Inevitability: No rules, no rescue

Just imagine, you could win over $500,000. You are then told that the rules are simple; there are no rules! Betray, influence, seduce and/or kill. Be the last person alive and you get money, no questions asked. However, now imagine if you started to realize how life-changing this money would be, and then realized that you could no longer trust the people around you.

That’s the premise of Inevitable: No Rules, No Rescue from developer Dreamloop Games. You take on the role of a young man surrounded by ten other strangers, and your goal is to survive on a seemingly uninhabited resort island for half a year while being watched for entertainment by random people.

As you can see, this game solves one of the hardest questions known to man: How far would you go for money if you didn’t get into trouble for the actions you took to get it?

Similar to games like Danganronpa from the Zero Escape franchise, Inevitable: No Rules, No Escape is part visual novel, part adventure game, and part moral question. Players take on the role of Harrison, a young ordinary guy who now stars in a strange reality show with ten kidnapped weirdos. The purpose of the game is to see what people will do when money is involved and they realize that rules don’t exist. Flirt with your enemies, betray them, and do whatever it takes to survive. However, where Inescapable fails – and, ironically, succeeds – is in its gameplay, and while it’s easy to explain how to play it, it’s harder to explain why you want to play it.

As Harrison, your role is simple at first. For the first few hours—yes, that’s about a few hours before the big events happen—the player is tasked with meeting other captives, learning more about the game, and discovering everyone’s motivations and what they’re hiding s things. One of the earliest unlockable features on smartphones in the game is an app that shows you each “player” and lets you know about them by awarding points through a method that’s not fully explained. You can learn that some characters might really like anime while another smokes weed, but these are sillier stories. As you dig deeper, you’ll uncover the truth about family feuds, cynical ideals, and dark crimes.

The Inevitable is a slow burn, but that’s the strength of this game for those who really like fleshed out characters; some of those people may be able to relate! Still, spending hours basically reading text with little interaction can be boring. You occasionally make choices, but more often than not you spend time with someone or play various mini-games. But when the game starts, things get…dark.

To avoid spoilers – which would ruin 99% of The Inevitable: No Rules, No Escape – all we can say is this: After a few months on the island, people start to get a little crazy. Playing games on old arcade/smartphones is so time consuming that they start to get boring and poolside dates start to lose their romantic luster. Harrelson and other diverse actors will begin to realize that their time is better spent in other directions that may not be the best decisions. Just like real people, anger, frustration, despair, and jealousy will begin to consume their spirit, and this is where decision-making becomes crucial. It may seem smart to take one’s side, but remember…those little early dirts may be a sign that a character isn’t as nice as they think. In fact, they may be willing to kill to survive. Inescapable is a game that appeals to players who are willing to put up with a slow start and show you why the rewards are worth it!

Now, besides choosing a path, there are a few other little extra parts of the game to enjoy. Players will be able to play a variety of mini-games and activities that serve as a great distraction. They sometimes seem pointless, but “inevitability” has a creative way of making simplicity seem more meaningful than you think.

Those who enjoy multiple routes in the virtual network will also be happy to know that “The Inevitable” has multiple endings, depending on how you approach the island experience. Some are obvious, while others may require a guide, which can be a bit annoying but not a deal breaker. We need to look for something ourselves to see if we are taking the right actions or if we will end up going back to the route we saw before. We’re sure some people don’t have this problem, though, and it might be interesting to see what actions lead to what consequences.

The Inevitable’s biggest flaws are two: its slow burn, which we guarantee will turn a lot of people off, and its voice acting. Now with the former, it’s worth hanging on until the end. It may take time, but the slow pace is purposeful, and the rewards are amazing. However, dubbing is another thing that makes sense but can definitely be an issue. There are 11 characters in total (more if you count some unseen characters), each from a different background. Maria (aka Mia) is of German descent, so her voice clearly has a German accent, much like French Valerie. Every character is voiced in English, and the actors clearly try to make their voices commensurate with their backgrounds, but some are much better than others. A Japanese option with English subtitles would have been nice, but ironically it would have destroyed a core element of The Inevitable: variety. Yes, every character speaks English, but their accents and attitudes reflect their culture, which will be crucial for later sequences! It can be a little annoying, but you’ll live with it and find their voices cute after a while.

One minor issue that is being addressed is the large number of potentially game-breaking bugs. We’ve encountered a few situations where our dialogue choices would take us back to a previous clip or reload a previous save for no apparent reason. There are also other players on online forums expressing strange issues that may be hindering progress. However, the developers have been very vocal on X and other sites telling people that a fix is ​​coming, so we think this is just a minor inconvenience.

“Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape” is a game we want everyone to try because we think there are more things to like about the game than things to dislike. We really liked some of the changes, like a slightly sped-up story and some Japanese voice acting, but even without those elements, we understand why it ignored those two things and did what it did. It’s a story about getting to know a person, seeing the best in them, and then seeing them when hope begins to fade and human instinct kicks in.

All VN fans should play this game, and while some may not like its pacing, many will see a story that may be based in fiction, but with some horror themes that can be tied to the real world.