Team17 has announced The Escapists 3, the first new mainline entry in its prison-break sandbox series since The Escapists 2 in 2017. It is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC via Steam in 2027, and it makes the biggest change the series has ever made: it leaves its flat, top-down pixel art behind for a fully 3D world. The Steam page is live now, with a wishlist button but no firm date yet.
The same jailbreak, a new dimension
The pitch has not changed. You arrive as an inmate, learn the daily timetable of roll calls, meals and work shifts, and quietly turn that routine against the people enforcing it. What has changed is the space you do it in. Team17's own announcement describes the game as a "new 3D prison sandbox," and the first screenshots show chunky, toy-like characters moving through prisons with real height to them: rooftops, multi-level cell blocks, yards seen from a tilted camera instead of straight down.
Matt Burnill, Creative Manager at Team17 and a designer on The Escapists 1, The Escapists 2 and The Survivalists, explained the move in a developer Q&A published alongside the reveal. "When we were thinking about what we wanted to do next with Escapists, all the new features and experiences we wanted players to enjoy, the expectations from a sandbox world — 3D just made sense," he said. Physics is a big part of that. He wants players to wonder whether they can push a guard down the stairs to knock them out, and then find that they can.
Burnill is just as keen to stress what stays the same. Routines, favours and stashing items in vents all return, and the art keeps nods to the series' pixel roots in its textures and level design. He put it with some confidence: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64 and GTA all had their jump to 3D, and "this is our landmark moment."
Five prisons, and a world past the walls
The Escapists 3 launches with five prisons, each with its own routine, cast and secrets. The bigger change is that getting over the fence is no longer the end of the level. Team17 says that once you slip past the guards, you have terrain beyond the walls to get through: dense forests, windy canyons, ancient catacombs and dangerous water. Earlier games mostly ended a run the moment you crossed the perimeter, so the escape itself now looks like a second act.
As before, there is no single intended solution. You can tunnel under the walls, climb out, fight through, or put on a disguise and walk out the front. Team17's materials also mention new traversal toys. Burnill named a hang glider that lets players "soar wherever their hearts desire," alongside returning shovels, pickaxes and cutters in their various grades.
Jobs, crafting and a new skill tree
The economy of prison life is still at the centre of things. You take jobs to earn cash, trade with other inmates, search cells and lift anything that isn't bolted down. Team17 says there are more than 120 items and weapons to loot and craft, and the announcement jokes that almost anything can become part of an escape plan, whether or not it should.
Progression has been rebuilt. Instead of the old stats grind, where players spent long stretches pumping strength or intellect in the gym and library, The Escapists 3 uses a skill tree. You earn XP from all sorts of actions around the prison and spend it on skills that open new options. The one example Team17 has given is Hinge Buster, which lets you smash straight through a locked door. Burnill noted, a little drily, that players will no longer need to do one thing for hours on end to level up.
The series' self-styled greatest escapist, Jimmy Locke, returns from the Escapists 2 era as a guide character. Team17 is coy about his role, saying only that he is around to tell you how escaping should be done, and that he is "always about, even when you don't know it."
Better with accomplices
Multiplayer was a big part of The Escapists 2's long life, and the sequel keeps it. You can play solo, with two players in local split-screen, or online with up to four. Team17 pictures crews splitting jobs between them, playing to each other's strengths and timing a breakout together, and finding out which friend is useless with a shovel.
Team17 has also opened a new Discord server for the series. The first 1,000 players to join get an exclusive Founding Inmate role, which hints at the kind of community feedback loop the studio wants during development.
When can you play it?
Team17 is only committing to 2027 so far, across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC. There is no price, no edition breakdown and no word on a demo or playtest yet. For now, the Steam page is the place to follow its progress and wishlist it.
