Evoland Critic Reviews

Evoland is a unique game in that it’s impressive to see the scale of references and care to detail that is present within it. Despite several surprising flaws, it’s not often in a game where one can relive some of the greatest game-playing experiences from Final Fantasy and Zelda in a couple of hours and the combination of the two games is almost seamless in their execution.

Even though it may be a rather short experience, and the controls can be rather tiresome, I can’t really downplay Evoland. The satire on the entire evolution of games and the comical use of RPG tropes had me playing and smiling throughout my experience. For only $10, you get a rather charming title that never overstays its welcome. I was hoping for more by the end, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the overall experience.

Evoland is a game that evokes nostalgic feelings in old veteran players but that probably will leave the younger ones, despite an extremely fun gameplay hybrid, disappointed.

At once a grab-bag of silly references and a keenly observed tribute to the games that helped build action-adventure and role-playing games, Evoland is more than just a showcase of retro graphics.

Evoland has to be appreciated for what it is, which is less "game" and more "journey traveled." Nostalgia's a hot selling piece these past few years.

Evoland is a good chance for nostalgic gamers to revisit the better memories from their childhood with RPGs.

The old-school approach of the gameplay is not that fresh anymore and the steep price cannot justify the overpriced sentimentality.

RPGs are usually very long, and as many of us have grown up, we simply don’t have the time to play through them anymore, making Evoland an extraordinary journey through a much simpler time that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Evoland is a frustrating affair. Its premise is great and it has potential to spare, but instead of an inspired retro journey all you get is a combination of lazy jokes, bland Zelda-esque gameplay and numbingly tedious JRPG battles.

A terrific idea – Evoland lets us gradually unlock milestones in evolution of RPG games and see how they influence the experience. Unfortunately about halfway through this charming game turns into a torture chamber, because it wasn’t thought out well enough in terms of gameplay.

Evoland is a great concept but comes across as more of a “proof of concept” than an original adventure. There are some great ideas here, but too much time is spent paying tribute to its RPG predecessors than it does crafting an identity of its own. Shiro Games has a great concept here, now they need to build on it.

If you find the game on sale for $2 or $3, it might be worth a go, but the problem is that even at that low price there are better, more ambitious games you can play; games that move the industry into the future instead of slavishly trying to recreate the past.

Quotation forthcoming.

There are some issues that prevent it from becoming a solid offer, but if you're looking for a nostalgia dose, then you will forgive its mistakes.

Evoland’s short length means the conceit never tires, and it does provide a rather brilliant excuse for the game beneath being rather unoriginal. Sadly, Evoland’s barebones take on turn-based battles leads to some other unnecessary padding – but this is still a pleasant walk down memory lane.

Evoland is both original and a rather banal at the same time, in that it presents the evolution of the RPG/adventure genre in a mostly interesting and entertaining manner. The problem with this game is that this evolutionary gimmick is all there is to it. The game underneath is rather shallow and not very interesting.

There are some moments during which Evoland truly lives up to the premise but far too often the developers simply name check.

Evoland is by no means a bad game but really just feels middling once you really get into it.

Evoland goes through the motions of imitating some great games, but never evolves into a good game itself.

Despite the messy execution, there are moments of true beauty hidden inside Evoland (unlocking HD pre-rendered backgrounds being one) and there will be moments when you’re legitimately impressed with the next evolution, but there’s nothing in this game that makes it worth the $US10 asking price.