REVIEW: Everhood
Developer: Foreign Gnomes
Publisher: Foreign Gnomes, Surefire.Games
Released: 2021
Platforms: GOG | Steam | Switch
There’s an obnoxious summary I thought up to describe Everhood, and now I need to get it out of my system: Everhood is like Undertale had a child with Guitar Hero or DDR.
Okay, now we can move on to the actual review.
Making comparisons to Untertale may sound like a meme, but in the case of Everhood it’s a compliment. The protagonist, “Red Mage,” encounters many goofy and charming characters on their journey. There are plenty of hit-or-miss 4th wall breaks and puns.
I think there’s also a Gaster reference? The lost souls remind me of him, so drawing a connection is inescapable.
The first half of the story charges forward with its quirkiness, paying no mind to the audience’s confusion about what’s happening. However, once it flips to its “side B,” everything becomes clearer, and it’s where the plot’s depth is found.
Everhood understands a lot of the core elements behind Undertale’s charm, and that’s why I don’t feel too bad making that comparison. Fortunately, this game isn’t a “clone,” rather it’s closer to an homage within the game’s own identity.
The musical battle system in Everhood is akin to a bullet hell laid out on a grid. The player has to sidestep and jump around “notes” and other obstacles while constrained to a 1x5 track. The game constantly throws new mechanics, or turns pre-existing ones on their heads. The devs take full advantage of their engine.
There’s an important note to keep in mind about battles, however. Everhood is often a hallucinogenic experience, and an amazing one at that.
A few examples of how trippy Everhood can be. If streaming, your bitrate will be decimated with no remorse.
The devs don’t hold back when using eye-bleeding colors, screen warping, and other serious epileptic-inducing imagery. Even with the built-in “Image Sensitive” option turned on, I got minor headaches. I’m glad I could experience the trippy visuals, and that the devs stuck to their guns, but I can’t stress it enough to play in a well-lit room.
When I mentioned this game having a “side B,” it mostly has to do with the combat. Up until the halfway point, battles felt a bit passive to me. I discovered the easily-exploitable safe zone in the leftmost corner, where fewer projectiles would show up. However, this all changed once the game became more “aggressive.” I don’t want to spoil too much here (it’s best to experience this game as blind as possible), so I’ll leave it at that. It’s awesome.
I have one tiny gripe with combat, and it has to do with the difficulty. I found a lot of battles were too easy on Normal, but others far too intimidating on Hard. I think a good compromise would be a Training mode, where each song’s tempo could be slowed down.
Even though I stuck to Normal, Everhood was still a great experience. It has enough replayability that I may consider its NG+ mode in the future (and maybe my difficulty complaints will be acknowledged). It’s a pleasant surprise, and definitely worth looking into.
Two Thumbs Up
