They are often either overly simplistic, jarring to play, or just not very well designed. However, I could not help but find all of these to be about as boring as the main gameplay. These take the form of a variety of genres, with a shoot ‘em up section, a fighting game boss battle, a series of Professor Layton style puzzles, a stealth section, a turn based strategy campaign, a dungeon with active time RPG battles, a beat ‘em up stage, and a notable number of 2D platforming sections just to name a few. However, that is not the only gameplay style up Evoland 2’s sleeve, as it contains a myriad of side modes or gameplay specific to a single section of the entire game. They feel like time sinks, rarely feature much in the way of originality, and ultimately come across as, well, boring. Except whereas the puzzles in Zelda games consist primarily of comprehensible brainteasers that the game guides the player along, Evoland 2 is more content to lock players in a room and ask them to figure out a mechanic that will never be seen elsewhere. When they do it is mostly due to an environmental gimmick of some sort, or based on how the game simply plays a lot better in 3Dwith the two 2D eras feeling oddly sluggish and slow in comparisonĪs for the Zelda -esque gameplay, it’s a lot like that of the first Evoland, which is to say things mostly consist of maneuvering around enemies and obstacles in order to strike them with a non-impactful sword strike, but with more puzzles. These visual changes only slightly affect the actual gameplay mechanically. Instead, it is a Zelda -esque action adventure game with RPG elements that occasionally changes up the gameplay, often for the worse, and has a gimmick where the past looks like a Genesis game, the present looks like a GBA game, and the future looks like an 3DS game in HD. Whereas Evoland was centered around, well, the evolution of games from a technical and mechanical perspective, Evoland 2 is not. Now, I probably should talk about the gameplay. Thereby making the ensuing seven hours of questing and divergences all the more tedious. A quest that takes begins at the halfway point of the game, which was also when I was able to comprehend the true extent of the story, and figure out how things were going to end. Who both accept this and express little interest in their time manipulating abilities beyond how it can help them save their families.Īs for the story proper, it truly does feel like a rather trite tale in most cases, beginning with the characters mostly meandering about for the first few hours before gaining some semblance of a goal after they learn about the disasters that need to stop, before ultimately learning that they can maybe sorta save time and change the future if they go on a quest for five macguffins. Characters similarly mirror this sentiment, with the occasionally spunky villager girl, the noble strongman who lost a lot, and the curious researcher who seems to be enjoying the thrills of seeing different eras, unlike everybody else. Or at least nothing worth praising.ĭespite trying to make its world seem interesting with an ancient race, a destructive war with humans and the unsurprisingly noble demons, a realm occupied by creature who exist throughout time, and interconnected storylines between eras, the world of Evoland 2 is easy to dismiss as that of a typical JRPG, so bogged down in tropes and trends associated with the genre that it feels unoriginal and derivative without being either comedically or endearingly so. If that description brings to mind Chrono Trigger, you are not alone, as Evoland 2 takes numerous nods from one of the most beloved RPGs of all time, yet whereas Chrono Trigger had an interesting world whose multiple permutations all held some appeal, a storyline that managed to be fun, simple, and engaging, along with a cast of memorable characters, Evoland 2 has basically nothing. Rather than settling on a wafer thin storyline, Evoland 2 aims to be a greater story centered around the mute amnesiac hero Kuro as he and a jaunty crew of temporally displaced companions go on a quest to save the future from a great disaster while also trying to restore time as best as they can. The first way this is achieved is, unsurprisingly, with the story. Instead, the game aims to be something different and notably grander than its predecessor, but amounts to a significantly worse and less interesting title. Potential that could very well be pursued through a sequel, but that really is not the case with Evoland 2. Two weeks ago, I revisited Evoland, a somewhat cute yet insubstantial homage to The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy that, despite holding a modicum of charm, ultimately amounted to an underwhelming adventure with an incredible amount of missed potential.
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