Do you ever wonder what it would be like to play a 1974 adventure video game?  Maybe not, but it would still be cool. Nicolas Cannasse also thought it would be cool, so he made the game Evoland, and submitted a early version of it Ludum Dare competition. It won. Not only did it win, but it got up a big following of 300,000 players in A COUPLE OF MONTHS. All in a days work (literally, he made the game in a day). After Evoland’s quick success, Nicolas Cannasse thought it was time to expand and polish off Evoland, so he sent it to Shiro Games. Eventually, it would be Shiro Games to make what now is the final version of Evoland.

evoland-classic

Evoland Classic Screenshot (the graphics aren’t bad, it’s just that you have to start that way even in the real game)

Gameplay:

How does Evoland let you go through the history of adventure games (i.e. Legend Of Zelda) while still having a compelling story and addictive gameplay?  Well, when you start out playing Evoland, you are in a VERY pixelated black and white world.  All around you are trees, which you can’t penetrate, and two treasure chests. The chests are actually a very important part of the game. To open treasure chests, you just walk right into them.  When the chests open, you can get a assortment of prizes from money to terrain updates.  This is what drives the gameplay.  When you get a terrain update of the game, say, from going to the starting black and white to the kind of thing that’s pictured above, it really gets you going. You just want more and more.

Storyline:

[SPOILER ALERT: This paragraph reveals key details of the gameplay.]

You are a man named Clink (which you can change), and at first, the gameplay seems just for fun. There is no real point. But, later on as you go through fighting monsters and opening chests, you reach a town. At the town, you have to use all the money you collected from the monsters to buy lots of defensive and offensive equipment to get through to the next part(it won’t lets you go through without it). Once you get through the city, you will find a injured girl named Kaeris (you get to name her also) getting attacked by monsters. Once you save her, she will tell you she needs you to save her ransacked city. From then on, you and her will go through Evoland to save the city.

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A Comparison Of Three Terrain Levels

 

Overall, Evoland is a great game. It is like a walking tour of the evolution of video games, all while not losing its gaming purpose. Unfortunately,  Evoland is a short game compared to something like Call Of Duty, as will only take you about two to three hours of non-stop playing.  Yet, the low $10 price tag could make it worthwhile.  The game is available on both Mac and PC.  You will have a fun time playing it while it lasts, and I definitely recommend it.

(if you are interested, you can now get it on Steam and Good Old Games)