Evoland

Evoland

Evoland is a journey through the history of action/adventure gaming, allowing you to unlock new technologies, gameplay systems and graphic upgrades as you progress through the game. Inspired by many cult series that have left their mark in the RPG video gaming culture, Evoland takes you from monochrome to full 3D graphics and from active time battles to real time boss fights, all with plenty of humor and references to many classic games.

Evoland 2 graphics style is changing as you travel through time and its gameplay evolves as you move along the storyline. It is also a real RPG at heart, with a deep scenario based on time travel: explore different eras and change the history of the world. But are you sure that the consequences will not make things worse?

Full of humor and references to classic games, the Evoland series brings a truly epic and extraordinary adventure, unlike anything you’ve ever played before!

Evoland 1 is more of a wayback machine for the adventure / RPG scene rather than being an actual game, and I only say that because it is very rudimentary in actual gameplay mechanics despite evolving over the course of the game. Although it is very easy and incredibly short (I clocked in 3 hours at 85% completion), Evoland 1 is still an incredibly unique game that allows you to experience a large spectrum of adventure / RPG gaming history within the confines of a single game, and should be commended for such a feat.

Evoland 2, on the other hand, is more along the lines of a traditional, medium-length title. While the same concept of going back and forth between game types still applies, it is a more focused experience overall. If anything, Evoland 1 serves as an introduction of what to expect in the second title, giving the latter the ability to skip more of the trivial things covered in the first game in favor of heartier gameplay. Regardless, both games are worthy of experiencing for their uniqueness factor alone.

Evoland Review

The first Evoland is an interesting rough draft of an idea. I’m actually surprised it found success on PC because it seems like something that would have been way more engaging as a mobile experience. The game evolves and mutates as you progress, unlocking better graphics, more settings, more attacks, and cute jokes about the evolution of video games over the past 40 years. The charming setup is sullied as the gameplay is plodding, sometimes brutal, and janky. Character movement is slow, the retro-inspired music very clearly and painfully loops, and death can often make you repeat large chunks of mediocre gameplay. It bounces from primitive 2D Zelda to Final Fantasy to Diablo over the course of the journey, but it’s more parody than polished. The only driving force in Evoland 1 is to see how they riff on the next generation of games because the actual gameplay is just a pale imitation of what it’s referencing. I haven’t been less enthused by 2D Zelda gameplay and turn-based battles in years.

The sequel, while still tongue-in-cheek, takes on a more serious approach to the story. You play as a young hero who pairs up with a few other characters along the way on a time-travelling quest evocative of Chrono Trigger. Following with the evolutionary theme, each time period has a different graphical style. You start off in a vibrant 16-bit world and then journey to a monochrome Game Boy-like area, an 8-bit time period, and then a futuristic 3D world. It’s immediately more engaging than the first game, but suffers a ton from being the jack-of-all- trades of game styles. It’s cute that they bounce between Zelda-like action, side-scrolling platforming, turn-based battles, and more, but the only element that is consistently enjoyable is the top-down action.

Taken as a whole, Evoland: Legendary Edition should probably be viewed as just including Evoland 2, since that game is, for the most part, totally alright. I’d look at the first game as a nonessential bonus. It’s a solid gag, but that’s about it. The second game also veers into that humorous minefield, but at least it can precariously hang with decent action-RPG elements and amusing writing.

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Summary
Evoland and its clever riff on gaming culture and history is perfect for long-time gamers while Evoland 2 is a fantastic RPG that belongs in the top echelon of indie games. However, this bundle is currently held back by bugs that will hopefully be ironed out soon.
Good
  • Tons of incredible genre-swapping gameplay
  • Plenty of clever gaming references
  • Evoland 2's time-traveling narrative is thoroughly engaging and well written
Bad
  • Both titles contain frequent glitches
8.7
Great
Gameplay - 8.7
Graphics - 8.6
Audio - 8.8
Longevity - 8.7

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