Evoland

by Ingvi Snædal
reviewed on PC
Unlocking changes (cntd)
The world literally changes with every chest you find and it is incredibly satisfying to witness. Once you unlock the power of 3D and the high-definition textures it allows, however, the game becomes an endless barrage of random encounters with absolutely no variety to it. I never minded random encounters in Final Fantasy but this game does so many of them that it is almost as if every other step triggers an event.
The developers probably did this intentionally in order to make the game last longer as it has very little replay value, but that is not all they did. As I stated before, some treasure chests have stars or cards in them. There are 30 stars hidden throughout the world and for those of you achievement collectors out there, they are quite a challenge to find. I wasn’t personally interested in them, however, as I’m not autistic. The cards are for a minigame you can play in town which features a very basic strategy element and can be pretty fun to play.
Puzzles
Also featured are some interesting puzzles you must solve using a time-shifting crystal, bombs, burning coal pits, your sword and your bow. The puzzles mostly consist of shifting between the three dimensional world and the two dimensional one in order to get past obstacles that block your path in one dimension but not in the other. These puzzles make up a rather small percentage of the game, however, and I would have preferred more of them and fewer random encounters. Dungeon crawling is also featured in the game, but it’s barely worth mentioning as it is nothing you haven’t tried before.
I ran into a few bugs and most of them, I suspect, had to do with processor allocation. As an example of what I mean, when fighting the final boss, timing is of the essence. On occasion, my character experienced latency while the boss did not, leading to my inevitable death from a badly timed escape. These kinds of wrongful deaths always piss gamers off, and yes, they did me.
Cheap and short
Evoland is a cheap, short adventure game and if you are looking for an afternoon trip down memory lane, the ten Euros it costs is not that big a price to pay. If however, you are looking for a good indie game to spend a few days with, you will be better off looking somewhere else.
4.5
fun score
Pros
Seeing the world progressively change is enjoyable, high nostalgia value.
Cons
Very basic gameplay, repetitive combat.