Evertried Review

I personally can’t say I’ve ever played a game that starts by saying to me “You’re dead.” Nothing like sugar-coating it, Evertried! Dangen Entertainment has already captured my attention, this game already seems interesting. The mysterious voice that is speaking to you in the game is here to guide your character. She explains that some souls go right to the afterlife, and others will be facing eternal damnation. But a few of the souls are hard to judge - essentially stick in limbo - so that’s the category you fall into. The main character is wearing a white mask making them look like they are from Hollow Knight. And carry a large scythe that has a glowing blue blade. The voice assumes that this must mean that you are a warrior of some sort. So, you will have to prove your worth as a warrior to gain entrance into the afterlife. If you don’t, any memories you have will fade, and you will become something else entirely. 

When you first start the game on the ground level of the tower you will notice that your enemy will move based on how you move. You are in control of the pace of how fast everyone acts, so you can go however fast you are comfortable with. From the beginning I was dying in less than a minute, so I clearly wasn’t taking time to strategise. Evertried requires you to put in the time to study and learn the best technique to take down the enemy units. You can plan it out so you end up right beside them so you can attack. Or you can lure them into the path of your other enemies, like the Icicle Sniper that shoots ice in straight lines and will damage anything it hits. The creatures are also susceptible to getting killed by the purple, bubbling slime that the slug-like monsters leave trails of. But beware, if you get hit three times your mask will be destroyed and you will be defeated and forced to start over at the bottom.

The tower has 50 floors, with each of them grouped into five unique areas. Each of these areas has new enemies and themed levels for you to clear and navigate. As you ascend and get higher up the tower, the puzzles will get more difficult. My personal best after playing for two hours is reaching floor nine. That playthrough was less than five minutes long; I am clearly not the most strategic player. This is going to take some practice! Evertried is a rogue-like game; no matter how far you get up the tower, if you perish, back to the base again. There is no saving or continuing to help you out here!

If you manage to get to the fifth floor, you will find a store. The tower store is stocked with different skills and modifiers that you can purchase with shards. You collect these shards from enemies you have defeated. One of the most useful things you can get here is HP to get you back to full health. If your mask was broken before it will be back to pristine condition so it’s able to endure three more hits. Any skills that you buy will improve your abilities, and improved skills carry into future attempts. Modifiers will gain strength as your Focus Level increases, so you might as well spend your shards on things that will help you survive longer. The good news is that each area has one of these stores, so if you can last that long there’s always a chance to replenish your health. So be sure to maximise the amount of shards you earn by hitting your enemies in succession to raise your Focus Level. The higher the level, the more shards you get. Evertried rewards you for constantly moving; if you just stand around and stop attacking the Focus Level will go down. So there is incentive to not have lulls in the action.   

Finding the perfect combination of attacking, moving, using your dash, and trapping your enemies into hazards is going to be the secret to your success. By observing what hazards hurt the enemy you can save a lot of work for yourself. You will have to learn to think ahead. I found that not killing the slug enemy right off the bat was good because the slime trails they leave behind don't only hurt you but damage the other enemy units. No sense putting yourself in harm's way if you don’t need to. While playing I always have to remember not to rush and get impatient. If you do, chances are you will take damage and possibly die. So I would recommend trying to avoid playing when you are tired. I have the bad habit of trying to play late at night. When I am tired, I make silly mistakes and just get frustrated.

As I mentioned, I am not a person who plays a lot of strategy games. Despite this, I have been having a great time playing Evertried. It’s refreshing to step outside of your comfort zone every once in a while and try something totally different. With practice, I am slowly getting better at strategising the best ways to survive and ascend the tower. After playing for five hours my personal best is 19 floors. One day I will finally get to the next boss and learn more about the main character and their story. But until then I am enjoying the sense of accomplishment from reaching new floors I had never got to before.