When I was but a young World Wanderer, I had the joy of experiencing a little game by the name of The Final Fantasy Legend. This would be my first true experience with RPGs and I confess that I had no idea what I was doing at the time. All I knew is that inns restored your life which were numbers stacked over numbers, you could have a party of four and that your goal was to get to Paradise unaware of the sinister machinations happening in the background. I wouldn’t find this out until early into my adult years that more than one Final Fantasy Legend game existed, furthermore, I didn’t really appreciate RPGs until around then either.
We didn’t really have them in my house growing up, save for a few that I ended up snagging from a relative that was getting rid of a bunch of SNES games. I would experience plenty, whether it was from renting them from Hollywood Video, Blockbuster or the like, or getting to play demos with discs that were included in magazines we were subscribed to. That, however, is neither here nor there, as I want to talk about a recent experience I’ve had.
Take a trip through time with me, with a little indie game published in 2013 by Shiro Games that just celebrated its 11th anniversary.
If the picture above isn’t a dead giveaway, its Evoland: a charming game that evolves as you play it. From the early days of 8-bit consoles, to the HD remasters of 90’s 3DJRPGs that we see today.
I. Story
You’re a nameless wanderer in an 8-bit world, your first objective, get the power to go left (no I’m not kidding). You continue on your way opening chests, eventually meeting a young lady who wants you to help her to save the world.
There are countless references to other games, some of them being the Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy to name a couple, it’s a matter of: how many of them can you spot?
II. Gameplay
That I can’t pin down to one-style because, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, as well as the screenshots above and below, the gameplay varies from area to area.
You could go from Legend of Zelda to Final Fantasy turn-based style in each area. Bonus points if you’re familiar with these, if not, don’t worry they aren’t as intimidating as they look.
III. Conclusion
It is a wonderful little game, my only gripe with it, is that it is short, only about 6 hours if you’re not looking for secrets. It is, also very linear, but for such a small, entertaining little world that transforms before your eyes, I am willing to forgive it.
It is definitely something you can pick up and play from beginning to end seamlessly.
Despite that, it is full of moments, such as the screenshot above that you’ll find. It doesn’t take itself seriously and I love it.
I give it an 8/10.
Definitely pick it up on Steam, Switch, PS4 and XBOX.
Thank you for reading and may our paths cross again!