Evoland 2

Release: 2015
Developer: Shiro Games
Platform: PC
Genre: 3rd person, action, adventure, beat-em-up, Grandia, Tactical RPG, card game, rhythm
Gameplay Stats: 23 hours, 100% achievements

I really enjoyed Evoland when I played it a few years ago, so I've been eagerly looking forward to this game. Let's jump in and see how it is.

Visuals: The gimmick for these games is that they draw heavily from many games across pretty much the entire history of gaming. The game starts in a style reminiscent of a classic GameBoy game, before throwing you into an adventure that jumps back and forth between 8-bit pixel art, 16-bit pixel art, and some basic 3d models. Each style is relegated to a distinct time period within the game, which I thought was a really neat way to differentiate which time period you are currently playing in. For the most part things are serviceable in the graphics department, but I did find the hit boxes to be pretty wonky routinely on some of the environment. Even in the pixel art phases which was weird since the boundaries are so clearly defined. Enemies are decently designed and most of the NPCs that you run across look unique which is kind of impressive.

Audio: The music in this game ranges from okay to great. There are several songs here that I might actually revisit on YouTube because I enjoyed them so thoroughly. The game seems to know what music is actually good too because it revisits those exact songs and it makes you play them in a guitar hero style mini-game. The sound effects are okay, but largely aren't memorable.

Plot: So, take this with a huge grain of salt. This game struck me as a bargain bin Chrono Trigger. I haven't played Chrono Trigger (yet!), but you are your team of misfits travel back and forth across time to stop the end of the world. The notes come across as pretty insincere to me and they seem to expect a large pay off without putting in the effort to build anything up. The characters are all one dimensional with almost no character development. The twist in the game is VERY heavily implied for the second half of the game and I can't imagine the reveal in the last cutscene was a surprise to anyone playing.

Gameplay: So, here's the interesting bit. Evoland kind of apes a lot of classic game genres and funnels them into a single game. That's why my genre list at the top looks like a huge mess. The game plays differently across the three primary timelines in the game, but not really differently enough. It seems like a game that spread itself too thin and consequently doesn't really stand out apart from its breadth.

Everything in this game is serviceable, but nothing really stands out as groundbreaking or fantastic. This game is interesting and definitely scratches that nostalgia itch, but I can't really say it's great. [6/10]