Evoland: A Loving Tribute to Gaming’s Fascinating History – Weekly Indie Spotlight

Evoland is a meta RPG that gives the player a fun, though brief, look at the history of adventure games. Taking heavy inspiration from classic adventure series like The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy, you begin as a colorless sprite in a silent world, but as the game progresses, both you and the world around you evolve.

Evoland and Evolution

Developed by Shiro Games, Evoland is a tongue-in-cheek RPG adventure that celebrates how gaming technologies evolve. At the beginning, all you can do is move, but as you open treasure chests along the way, your world gains elements like color, sound, and eventually, 3D graphics. It’s a treat to open the chests and see how your gaming world will evolve next, and you feel like you’re experiencing the history of gaming as you play.

How About the Gameplay?

The game has two main forms of gameplay. On the overworld, you encounter random turn-based battles styled after Final Fantasy and other classic RPG series. However, in the wilderness and in dungeons, you engage in hack-and-slash combat and puzzle solving that’s reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda. To further drive home the game’s two main inspirations, your party characters are named “Clink” (like Link from Zelda) and “Kaeris” (like Aerith/Aeris from Final Fantasy VII). The game has plenty of other jokes in that vein.

Short and Sweet?

However, Evoland‘s main drawback is its length. You can complete the game’s main story in around three hours. Obviously, most people don’t expect RPGs to be that short. The game feels like it stops somewhere in the late 1990s/early 2000s period of gaming history. Now, since this is an indie game, you can’t expect it to have the budget for modern graphics, which might be why it stops when it does. Still, the story could use a little more development.

Conclusion

The game can be purchased on Steam for $9.99, although it is currently on sale for $2.49. While the game’s short length prevents it from reaching its full potential, that also means it can be beaten quickly without taking up too much valuable time. If you enjoy Zelda and Final Fantasy and you like gaming history, Evoland is a must-play.