The optional collectible card game should have just stuck to being a Triple Triad spoof like the original, because you’ll have to go around for opponents you can feasibly beat because the cards have a clear linear power scale.īut there’s an overall issue I have with these homages, and to discuss that, let me talk about my favorite homage: the Professor Layton segment. The fighting game spoof felt kinda stiff to play, and it made the climactic moment it was used for feel kinda limp. The Chrono Trigger section for some reason throws in arbitrary mechanics that force you to time when to pick an attack move or it will miss, on top of just being real slow to play through. A few of the gameplay styles were decent and could stand alongside the main Zelda-ish gameplay, but others felt unrefined. The quality of the gameplay styles is very scattershot, where it felt very quantity over quality. Evoland 2 is more ambitious, in that while Zelda action is the predominant gameplay style, it dips into a wide variety of gameplay styles, from 2D platforming action that might be a bit more reminiscent of Zelda 2 and Bejewled-esque action puzzles. The previous game featured two dominant gameplay styles: Zelda-ish action-adventure and turn-based JRPG. My main complaint would be that the present day style goes too deep with the shadows, though as I’ve mainly played this on the Steam Deck with low brightness, that may just be a consequence of my circumstances. I think the game looks pretty good in all its art styles. The game’s graphical style now changes to reflect the era you’re currently in, with the present day featuring the more detailed pixel art styles familiar to indie games today, the future utilizing 3D models and environments, and the past replicating older pixel styles. However, that aspect is expressed much better in Evoland 2. However, it eventually reached the point where that part of the game’s identity just became arbitrary and… well, just a gimmick. The defining gimmick of Evoland was that the world and its mechanics evolved as you played through the game.

Later joining with Magi researcher Velvet, the four go on a great adventure to prevent the Great Disaster and make the world right. Teaming up with the demon prince Menos, they try to head back, only to wind up in a far future where a Great Disaster damned the world. After meeting a girl named Fina, the two come across a demon terrorist plot and the two are flung into the past.

But you know, sequels usually improve on the faults of their predecessor, and I had Evoland 2, so I thought that I should see if that was the case.Īfter a beginning that spoofs the original Evoland, a boy named Kuro is thrown into a world where demons and humans fought. Back in 2021, I played Shiro Games’ Evoland, a game that I thought was disappointing, if I have to be honest.

Evoland 2 length