Edna & Harvey: The Breakout

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Edna & Harvey: The Breakout
Developer(s)Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher(s)
  • Lace Mamba Global (Windows)
  • Application Systems Heidelberg (Mac OS X)
  • Daedalic Entertainment (Anniversary Edition)
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows
Mac OS X
iOS
  • WW: 10 August 2012[5]
Anniversary Edition
Windows
  • WW: 4 December 2019[6]
Linux, macOS
  • WW: 31 January 2020[7]
Switch, PS4, Xbox One
  • WW: 17 June 2020[8]
Amazon Luna
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout (German: Edna bricht aus, lit. 'Edna breaks out') is a 2008 German adventure video game developed by Daedalic Entertainment. The game was originally released for Microsoft Windows, macOS[10] and iOS. An anniversary edition was released in 2019 and 2020 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, SteamOS + Linux,[11] Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Amazon Luna. Starring a young woman and her toy rabbit, the objective of the game is to escape from a mental hospital in which they find themselves in at the beginning of the game.

The game began as a university project in Germany. Although that version received an outstanding reception, the English game merely received a mixed reception with both average and low review scores, mostly due to its sloppy translation.[citation needed]

Gameplay[edit]

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout is an adventure game in the same vein as LucasArts' pre-1994 games created using the SCUMM engine. The game screen shows a two-dimensional cartoon world where Edna, the playable character, is incarcerated within a mental hospital. The player is able to talk to objects and people, use items, and interact with things in the environment. The bottom edge of the screen contains a list of actions the player can perform, which must be clicked on before the player clicks on an item within the environment in order to manipulate it. During gameplay, expensive in-game objects such as cars can be defaced by the player; this does not affect the game in any tangible way but instead serves to represent an act of rebellion.[12]

Plot[edit]

Edna awakes in a padded cell with her toy rabbit, Harvey, who she talks to throughout the game. She has no recollection of how she came to be in the cell and must escape.[12] In order to do so, she navigates along the ventilation shafts and gathers friends (other inmates) as well. Such friends include two people in one sweater, one trying to become an energy being, and another who can make keys to any lock. While there, she decides to clear her father's name, although he was killed for murdering asylum owner Dr. Marcel's son. Harvey then gives Edna the ability to relive certain events in her past, called 'Tempomorphing'. After escaping in Dr. Marcel's car, they crash in a swamp and go separate ways, the 'Keymaster' following Edna. He wanted revenge on Edna for releasing 'someone who should never be released', meaning himself. After escaping a Church that he locked both Edna and himself in, she finds herself at her own house where she learns that she was the one who committed the murder of Dr. Marcel's son by pushing him down the stairs and that her father took the blame. Dr. Marcel then arrives and asks her to come back with him so he can have her memory erased, as her father asked him to do. Though he succeeded several times, Harvey always brought her memories back. Edna is then given two options: Destroy Harvey and have her memory erased, or listen to Harvey and push him down the stairs like she pushed his son. If she listens to Dr. Marcel, she cuts Harvey to pieces with scissors, is renamed, and given house chores to do for the rest of her life, which she then adores doing. If she listens to Harvey, however, she knocks Dr. Marcel down the staircase with a mallet from his office and is never heard from again, the only clue of her fate being the remains of Harvey found by the ocean.

Development[edit]

The game was originally developed as a university project by Jan Müller-Michaelis (known as Poki), co-founder of Daedalic Entertainment.[12] Jan Müller-Michaelis created his own game engine using Java to implement the game.[13]

According to Daedalic's Carsten Fichtelmann, Valve rejected Edna & Harvey and A New Beginning three times from its Steam platform "on the grounds that their target audience did not care about the game". However, Daedalic went on to achieve success on the platform.[14]

Reception[edit]

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout garnered a Metacritic score of 56, representing "mixed or average reviews".[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Adventure Gamers : Edna & Harvey: The Breakout". adventuregamers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  2. ^ Press, VivaMedia. "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Part 1". YouTube. Viva Media. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  3. ^ "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout". GamesIndustry.biz. 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  4. ^ "Edna bricht aus – News". Application Systems Heidelberg. 2009.
  5. ^ "Edna and Harvey: The Breakout Releases On iPad App Store - The Game Fanatics". thegamefanatics.com/. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  6. ^ GamingLyfe.com (2019-12-04). "Point-and-Click Classic Edna & Harvey: The Breakout's New Anniversary Remaster Launches Today on Steam". GamingLyfe.com - Gaming News, Esports News, Gaming Community. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  7. ^ "Edna & Harvey return to Linux with The Breakout - Anniversary Edition now available". GamingOnLinux. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  8. ^ Birks, James (2020-06-17). "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition arrives on Xbox One, PS4 and Switch". TheXboxHub. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  9. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (2020-10-20). "Hands-on with Amazon's Luna game streaming service". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  10. ^ "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  11. ^ "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  12. ^ a b c Walker, John (2011-02-02). "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
  13. ^ Grimm, Matthias (2009-06-29). "The Whispered World - "Vieles im Adventuregenre läuft falsch" Der Edna-Entwickler packt aus". Gamona. Archived from the original on 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
  14. ^ Steinlechner, Peter (October 23, 2013). "Goodbye Deponia, hallo Adventure-Verkaufserfolg". Golem.de. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016.
  15. ^ Wöbbeking, Jan (June 12, 2008). "Edna bricht aus". 4Players (in German). Archived from the original on July 12, 2008.
  16. ^ Matschijewsky, Daniel (June 15, 2008). "Witziges Adventure à la Day of the Tentacle". GameStar (in German). Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  17. ^ Weiß, Thomas (July 1, 2008). "Test: Edna bricht aus - zurück in die guten, alten Zeiten". PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on July 1, 2008.
  18. ^ "Edna & Harvey: The Break Out - Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
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