where player run servers sit empty.

Not that the existence of liminal MMOs robs NetEscape of its value. So, with that in mind, there is more to it than just being a simulation of an empty virtual world.

DRIED UP DATASTREAM

While there isn’t really an overt story being told, there’s a lot of uncomfortable weirdness in the other logged in players. Some unsettling stuff happens, and there’s an epilogue audio file that lands on your desktop after all is said and done. Unfortunately, I think this is one of NetEscape’s weaker aspects.

The narrative is kind of obvious and told in a kind of obvious way. This could be alleviated with some more attention and better storytelling in a later version, but for now, it feels token. And that’s fair, since NetEscape was created in two weeks for a game jam. It’s unfair to really expect something transcendental.

There is, apparently, some stuff hidden even in the demo, but I would have appreciated something more unconventional. Optimistic even. Sentimental. Horror in liminal spaces is a default flavour. Surprise me instead.

Fortunately, it doesn’t get in the way of the central premise, but it doesn’t leverage it, either.

SILENT CHAT

That’s a shame in itself. If NetEscape wants to be horror, it maybe just needs more of a runway to get off the ground. However, rather than just be a spooky place, I’d rather if it leaned hard into how this was once a popular place, buzzing with activity. Demonstrate how it once meant something to folks. Frankly, the horror would be more effective if the human element was better defined.

NetEscape is, at least, an interesting premise. Based on that alone, I’m willing – perhaps even enthusiastic – to dive into the final draft. My hope is that Crisppyboat and Goblin Laundromat can find a solid identity in that premise, because otherwise, it just feels empty.

This preview was conducted using a digital Steam version of the demo. No prior contact was made to the developer.