Everhood

Genre: Music-Rhythm

Players: 1

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Review:

Everhood is a Music-Rhythm game that presents itself as an RPG that was released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2021. I’ve seen this game described as “Undertale meets Guitar Hero”, and that descriptor is both accurate and not – these two games were unquestionably influences, but Everhood is certainly its own thing.

The comparisons to Undertale are in part due to its similar-looking 2D pixel art presentation, although to say this game looks like Undertale and leave it at that is doing it a bit of a disservice, as it works in some subtle 3D effects and does some other interesting visual tricks, at times giving the game a psychedelic look.

The game’s writing and story, likewise, certainly have some hints of Undertale – it has a similar offbeat sense of humor, although it’s a bit more vague and ambiguous about just what the world is and what’s going on. You’re apparently playing someone who has temporarily given up their humanity in exchange for immortality as a wooden doll, who quickly finds themselves chasing after a blue-clad thief who stole one of their arms, but this strange world of golem-run night clubs and boxers-wearing knights doesn’t really seem to make any consistent sense. Everything just feels like some drug-fueled warped version of some odd reality.

And of course I have to talk about the game’s music, which varies in style (with the main constant being synth with good beats), but is consistently fantastic. For some great examples of this game’s excellent tunes, check out Frogs are Friends, Tinnitus Dance, You Want Gnomes, and Revenge. Not only is this game’s soundtrack always mixing things up and keeping it interesting, but it interacts beautifully with the visuals and gameplay.

As for that gameplay, much in the same way that the presentation is “like Undertale but not”, the gameplay is like Guitar Hero… but not. Battles take place on a five-lane plane much like Guitar Hero, but players are specifically not trying to time button presses to the beat. Rather, in a way that’s a bit like one of the game modes in Audiosurf, players are specifically trying to avoid notes as they come down the track, either by dodging to the left or right or by timing a jump to clear them.

It’s the difficult timing of this dodging/jumping mechanic that is probably one of my biggest complaints about the game – because players aren’t trying to match the beat of the song, it never seems to become second nature to move out of the way of these musical beats the same way as Guitar Hero and Rock Band make it feel natural to stay on rhythm. Often I would find myself getting penalized for hitting a note I could’ve sworn I missed. Thankfully at least the game lets you adjust difficulty settings at any time to adjust for this sort of thing.

Perhaps it’s just personal preference, but the gameplay of Everhood never quite gelled with me in a way that drove me to keep playing the game. However, just about everything else in this game did – the writing is clever and funny, the visuals are interesting and at times even a little mind-blowing, and the soundtrack is absolutely stellar. If you liked Undertale or enjoy Music-Rhythm games, Everhood is an unusual amalgamation of both of those things that ultimately becomes something else entirely, and it’s something well worth playing.

tl;dr – Everhood is a Music-Rhythm game that looks like an odd combination of Undertale and Guitar Hero and only gets weirder from there. The gameplay here has players avoiding notes on the Guitar Hero-esque tracks, and while that gameplay doesn’t feel quite as compelling as hitting the notes, it’s still enjoyable, and the presentation here is so good, and so creative, it makes this a truly memorable experience well worth having regardless, especially if you’re a fan of Music-Rhythm games or Undertale.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Music – As with prior years, this award was one of the toughest choices for me to make this year, and at different times I had four different games winning this award, and multiple other games nearly made it onto the list of runners-up. Ultimately I selected Everhood as the winner because this game more than the others on the list is absolutely dependent on its soundtrack. And what’s more, it is a strange and experimental soundtrack that blends its unusual, at times even discordant synthesized music with its gameplay to create a truly unique and memorable experience.

Runner-Up: Most Original, Best Song (You Want Gnomes, by Chris Nordgren), Best Misc. Game

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