The Game Census
The Artful Escape cover art

The Artful Escape

Beethoven and Dinosaur · Annapurna Interactive · 2021-09-09

SteamPlayStation StoreMicrosoft Store

ActionAdventureIndie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Side view

Releases: Sep 09, 2021 (Xbox Series X|S), Jan 25, 2022 (PlayStation 5), Sep 09, 2021 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jan 25, 2022 (PlayStation 4), Jan 25, 2022 (Nintendo Switch), Sep 09, 2021 (Xbox One)

A teenage guitar prodigy sets out on a psychedelic journey to inspire his stage persona and confront the legacy of a dead folk legend. Starring voice performances by Michael Johnston, Caroline Kinley, Lena Headey, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Strong, and Carl Weathers.

The Artful Escape is an Action, Adventure, and Indie game released in 2021 for $4.99, with an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 owners and Very Positive reviews (92% of 2,026 reviews).— census verdict as of 2026-10-12

5
playing now
92%
positive of 2.0k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
100,000–200,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
83/100
critic score (6 outlets, IGDB)
82/100
IGDB user rating (58 ratings)
1
Nexus mods (6 downloads)
4.40★
PlayStation Store rating (2,251 ratings)
3.7h
to beat · completionist 5h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unsupported
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Unsupported
$4.99
steam price (US)

5 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 15:00 UTC (census sample)

The Artful Escape is a platform video game developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was originally released on September 9, 2021 for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on January 25, 2022.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 5 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 184 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~23/week).
  • · Review velocity up 27% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 11% of 27,649 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-31

Estimated sales: 41k–91k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,026 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GameBillet$3.85-81%
IndieGala$3.89-81%
Fanatical$3.99-80%
Gamesplanet$4.34-78%
WinGameStore$4.99-75%
GamersGate$5.00-75%
Microsoft Store$19.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.85 at GameBillet (2026-06-26)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 104 of 128 observed days · at its all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
21821820212026Week of 2021-09-01: 218 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 53 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 61 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

802026-09-15 00:00 — 2 players2026-09-16 08:00 — 0 players2026-09-17 16:00 — 0 players2026-09-18 23:00 — 1 players2026-09-20 07:00 — 0 players2026-09-21 14:00 — 2 players2026-09-22 22:00 — 2 players2026-09-24 05:00 — 1 players2026-09-25 13:00 — 2 players2026-09-26 20:00 — 2 players2026-09-28 04:00 — 2 players2026-09-29 11:00 — 2 players2026-09-30 19:00 — 1 players2026-10-02 02:00 — 1 players2026-10-03 10:00 — 1 players2026-10-04 18:00 — 7 players2026-10-06 02:00 — 1 players2026-10-07 09:00 — 1 players2026-10-08 17:00 — 4 players2026-10-10 00:00 — 3 players2026-10-11 08:00 — 3 players2026-10-12 15:00 — 3 players2026-10-13 23:00 — 2 players2026-10-14 15:00 — 5 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$19.99$3.492021-09-092026-10-112021-09-09 — best price $17.992021-12-13 — best price $19.992022-01-27 — best price $14.992022-03-22 — best price $15.312022-04-27 — best price $10.612022-06-03 — best price $10.162022-07-22 — best price $13.392022-09-23 — best price $11.792022-11-23 — best price $9.392023-01-10 — best price $16.342023-03-04 — best price $15.892023-05-06 — best price $11.582023-07-17 — best price $9.792023-09-01 — best price $9.992023-10-30 — best price $9.992023-12-21 — best price $8.392024-02-13 — best price $15.892024-03-21 — best price $19.992024-04-20 — best price $15.892024-05-23 — best price $7.992024-06-27 — best price $7.992024-07-28 — best price $7.832024-08-19 — best price $16.992025-01-25 — best price $19.992025-04-27 — best price $14.392025-07-24 — best price $19.992025-10-01 — best price $7.002025-11-20 — best price $6.992026-01-17 — best price $5.472026-03-26 — best price $5.902026-05-08 — best price $4.992026-06-30 — best price $4.402026-08-07 — best price $16.992026-08-29 — best price $4.182026-09-13 — best price $3.922026-10-11 — best price $3.85
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

216372026-05-30 — 216 pageviews2026-06-03 — 167 pageviews2026-06-07 — 124 pageviews2026-06-11 — 107 pageviews2026-06-15 — 94 pageviews2026-06-19 — 104 pageviews2026-06-23 — 77 pageviews2026-06-27 — 72 pageviews2026-07-01 — 72 pageviews2026-07-05 — 93 pageviews2026-07-09 — 90 pageviews2026-07-13 — 125 pageviews2026-07-17 — 73 pageviews2026-07-21 — 47 pageviews2026-07-25 — 76 pageviews2026-07-29 — 46 pageviews2026-08-02 — 58 pageviews2026-08-06 — 63 pageviews2026-08-10 — 57 pageviews2026-08-14 — 40 pageviews2026-08-18 — 69 pageviews2026-08-22 — 50 pageviews2026-08-26 — 57 pageviews2026-08-30 — 54 pageviews2026-09-03 — 54 pageviews2026-09-07 — 45 pageviews2026-09-11 — 64 pageviews2026-09-15 — 48 pageviews2026-09-19 — 37 pageviews2026-09-23 — 55 pageviews2026-09-27 — 76 pageviews2026-10-01 — 51 pageviews2026-10-05 — 43 pageviews2026-10-08 — 50 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

12
achievements tracked
82.9%
earned "Made it home"
49.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudFamily Sharing1 DLC

13 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America…

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2021-09-09 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Xbox Series, Xbox One, Windows (Xbox)15,49845%12
PS5 (PlayStation)10,71384%13
PS4 (PlayStation)7,73783%13
Steam (Steam)98439%12
Switch (Nintendo)280%0

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2DIndieMusicActionComedySci-fiColorfulStylizedAdventureNarrative

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsToby: The Secret MinePLANET ALPHAForgotton AnnePikunikuSemblanceDream AloneUnbound: Worlds Apart

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗