Eversion is an incredible indie side-scroller - think an upgraded SMB 1, but with an accent on exploration and a sprinkling of survivalEversion is an incredible indie side-scroller - think an upgraded SMB 1, but with an accent on exploration and a sprinkling of survival horror, and minus any power-ups. A nine if you like the basic genre, a 6-7 if you don't (I, obviously, do).
The game boasts a simplistic but responsive control scheme, a truly interesting take on several of the standards for a side scrolling adventure game, and some surprises that will probably scare the heck out of you the first time through, and creep you out all over the place when you replay it. The warning up front is not a joke. I repeat, they are serious. Yes, the happy cuteness of the opening level is...misleading. The play mechanics focus mostly on exploration/puzzle solving and platforming, with a certain amount of twitch reflex thrown in for good measure. Sound-wise, the music feels appropriate for the setting, if tinny, and the sound effects are average, but reasonable. The game is relatively short - easily won in an hour for a first run, and probably another hour or two to get the unlockable material and the alternate ending. Re-play...is a mixed bag - after you get the unlockables, there isn't much to do that's new; it's short enough that it's a fun time waster, and you can return to any level after you've beaten it, so you can muck about with what you enjoy...and the mod community has produced some interesting maps to test yourself on, and modding is pretty easy, so you can get some good mileage on that front, but it is mostly more of the same, and a lot of the game's charm is the shock value, so...your mileage may vary.
Is it hard? Sort of - if you've beaten a Super Mario Brothers game, this won't be any tougher...if you're used to being able to save anywhere, and expect a certain amount of forgiveness in hit detection, imprecise jumping, and being able to survive a hit, then yeah, you'll be in for some nasty surprises. There are continuation points in each level, so you don't have to start at the beginning if you die, but they are not marked, which fits with the theme of the game rather nicely.
Now, as for its HD release - The original game was produced as an 8-bit game, graphically speaking - the HD takes it up to 16 - and you can tell; flat, jagged sprites take on a much softer form, the backgrounds are more than a single flat color, and the sprites are more complex...but this is a double edged sword in many cases - it looks better, but it loses a certain amount of subtlety and nuisance - when things start going wrong in the original, it is somewhat difficult to say why, but in the HD it is very blatant (yes, I am trying to avoid spoilers here - please bear with me). Some of the mechanics also changed - the controls feel a little looser. More pressingly, you can no longer out run certain environmental effects - on some levels of the original, I was actually memorizing sections of the level as an avoidance technique so that I could get off the screen at certain times; the HD version just moved faster to keep up (which feels very uncomfortable). Given the theme, that might be apropos, but it makes your survival harder. On a more positive note, the eversion button now lights up eversion points early on - a godsend to first time players, since the mechanic is not well explained in the manual (its fairly easy to use once you've tried it a couple of times, but the hint is very useful to get a new player started, until they can learn the rules).
The music is slightly improved, with most of the files having a better fidelity and instrumentation without changing the feel, so that's a plus.
Another upside - I played the HD as distributed by Steam, and there are some excellent extras, including a third ending and an Easter egg hunt. In total, the graphic improvement hurt the product a bit, in my opinion, but the additions certainly are nice enough to make up for it.
I recommend getting this game in very strong terms.
Oh! Pick up the alternate last level, while you're at it - so-o-o trippy...! All the mods I know of are free, so give it a go.… Expand
