Besides running and jumping, Francis has a guitar which he can play to create various effects, such as interacting with the scenery or facing boss characters.

Once there, Lightman explains that to travel through the Cosmic Extraordinary, they need to put on a show for the Glamourgonn (Courtenay Taylor) to gain clearance for the next station, which will be the only way Francis will be able to get back to Calypso in time for the concert.

An alien, Frida, helps Francis to create a new outfit purposely to cause a ruckus in Glimmer City and reach the turtle.

Violetta tells Francis that Lightman was the only person to have performed and survived the Glamourgonn twenty years ago and may be trying to recapture his glory.

She sees that Francis still has doubts about accepting this new identity and reveals that when Lightman had faced him, he had brought Johnson Vendetti along, who himself had disliked the folk music he wrote about.

Francis's performance, aided by Violetta's laser show, impresses the Glamourgonn, and she grants passage for the Cosmic Lung as well as providing them with a separate vehicle.

[4] The Artful Escape, as described by Galvatron, is a story in the vein of "David Bowie traveling off from London on an interstellar trip to create Ziggy Stardust".

The studio includes composer Josh Abrahams, guitarist Eden Altman and programmers Justin Blackwell and Sean Slevin.

[4] The studio launched a Kickstarter in March 2016 to secure about $35,000 in additional funds for completing the Microsoft Windows and OS X version of the game.

In addition to the planned September 9, 2021 release, it was shown that the game would include voicework from Michael Johnston as Francis, Caroline Kinley as Violetta, along with supporting voice work from Lena Headey (the Tastemaker), Jason Schwartzman (Zomm), Mark Strong (Stargordon), and Carl Weathers (Lightman).

[13][14][15] GamesRadar+ praised the voice cast, singling out the performances of Michael Johnston and Caroline Kinley as helping to "ground the world in human emotion".

[26] IGN enjoyed the levels and the audio of The Artful Escape, writing that "the performances of its cast and the quality of its soundtrack are every bit as stellar as the eye-popping celestial realms it crisscrosses through".

"[31] Push Square gave the game seven stars out of ten, praising its guitar battles, art direction, soundtrack, writing, and voicing while criticizing the lack of substantial gameplay, frame drops, and occasionally clunky platforming.