Some games are made to play to your nostalgia more than simply being a throwback. Evoland falls under the first category, with your enjoyment of the game depending on your experience with its many references. But Evoland: Legendary Edition comes with its sequel as well, and a game based on the evolution of video games couldn’t possibly mimic its predecessor, right?

I played Evoland on PC when it came out back in 2013, around the time that games were big on referential humor and callbacks to big games of yore. This didn’t bug me at the time, as it was still relatively fresh. And if nothing else, watching the game evolve as I played was novel. Thing is, most of the referenced games I experienced on consoles; this was a PC game that reminded me of my history with console games. This isn’t exclusive to the likes of Zelda or Final Fantasy, as the PC great Diablo makes an appearance as well, but the majority of the blatant references originate from consoles. So it’s nice to see the games finally make their way to the console space.

The main mechanic of the first game involves opening chests to unlock skills, visual updates, and pretty much anything else you’d rely on in a game, such as a minimap. It’s a really clever idea, and would be much stronger if it involved a more original plot. Seeing character names with a letter off from the originals is cute, but it takes away from the premise. Sid even has the Highwind behind his house. The game becomes a matter of identifying references opposed to playing it for what it is, which can be fun, but it doesn’t hold much for people that don’t know the source material.

Evoland is easily finished in a single sitting, lasting just a few hours, even if you are a completionist. There’s not a lot extra stuff to collect, really. There are collectable stars, as well as cards for the game’s version of the best card game ever: Triple Triad. Beyond this, you won’t find a whole lot outside of the narrative, which is pretty hollow. Honestly, this comes off as more of a proof of concept and a parody of the genres it touches on opposed to a history lesson. By no means bad, but not something that would keep you longer than its short runtime.

Evoland 2 starts off very similar to its predecessor, but differentiates itself immediately with NPCs and a story from the kickoff. Instead of evolving as a gimmick, this is a full-fledged game built around the mechanics from the first in a way that actually makes sense and it benefits from. Thirty minutes into Evoland you are 3D and not really sure what’s going on outside of the quick splash screen story you unlock. In the same amount of time in the sequel, you already have more story, stakes, and intrigue than the entire first game. Two years after the first game we don’t get a redo of the first, but the game it always should have been.

Where the first was more of a parody, the second is a tribute. A love letter to the genres it encapsulates in each of the time periods. Instead of the game changing from 2D to 3D by merely progressing with no real reason, the graphics and gameplay change based on the time period you are in, ranging from Gameboy to 3D, with four different time periods. There is still plenty of references to other games (sneaking around under a cardboard box and calling yourself Solid Snail), but they feel more tongue-in-cheek than reliant for driving you forward. With an original plot (although not far off from what we’ve come to expect from RPGs) the game manages to keep the player’s interest on its own, especially with Secret of Mana as the base for game play this time around. But don’t worry, turn-based combat makes its way into this one as well. Not a fan of RPGs? Don’t worry, there’s also platforming, fighting, and shoot ’em up gameplay depending on where you are. And unlike the previous game, the transitions make sense to the story and ultimately add to the experience opposed to feeling tacked on.

The nice thing about a game so eclectic is that you never have a chance to be bored. The bad thing is that a jack-of-all-trades is never a master of one. Each genre that’s covered plays fine, but nothing that is exceptional. You won’t see any innovations to gameplay of the past, and you’ll likely groan at some of the more annoying tropes that are included. There are even math problems and puzzles I swear I did in a Highlights magazine as a kid.

Between the games, there’s a ton of improvements made over the course of two years. Hitboxes, which were large nuisances the first time around are much more accurate in the sequel, although some of the different genres still act a bit funky in this regard. I also had a few camera issues during dialogue where it’d go far off to the left where nothing was happening, but eventually auto-corrected. There were also a couple of times I took damage without any notable source, killing me without reason. These glitches are far and few between, but did cause me to turn off the game depending on what I was doing without saving.

Evoland: Legendary Edition isn’t going to blow your mind, but if you grew up playing the games that inspired these, it’s a fun little adventure through memory lane to see how far we’ve come. It may even make you seek out some old games you miss, and remind you why others aren’t as good as you remember. And for people that didn’t play these games, I think the second holds enough merit to keep you having fun throughout, but the first may lose its novelty after the first half hour when you reach the lava.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Varied Gameplay
• Graphical Changes
• Different Executions of Same Idea

Cons

• Reference Reliant
• Some Poor Hitboxes
• Glitches

Evoland: Legendary Edition was developed and published by Shiro Games. It is available on NS, PS4, and X1 as of February 5th, 2019. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of
Evoland: Legendary Edition, check out the developer’s official site.

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