Thoughts on Love Your Escape Pod

At the end of last year I picked up a free game called Love Your Escape Pod by Zeshio Illustration. I was following Zeshio because of their (?) Pixel Hex Tileset for HexKit. I had a look and splurged for the deluxe edition as I like Zeshio's work and it was fairly cheap. It is a fairly light solo game, which appeals to me as I don't feel like I get to game enough. The concept is that you are on a doomed space station and you are trying to get to your escape pod. In the standard game you have 2 minutes (24 turns). The following is the narrative from the start of the game:

"A violent shudder sends you flying from your metal space cot. Red flashing alarms blare, and as you lift yourself up, you hear metal tearing and shrieking across the space station. You leave your quarters and stumble to the nearest console, and you touch the screen for a sensor readout. Taking a deep breath, you see a massive hull breach. Something just ripped through the station. There’s not enough time to repair it, so you don your oxygen mask and hope you have enough time to make it to the escape pod."

I thought I would give the game a spin and do a review/play report. The free version of this game is a 2 pages long PDF and has all the rules required to play. The deluxe version has an additional 2 pages containing a really great looking tracking sheet, illustrated equipment cards and an extra piece of art in the main rules area.

The PDF is laid out in a 4 column landscape orientation. The rules themselves are easy to read and follow and only take up 1 page. The 2nd page has all of the tables you need to roll on. These tables provide the results of searches, the status of hatches, the results of first aid, etc. The object of the game is to make it from Level 1 where you start out to Level 9 where the escape pod is located. In the default scenario you start with 10 oxygen and 5 health, both of which can be replenished by searching a level. If either run out you are dead. Reaching the escape pod does not guarantee a safe escape.There is a table to roll on to see if you actually make it out alive. Initially with no extra parts you have a 1 in 3 chance of making it. Finding additional parts (of which there are 3) for your escape pod will help you survive the escape.

The tracking sheet and item cards included in the deluxe edition provide an easy way to keep track of your health and O2. It also has a handy level tracker showing statuses of doors and a turn tracker to keep track of the number of turns taken. The item cards add a little bit of flavour and have nice looking art.

On each turn you burn an oxygen and can take 1 of 5 actions:

1. Find an escape hatch to the next level - Could be locked, blocked or open.
   
2. Find an oxygen refill station - Find 0-3 additional O2
   
3. Find a first aid kit
   
4. Find a key card - Red, Yellow or Blue
   
5. Find escape pod parts - 3 total. Each increases your chance of surviving by 1 in 6.
   

You are left to your own devices to create a story around your escapades. 3 additional starting scenarios are also outlined giving you different starting conditions and altering the number of levels required to traverse to reach the escape pod. All that is needed to play is a copy of the rules, something to track your turns, O2, health etc., and a six sided die.

So let's begin...

The red emergency lights begin to strobe as the klaxons sound! Space station Command-4-9 (thanks Mothership) has a major breach and destruction is imminent. "I have to get out of here!"

Turn: 1

O2: 9

Health: 5

Level:1 - Hydroponics (rolled randomly every time a new level is reached)

Equipment: None

Searching around the hydroponics lab where I was running experiments yields a Pod Survival Suit. What luck!

 

Turn: 2

O2: 8

Health: 5

Level: 1

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

I grabbed the suit and ran to find a hatch to the next level. Luckily it was open.

Turn 3

O2: 7

Health: 5

Level: 2 - Hydroponics

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

The next level was also a hydroponics lab. I took another look around for pod parts and found another Pod Survival Suit. Drat.

Turn 4

O2: 6

Health: 5

Level: 2

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

I need to get moving. Searching around I found a blocked hatch.I cleared the debris, cutting myself up in the process. At least I made it through.

Turn: 5

O2: 5

Health: 4

Level: 3 - Dining Hall

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

I searched the dining hall for a way forward. I found a hatch, but it was locked. I need the Blue Key Card.

 

Turn: 6

O2: 4

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

I took a look around for a key card, but came up empty handed. Starting to run out of oxygen.

Turn: 7

O2: 3

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

I had a look around for some extra O2, but no luck.

Turn: 8

O2: 2

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

Searching around for another hatch I find one locked by a Yellow Key Card. Curses!

Turn: 9

O2: 1

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

Desperate now I search for oxygen. Finally some luck. Not nearly enough though.

Turn: 10

O2: 1

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

Another search for O2 gets me a bit more of a refill. Starting to panic now.

Turn: 11

O2: 2

Health: 4

Level 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit

 

I frantically search for a key. Found the Blue card!

Turn: 12

O2: 1

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

Running out of O2 I search again. Found a nice cache. Time to make tracks.

Turn: 13

O2: 3

Health: 4

Level: 3

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

I make my way through the blue hatch.

Turn: 14

O2: 2

Health: 4

Level: 4 - Living Quarters

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

I search for O2 and get a small refill.

Turn: 15

O2: 2

Health: 4

Level: 4

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

I search for a hatch. It's blocked by debris. I pull a muscle moving it out of the way. On to Level 5.

Turn: 16

O2: 1

Health: 3

Level: 5 - Hydroponics (again!)

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

I search for O2 and find a nice cache. Running out of time here.

Turn: 17

O2: 3

Health: 3

Level: 5

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

I search for a hatch. Finding a blocked one I clear the debris.

Turn: 18

O2: 2

Health: 2

Level: 6 - Observation deck (-1 extra O2 per turn due to smashed windows)

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

The observation panes are smashed! I can feel the air being sucked out of my lungs.

 

Turn: 19

O2: 0

Health: 2

Level: 6

Equipment: Pod Survival Suit, Blue Key Card

 

I feel the panic set in as the O2 runs out. I gasp for air, unable to breathe, I feel the panic set in. Everything goes fuzzy and dim. My life leaves me. My suffocated corpse floats among the wreckage. A tribute to the deadliness of space.

 

Fin.

There we have it, I died gasping for air. Overall it was a fun little game. It took about 20-30 minutes to play. At first things were going well, but as the game progressed the urgency started to set in for me. As you find equipment and cards, finding more becomes harder as the entries on the tables do not change. Once you’ve found something there is no use finding it again. The game certainly has a good mechanic for keeping the pressure on. I could see maybe using this in a TTRPG as a mini game when the PCs are trying to escape. I will play this again for sure.