Evoland 2 Review

It’s hard to describe Evoland 2: A Slight Case of Spacetime Continuum Disorder as unique. Every chapter of this RPG from Shiro Games borrows heavily from one classic or another. There’s Super Mario Bros, Metroid, Zelda, even Diner Dash at one point. Even though Evoland 2 stands on the shoulders of many different giants, it’s how seamlessly it transitions between genres that makes it unique. Evoland 2 is not a shameless copy of classic games, it’s a witty ode to videogame history.

Evoland 2 starts off with the main character, Kuro, waking up in a village with, you guessed it, amnesia. He then sets off on an adventure to figure who he is, which evolves into a journey back in time and into the future. He gains memorable allies along the way, which give the story a splash of humour and light-heartedness. At one point, an NPC asked what my name was, to which I could reply “Super Morio”, “Solid Snail”, or a few others. I went with “Solid Snail”. The item descriptions and NPCs in Evoland 2 continually break the fourth wall in clever and funny ways. When I tried to open a particular chest, the game told me “This chest could probably be opened if the developers had enough time to code it”. Moments like these give the game a unique charm, even if its jokes are about itself and other games.

The 15-hour story is not without flaw though. Sometimes, it is cliche that overstays its welcome. I recognize that Evoland 2 takes any chance it can get to make references to older games, but it goes overboard at some points. Conversations sometimes drag on for way too long, and with no voiceovers in the game at all, you’ll be doing a lot of reading.

The future era literally brings a whole new dimension to Evoland 2

Evoland 2 takes place in three very different periods of time. The present, the past, and the future. When travelling to the past, the game’s graphics switch to a NES style. In the future, the world transforms into a bright 3D landscape much more reminiscent of a modern game. The present era is reminiscent of games on the Game Boy Advance, somewhere in between the 8-bit graphics of the past and the colorful 3D of the future. Each one of these three eras is visually beautiful in a different way. All three are colourful and interesting, but still represent a dramatic difference between the three eras. The game’s soundtrack is filled with nostalgia-inducing music. It does a great job setting the mood of the level and compliments the art style very well, no matter which period of history you are in.

One of many references to Mario

It’s difficult to describe Evoland 2’s gameplay, because of how much it changes. Sometime you are playing a 2D Mario-style platformer. Sometimes you control Kuro from the top down, like The Legend of Zelda. At one point, I was playing a simple (but still stressful) version of Diner Dash. I literally had to take multiple customers’ orders, bring them to the chef, and give them to the right customers before they got mad and left. It’s really strange how many classic games Evoland 2 brings into the mix.

Along with the throwbacks to the classics, Evoland 2 is pretty simple with its combat. With one button to attack and a special attack that needs to charge up, it’s hard to get creative. You simply hit enemies over and over until they die. This is the same with boss battles. They bring a little more complexity with different attack patterns, but the fight still boils down to waiting for an opening and whacking the boss a few times with your sword. There are also various puzzles to complete before advancing the story. Objectively, they are fine puzzles that I am no good at. I wish the developers spent more time making the combat more engaging and the puzzles shorter.  

I was stuck on this puzzle for longer than I care to admit

As I was puzzling and slashing through another Zelda-style dungeon, I realized that this copy-cat game is special. It pulls from other games so seamlessly that it makes you smile when you realize what they’ve done. It totally runs on a nostalgia engine, and is largely successful. If you can look past the mediocre combat, and if you’re in for a cliche, nostalgia-inducing story and clever, sometimes long-winded characters, give Evoland 2 a shot. Oh, I was able to sneak around guards in cardboard box at one point, and if the guards noticed me a large exclamation point appeared over their head. If that doesn’t sway your opinion, I don’t know what else will.