Everything revealed about The Escapists 3
Announced October 8, 2026: a full 3D prison sandbox arriving 2027, with five prisons, 120-plus craftable weapons, a new skill tree, four-player online co-op — and Jimmy Locke back as your guide.
The short version
The Escapists 3 is a full 3D prison escape sandbox from Team17, announced October 8, 2026 at the Triple-i Initiative showcase and arriving in 2027 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2. Five prisons at launch. Over 120 new weapons to steal and craft. A skill tree replacing the old stats. Two-player local split-screen and four-player online co-op. And Jimmy Locke is back.
Here is everything else that was actually said — organised, quoted and linked.
What the trailer shows
The reveal trailer runs through the sandbox's promise in about a minute:
- Cutting through fences and slipping out through the perimeter
- Tunnelling — the classic Escapists move, now in three dimensions
- Rappelling up walls to reach routes that did not exist in the 2D games
- Hang-gliding from a rooftop for the final stretch of a breakout
- A candle-lit corridor stealth moment, a shark-on-a-pier gag, and the whole ragtag crew running for it under a sunset sky
The feature list, from Team17
The announcement post summarised the pitch in five beats. Paraphrased from the official text:
- Prison has rules, you have other plans — learn the routine, watch the guards, take jobs, earn cash, swipe what is not nailed down.
- Escape your way — every prison is a system to be understood, exploited and very badly outsmarted. Dig, climb, or find another route entirely.
- Rubbish can become your freedom — search cells, trade with inmates, complete jobs; almost anything can become part of an escape plan.
- Five prisons — including dense forests, gusty canyons, ancient catacombs and dangerous waters (the prisons preview).
- Better with accomplices — solo or with friends, two players local, up to four online (full co-op details).
The press release added one number worth framing: over 120 new weapons to steal and craft.
Dev Q&A: the answers that matter
Team17's devlog Q&A with Matt Burnill — Creative Manager at Team17 and a game designer on The Escapists 1, The Walking Dead, The Escapists 2 and The Survivalists — was the deepest source of detail. The highlights:
"On the surface, it's a prison escape game. But really, it's this massive sandbox filled with systems, varying gameplay and puzzles for people to test themselves against. […] There's so much here to ensure there's never just one way to escape."
On why 3D, and what it changes:
"We wanted to bring the sandbox to life, to feel tangible and interactive; we want players to have those moments where they ask themselves, 'Wait, can I just push this guard down the stairs to knock them out?', and it just works as they expected."
On the systems being reworked:
"We've reworked the Stats system into a brand new Skill Tree system; players are rewarded XP for all manner of actions around the Prison […] which they can then use to pick new Skills such as the Hinge Buster, which will allow them to smash their way through a locked door."
And on the returning face in the trailer:
"Jimmy [Locke] is, of course, the world's greatest escapist! He's been here since Escapists 2 […] In Escapists 3, he's on hand to help guide the player."
What is kept from the older games
Burnill's answer doubles as a checklist of the series DNA that survived the move to 3D: routines, favours, hiding items in vents, and crafting — "so much of the core gameplay is retained from previous games […] they've not gone anywhere." The pixel art stays too, as flourishes and callbacks rather than the primary style: "our roots are firmly planted there."
The 3D switch explainer digs into exactly what changed and what did not.
