Ludography

Where to get it

Escaped Chasm cover

2019 · temmie · Role-playing · Adventure

Escaped Chasm

A small RPG Maker game about a lonely girl with a connection to another world that she sees in her dreams.

Released
2 April 2019
Platforms
WindowsmacOS
Genres
Role-playingAdventureIndie
Developers
temmie
Publishers
temmie
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
Fantasy
Engine
RPG Maker MV

About

Escaped Chasm is a 2019 adventure game developed by American animator and illustrator Temmie Chang. As a test project, it was released on April 2, 2019, as freeware on Itch.io. The game is set in an abandoned house and follows an unnamed girl whose parents never come back.

Previously known for her illustration work on Toby Fox's Undertale (2015) and Deltarune Chapter 1 (2018), Chang used the game as a way to practice using the RPG Maker MV engine. Escaped Chasm received praise from reviewers. A sequel was released in 2020.

Keywords

  • child protagonist
  • cliffhanger

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Escaped Chasm is an exploration-based adventure game with four different endings. The player controls an unnamed girl who lives alone in her parents' house. Without her parents, the player can freely explore the house and progress through the game by writing down events in a diary. Sleeping lets the player watch a dream sequence and continue to the next day.

On the second day, the unnamed girl meets a man with a demonic appearance named Zera, who warns her that the house is slowly descending into chaos. As time progresses, the house gradually falls apart. Zera reveals that the girl's parents are gone and offers the opportunity to save them by taking the girl to another world. Despite knowing she will lose memories of her parents, the girl accepts Zera's offer.

Development

Escaped Chasm was developed by illustrator and animator Temmie Chang, known for being the lead artist of Toby Fox's Undertale (2015) and the episodic title Deltarune, which as of 2019 only had its first chapter released. Escaped Chasm serves as a test project and Chang's first attempt at using the RPG Maker MV engine. Chang worked on art and animation while Fox composed the soundtrack for the game. Chang also had contributors help with additional music and sound design, with James Roach providing the supporting music.

Her initial goal was to form a storyline and practice game development to create better projects in the future. io.

Reception

Escaped Chasm was praised for its animation, visuals, music, and themes. Fraser Brown of PC Gamer called the game "brief but striking" and described the visuals as "lonely and occasionally unsettling". Rock Paper Shotgun's Dominic Tarason described it as heartfelt and liked the juxtaposition of red and blue color schemes in one of the game's cutscenes. Tarason said that it made the story feel "too real and oppressive" and contrasted it with the in-game pixel art. Reviewers commended Fox's music and compared the game to Undertale from its similar themes and dialogue.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows2 April 2019Worldwide
macOS2 April 2019Worldwide

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Technology

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.