Evergate

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Evergate is a Platformer released in 2020 on PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, and then ported to PlayStation 5 in 2021. In this game, players take the role of a soul named Ki in the afterlife, journeying through others’ memories. The story here is… nothing special. However, this is all the framing device for what ends up being a surprisingly excellent Platformer.

The signature gameplay mechanic this game is built around is something called a “soulflame”, which has you holding down ZL to slow down time to give you more precision in aiming a beam from your character. If this beam intersects both a glowing white surface and at least one floating gemstone, you can press Y to shatter the gemstone and activate its effect. The yellow gemstones you’re first introduced to will propel you in the direction opposite from where you’re aiming, in effect giving you an extra boost in mid-air. Later, you’ll encounter other gemstones that create platforms and do other things, as well as different types of glowing white surfaces that react in different ways. What’s more, combining some of these can make for interesting additional effects, making for some fun discoveries.

Not only does this make for a good amount of variety, but the mechanics here are very satisfying. In particular, using yellow gemstones to fling yourself around feels very reminiscent of the wonderful bash move from Ori and the Blind Forest, giving you the same great sense of propelling yourself around the environment in controlled bursts.

It also helps that this game has some excellent level design, really making you think about when and where to use your ability. In each level, your only requirement is to reach the exit, but you can also complete extra goals to unlock artifacts that act like passive upgrades for your character, such as one that increases soulflame effectiveness, and another that reduces your fall speed. This gives a great opportunity for both completionists and speed runners to really pick apart each level to find the optimal path to not just finish each level, but complete all of its goals.

I should note that the comparison to Ori and the Blind Forest is not only due to the soulflame mechanic. The game’s presentation is reminiscent of that game as well, albeit not quite as impressive. Evergate features some lovely 2D visuals in imaginative and somewhat abstract worlds, with your own character being a glowy indistinct white thing with big cutesy eyes. These visuals are given a degree of depth due to a multi-plane scrolling effect that makes this game’s world feel bigger than it is. These nice visuals are backed by a wonderfully dreamy instrumental and choral soundtrack that gives the experience a sense of gravitas, with great songs like Afterlife Lullaby, Flight to the Library, and Flurries.

Clearly I feel there’s a lot to praise here, so what are the negatives in this game? Well, probably my biggest complaint about Evergate ties back to its main mechanic, the soulflame. While I feel like this is well-used and makes for some really enjoyable gameplay, I also feel like it isn’t used to its full potential. In particular, the constant need to line up (multiple) things within the beam you project limits your use of this ability, and you’re often relying on the level design to complete your goals rather than using this ability freely how you want. This can also make getting off the “right shot” to do what you’re trying for can be a fiddly experience, requiring multiple restarts in a level to get it right. Thankfully, restarting is instantaneous, and the strong level design alleviates many of these issues, but it still seems like something that would be improved by being less restrictive.

However, overall I find Evergate to be a real treat of a Platformer, and the excellent level design, great game mechanics, and wonderful presentation all combine to make this a real winner. Perhaps it had potential to be even better, but as-is this is still a game that Platformer fans should definitely make it a point to get their hands on.

tl;dr – Evergate is a Platformer where players take the role of a spirit using a “soulflame” beam to activate floating gems in each level to unleash their abilities and reach that level’s exit. This game’s mechanics and level design are superb, and the presentation is excellent. While I do feel that this game’s mechanics could have been even better if they weren’t so restrictive, overall I think this is a superb Platformer that fans of the genre should absolutely play.

Grade: B+

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