A Way Out

I have a rule about co-op games: if I can sell it to a friend who barely touches controllers, it earns serious points. A Way Out cleared that bar almost immediately. Hazelight Studios built this thing from the ground up for exactly two players, local or online, and that single-minded commitment shapes every scene. You and your partner each take one half of a persistent split-screen, playing as Leo or Vincent, two convicts with contrasting personalities who need each other to get out and stay free. Leo is the hotheaded, impulsive type. Vincent is cooler, more calculated. That push-pull between them is not just story flavour; it bleeds into actual gameplay decisions where both of you vote on whose approach to take, and the conversation that happens off-screen while you argue about it is honestly half the fun. The breadth of what the game asks you to do together is genuinely surprising. One moment you are coordinating a laundry-room distraction to sneak past a prison guard, counting out loud before simultaneously slamming a door. The next you are catching fish in a river, playing Connect Four in a safehouse, or hanging out of a car window trading gunfire during a full chase sequence. The split-screen itself is clever about this too: it shifts and resizes dynamically, shrinking one player's view when the other's scene demands attention, which keeps both people present even when only one character is active. It is one of the tidiest pieces of co-op design I have seen, and it makes the whole thing feel cinematic without being passive. That said, A Way Out is not a deep mechanical game and critics are right to flag it. The combat and stealth are both fairly loose, controls can feel imprecise when precision actually matters, and QTEs carry more of the action load than some players will enjoy. The story starts strong and ends with a gut-punch finale that most reviewers agreed was worth sticking around for, but the middle sections have pacing dips and dialogue that occasionally flatlines. It runs roughly six to eight hours depending on how much time you spend on the optional mini-games, which means a single focused session with a committed partner will get you all the way through. Unskippable cutscenes on any repeat runs are an annoyance worth knowing about before you go back. From an accessibility standpoint, the first two-thirds of the game are genuinely approachable for someone who is not a regular player. The controls are simple, checkpoints are generous, and the cooperative tasks are more about communication than reflex. The shooting-heavy back third narrows that window a little. For the Friend Pass setup, only one person needs to own the game. The second player downloads a free trial and joins via invite, which is a legitimately generous model and removes a common barrier to playing this kind of co-op story game with a casual friend. There is no matchmaking, so a warm body you actually know is required. Couch play on a single screen with a second controller works brilliantly for local sessions. If Hazelight's later work, particularly It Takes Two, refined and expanded everything A Way Out attempted, that does not make this one feel redundant. It is rougher, darker in tone, and more willing to be a B-movie action thriller than a polished co-op showcase. For the right pair of players on a free evening, that rawness is part of the charm.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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