This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format.

An unexpected gem, Escape Doodland is an on-rails platformer that has you constantly outrunning a kaiju-sized creature by the power of sheer determination and flatulence. Its premise is simple, its art style hilarious, and its gameplay devilish. You play as a chap called Steve, though other characters are available from the shop following the successful completion of levels and the cashing in of beans, matches, and other collectibles found during gameplay.

Tongue-in-cheek is the name of the game here, with the silly, crude art style being matched by an equally mischievous sense of humour. The game establishes itself by offering you the difficulty levels of 'hard' and 'harder', delivering on that promise thoroughly. A slightly mistimed jump, fart, or dash fart can spell a frustrating end, taking you back to either the start of the level, or one of the fairly distributed checkpoints.

This becomes the game's main issue, however, as deaths can sometimes feel a little cheap and frustrating, rather than deserved. As a result, the levels can become an exercise in trial and error, as you sail through the earlier parts you’ve nailed in order to make it back to that one jump that got you.

Despite utilising a rudimentary list of controls, the charming and irreverent tone of Escape Doodland makes it really quite entertaining and genuinely funny. The touch of having Steve shout ‘no’ in his silly high voice as the monster closes in for the kill is delightfully grim. Despite the slightly frustrating elements, Doodland ‘escapes’ the clutches of mediocrity thanks to its smooth physics, subtle wit, and memorable art style.