According to the author’s comments, Escape! was planned as a demo for their parser IF authoring system XVAN, but eventually turned into a proper game.
This is also the feeling I got from playing Escape!. It gives the impression of an authoring system that is a bit rough around the edges, but still manages to create a game experience that is impressively close to what is mostly produced by more established tools. The interpreter didn’t work optimally on my system (a rather default Ubuntu) however; most annoyingly, the up-button didn’t work as expected.
As for the game itself: It’s rather short, about one evening’s worth of play, and a bit on the easy side. In addition to some traditional obstacles to be overcome there is one logical puzzle, which was a bit too obvious, and one meta-puzzle, which was just funny. The best asset of the game, however, was the NPC. He was lovely, and I hope I’ll meet him again!