Escape from 8-Bit High is packed with nostalgia and impossible to predict

Writing here at TNT, I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting lots of wonderful indie devs and playing their games. It’s a privilege that never gets old, and I love watching their creations come to life. One game I've been lucky enough to watch grow is Escape from 8-Bit High by DuckMadeOfWood, which is finally set to release on September 29, and I couldn't be more excited. 

Escape from 8-Bit High is a nostalgia-stuffed point-and-click adventure game that takes everything we loved from the 80s and early 90s, wraps it up in a supernatural mystery that needs to be solved, and throws in a ton of situational humor. The puzzles are challenging, the people are lovable, and Duck has outdone himself by making the game different every time you play. 

A sense of familiarity in the madness

One thing I love about Escape From 8-Bit High is that its characters and story build on existing lore from Duck’s previous games like Day of the Jellyfish. The story follows Hank, Duck, and Alex on the evening their band, Blueberry Finn, is set to play at their high school prom. Except that doesn’t happen, because apparently an evil computer has decided that now is the perfect time to take over the world. 

How? By setting off a bunch of different overlapping catastrophes and invasions that spread throughout the world and center on Cloudydale High. There are mole people, Kaleds (Daleks backwards, which is delightfully Whovian and reflected in their design), zombies, and a whole bunch of underground civilizations going to battle in an arena for domination of the nether. 

Each of the three central characters goes on their own adventure to try and stop the madness, with their paths overlapping at times, usually to rescue Hank from whatever situation he's managed to get trapped in next. 

Alex goes on a deep dive into the underworld to try and win the right to banish the mole people, Duck gets taken up into space to deal with the Kaled invasion, and Hank is left facing the zombie invasion while putting on his detective hat to figure out which of his teachers set off the Pomodore 64 and started this entire mess. 

A world of difference every time

Escape from 8-Bit High is filled with decisions that have a genuine impact on how the game plays out during your playthrough, starting with who you choose to have Hank pick up first on his way to the school. These decisions alter the puzzles and dialogue in a very real way, so this is a game that’s impossible to guide someone else through based on your own experience. 

Which is bittersweet for me. I love writing point-and-click guides, but it’s also kind of a relief that writing one for this would be next to impossible, because it leaves me free to just enjoy the game as it was meant to be enjoyed. The guide I wrote to get through the demo still applies to the first section of the game, though, so I can at least get you that far.

The puzzles in 8-Bit High are challenging and require you to think pretty far outside the box. Duck has a talent for creating complex puzzles that suddenly seem very straightforward in hindsight, and that talent shines in this game. Adding to the complexity, you’re putting yourself in three very different situations that each need your attention, and sometimes you need to solve a puzzle with one character before you can even think about progressing with another. 

At one point with Alex, I shoved a kleptomaniac squirrel in my pocket, made it steal a diamond from a mole person, and then used a duck as a vacuum cleaner so I could steal a security card without waking another mole person by crunching the crumbs scattered around him. That’s an insane scenario, but it tells you everything you need to know about the type of fun these puzzles are. 

Voices of a generation

I love a point-and-click game that’s voice-acted, mainly because I find it hard to focus and remember details when I have to read through them. 8-Bit High is fully voice-acted by a glorious cast that brings every character to life, no matter how many lines of dialogue they have. 

One standout from my own playthrough is Brogan Farr’s performance as Alex, particularly during the first scene with the character. I’m willing to admit that I got very stuck trying to figure out how to deal with the mole people and instead spent some time interacting with the duck, with Brogan’s “ooh!” repeatedly playing every time it swam away. That “ooh!” is now a core sound memory in my brain that I’m reminded of every time I see a duck. 

Then there’s Mr. J, the school janitor voiced by Samuel Hanyon who seems to know far more than any school janitor should rightfully know. Clearly inspired by Mr. T in both voice and design, this incredibly helpful mentor figure is available to help Hank (as long as Hank isn’t trapped somewhere waiting for Alex or Duck to save him) at Cloudydale High.

Escape from 8-Bit High is an absolute masterclass in puzzle building and situational humor that pumps out nostalgia while challenging you to think outside the box. It’s bizarre, unpredictable, and somehow makes complete sense even when you’re using a duck as a vacuum cleaner. If you want to give it a try, which I highly recommend, it’s available now on Steam.