Evoland (2013)

The first Evoland entry is a charming indie action-RPG that takes players on a nostalgic journey through the evolution of video games. It starts with simple 2D monochrome graphics and gradually unlocks upgrades, evolving into 16-bit and eventually full 3D visuals as you progress. This is especially nostalgic for me, since I lived through the RPG evolution era, at least from 16-bit an onwards, so I'm a little biased.

The gameplay is a playful homage to classic RPGs, including The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Secret of Mana. You experience a mix of real-time and turn-based combat, light puzzles, collectible stars, and even a mini card game inspired by Final Fantasy VIII. The gameplay is constantly changing, which makes it a very dynamic game, even though it is way less dynamic than it's sequel, since it is it's first implementation of the neat ideas this title was trying to convey as an experience.

The evolution mechanic is central, gradually introducing new mechanics such as saving points and auto-mapping. While very short (2~3 hours) it shines through its nostalgic charm and whimsical humor. It cleverly parodies gaming tropes and packs a variety of experiences into a compact package, its accessible gameplay make it an inviting choice for fans of retro RPGs.

Some people note that the combat and story are relatively simple and the game lacks depth, but most agree that the concept is creative and fun, and again, the sequel is much more developed on every possible aspect. Overall, Evoland works best as a lighthearted, nostalgic trip through RPG history rather than a deep or lengthy adventure, though, if you don't particularly liked this one I still encourage playing the sequel since it is simply a better game.

This was the definition of a volatile 3 star game. Some fun highs and some very frustrating lows averaged out to an ok experience.

The music and sound design is forgettable. Really a shame, I thought they could have done more than just try to copy tropes from the classics. The whole game is really a nod to gaming tropes, but I wouldn’t say it is done in an enjoyable way. More like in the way that one friend who’s just glad to be part of an inside joke keeps bringing it up too often. Some of the captions on unlocks and the fetch quest section were humorous, but it’s 10-20 seconds of laughter in a 3-4 hour experience.

2D sections felt better than 3D, especially since I never had 8-direction movement. (Maybe I missed a chest?) The 3D sections moved way too slow except for the homage to Diablo. That part was fun once I realized that holding down the attack button was different than mashing it repeatedly, and was actually able to do higher damage with combos.

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend it but if you feel called to play it, I wouldn’t say it is a waste of time. Just don’t buy it for much.

Playtime: 49 minutes

I played the original for 45 minutes back in 2015 before i got an error that prevented me from carrying on. When i registered my key for Evoland 2 i got the "Legendary Edition" for Evoland 1 so i decided to give it another go. This time i made it to 49 minutes before i died during a big fight and had the game set me back way too far so i quit.

It's a cute idea to chart the progress of games like Zelda while making fun of game tropes, but it takes far too long. Too many pop-up battles, too much filler, not enough save points. Also no settings at all? The music is quite loud compared to the rest of the sound, guys. Plus the top main menu item is "new game" instead of "continue". The fact that they didn't even get that right says enough.

Evoland pays homage to games that have defined the historical evolution of the genres that went from 80's to the recent times, mainly action adventure and RPG. This first game rides on the gimmick-built narrative and is riddled with many cultural references for veteran gamers to recognize. Hence, the story is less remarkable as it's built with familiar plot points from classic games as building blocks, while we have characters whose characteristics are referenced to the well-known cast from historical games.

While the story is to be taken with a grain of salt, the game's strong point lies in guiding you through as you start out in Gameboy fashion and unlock new technological advancements. It's so delightful to behold the world and mechanics unfolding in increasingly modern graphics, sounds and functions. Of course, the pacing comes down as I finally unlock 3D functions and so does progress as I try to complete and collect every hidden object before the final boss battle.

The sound and music goes well accordingly to the game technology as you can compare between 8-, 16-bit and full-on quality. The soundtrack is less memorable as it seems to have been merely written to fit the mold that was tried-and-true in the classic games.

Overall, it pleases me that the game evolution concept has been taken as its own product and as a means to drive forward in the game narrative's world. Nostalgia fans may find a decent product in this one to tickle their gaming knowledge and recognize the RPG gimmicks. However, a much greater potential has been made in the sequel, so I'd recommend you to look up on that for its greater load of game-worthy content.

I purchased Evoland in the Humble Bundle store after doing a little research. Evoland borrows from other gaming pioneers to create a neat experience for the player. As a gamer who grew up not experiencing a lot of the JRPG adventure games it was still nice to see all the nods they made those staples. The game play is rather simple as you move around the map getting 'upgrades' and fighting monsters. This simplicity can be a downfall for most games, but I was always wanting to see what the next upgrade was and how it would change the game. The story is pretty nonexistent but there is enough of one for the player to invest their time in playing.

I like to think of this game as a test per say for the developers so that they could expand on more in the sequel. With that being said Evoland does a great job of blending so many game styles into one little indie game. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a short yet intriguing adventure.

90% of people, I'd imagine, pick this game up because of the idea, "evolving" through the "history" of adventure video games.

It's cute, and to be honest, it's pretty fun when you start out. You unlock upgrades rapidly at first, quickly changing the game within a matter of minutes, in ways that both change how you interact with the game as well as remind you of historical counterparts. However, I'd say after the first village, things drop off dramatically. It becomes clear that this game is a very neat idea, and a cool thing to do for, say, a hackathon like Ludum Dare, which -as it turns out- is where this game originated. But for being a full-length game on its own? That's really pushing it.

It did do some things very right. What this game has going for it is really the progression and seeing things change; seeing not-goombas and not-octoroks transform from a handful of pixels to fierce looking mofos in 3D fights is really satisfying in a unique way. Being able to manipulate the world in a new way not because of a new item, but because you literally change the world around you in a way that is both new but familiar is a fresh feeling. Perhaps the best part of this game is being able to switch between 2D and 3D, and it have a functional purpose beyond just looking neat; it reminded me a bit of an actual Zelda game, like timeshift stones in Skyward Sword.

The problem is that Evoland has a case of mistaken identity. There are three ways Evoland could have gone.

The Ludum Dare: a short little fun-poking/unique experience from a "what if" perspective on the adventure genre.

The "Scary Movie": loud, in-your-face, obvious jokes made at specific games in the genre.

The Commitment: commit, hardcore; parody tons of games, flush them all out; make it an actual game while being a parody of what it is.

In my opinion, it failed to fall into any one of these and instead kind of hovered between all three.

The first part of the game (what I expect the Ludum Dare was) was amazing. It was cute, it was unique, it was very obviously a parody made out of love that at the same time had things happening to keep your attention.

After that it really kind of tries to become a real game; it drops a lot of the parody and tries to be what it was parodying. And that would be great, except it really doesn't commit all the way. You have currency without anything to spend it on besides potions; you have an inventory with nothing to pick up; you have separate health for the FF-style and Zelda-style fighting; you have just a shit ton of random battles that take up more time than actually seeing anything interesting; you have a Diablo-style level with no purpose, other than to have (entire aesthetic) loot with ham-fisted descriptions and an excuse to play as another character; you have a plot actually trying to develop. If you start as a tongue-in-cheek Ludum Dare, you can't suddenly decide to having characters with actual motivations. It's dissonant and results in everything feeling (a) forced and (b) shallow. Between all of that -the plot, the characters, the combat- the middle of this game is nothing more than a mediocre RPG.

Finally, it finishes with what I call a "Scary Movie" ending; again, it's not the content that is necessarily the problem, it's consistency. (Another game I played recently, No Time To Explain, was an excellent example of a "Scary Movie"-type game, which stays ridiculous from beginning to end.) Instead of cheeky references to the genre (e.g. a sign reading "why are there always so many kids in these games?"), it goes to shove-it-in-your-face references to specific instances by the end. I'm talking about ham-fisted copying of the villain, ending, and even a Dragonball Z reference thrown in. That's a major symptom of the game not knowing what it's trying to be; is a DBZ reference included because it fits in with the parody, or is it there because "people think it's funny"?

So what do you feel by the end? Well, the "evolution" aspect stops quite a while before the end of the game, and the pseudo-serious characters are part of a half-assed plot that is mixed in with a "yuk-yuk" ending that makes the whole thing seem like a big farce. So in the end you feel....well, nothing. That it's over, and you watch the credits showing parts of the start of the game, and you remember how fun that was, not what you just finished playing.

To me this seems, quite obviously, like a game that was thought up at a Ludum Dare, people loved it, but it was too short to sell so the dev padded it out to a point where people wouldn't feel jipped. The result is a game that's 4 hours that feels like it should be 1, because that's what it was designed to be. Throw on top of that some technical issues (multiple crashes, a glaring error in the plot where things can happen out of order) and it's far less compelling than what you were hoping for.

If this game was 1 hour for $2-3, I would say that absolutely everybody who loves video games should play it. But as it stands, $10 for a game that is at least half bad RPG is not justifiable. Maybe it's worth buying on a Steam sale, but even then, you're still buying a game that you're going to quit (or at least want to quit) not even halfway through.

Opening intro sounds like SNES music. Animation made me think of Link to the Past.

In the first five minutes the premise becomes very clear. Every bit of progress you make evolves the technical capacity of this game. This is actually a really cool idea, and it strangely actually FITS well within the RPG genre. The developer also put his personal spin on some established ideas (such as travelling in time like LoZ link to the past/ocarina of time/four seasons... rather than traveling through time or a season you are going into a retro mode) and rather than merely building the character, you are also building the game world. You also collect items and power ups which would let you advance in say Legend of Zelda Link to the Past. So it combines existing elements and tries to put a spin on it.

Tries. Tentatively. I have just a few criticisms here.

In some parts of the game it feels a little rough or maybe lightly developed. In some cases, a lot more could have been done, in other cases there are some oversights. For example in the early area Crystal Caves, they become locked to an eight bit mode and do not update with the rest of the game world (there is no reason to return there but i did anyway looking for secrets). There are also intstances that flip flop between an ACtion/RPG and a turn based tactical combat. This is fine, but what is a bit jaunty is your HP count is locked in each mode, so if you are on the verge of death on tactical TBT mode, and the battle ends and you go into an area that is overhead action-rpg mode you will have full health. Then next time you go into TBT mode... on verge of death. This is not a major issue but it breaks immersion and seamlessness, which is where the game really has one of it's better thematic strengths. There is also a lot of 'filler' material. In on segment of the game you get fake loot/equipment that does nothing, merely a joke, oh well...

Ultimatley its a fun game, has a lot of injokes but plays nicely, if a bit lightly. Anyone who has played JRPGs over the years and could appreciate this game I think. There were enouhg references to other games and humor literate to the genres associated with it to keep me amused. I thought the game itself was just as good (if not better) than say... those final fantasy remakes that came out recently, or other remakes. I like the Joke-RPG genre, what can I say?

Still, after playing it I feel I want more. I want to be able to move through each era in some time travel like manner that ups the ante and allows you to exploit the game environement/world in each era in some regard that is more than just a cursory examination of academic history/novelty and more like something like Data Hacker Initation/Corruption that lets you play upon and exploit any technical aspect you wish to play in. There is a lot of potential to turn the whole idea into something never done before! Would it work? I don't know but it feels like that is the route Evoland is destined to go!

3/5 Would give it more for originality but some technical aspects hold it's potential for greatness back. still loved it for the imagination and entertainment alone. It's great and perfect in it's length. Also it feels like it's own thing and not done in RPG maker or something like that. Really looking forward to the sequel, playing it tomorrow.