Recent reviews by Outinthedark

Fantastic little rogue-lite game but accelerates surprisingly fast. NG+ extends replay value.

A 3D point and click adventure that unfortunately, literally highlights the solutions. Shouldn't expect a tough puzzler but instead an interactive ~4 hour movie with comedy thrown in.

I was looking for a nostalgia kick without breaking out my SNES. I played Owlboy and the recent Shantae game and left wanting more as both were around 6-8 hours. While both were fun, they lacked depth and I beat them with relative ease.

Evoland 2 gave me the same feelings of playing those old SNES Final Fantasy games. They are a bit linear in where you can go and eventually the map opens up so you can go back and explore and eventually find all the collectibles and secrets.

I did not play the first Evoland game but I don't feel like I am missing anything. The story in Evoland 2 feels self contained and rather straightforward. The way the story progressed along with the time jumps feels interesting. You have a real sense that you are traveling in time with the generation jumps. The only moment it was really jarring was when you went to 3D for the first time. The depth and camera angle doesn't feel right at first and takes time getting used to and that first dungeon can be brutal at times.

As far as the story is concerned, it's nothing immaculate to write home about but it is compelling enough to finish the game and play through to conclusion. You will likely sink ~22-25 hours into the game and it really opens up little over halfway. The references and throwbacks are welcome for a chuckle but Evoland 2 easily stands on it's own. It's secrets and puzzle solving are fantastic and the real time action elements are well balanced. Playing this game on it's hardest difficulty, I only felt frustrated with two points of the game.

The only real complaint I have is that it tries to do too much. The time aspect of switching generations is great but the implementation of other genres is where it drags. It throws every type of genre into the game from SHMP to side scrolling brawler to Bomberman. Some it does better than others but there are a few genre types where it is a slog to get through. Most of the time it's for a boss fight or a specific instance but others you are expected to play through long sequences in a completely different genre than the standard real time action. I like tactics games, don't get me wrong, but the section in Evoland 2 is so long to get through that I felt weary and thankful I completed it so that I never had to play that section again.

If genre switching and generation switching sounds interesting to you, you will likely find this game a great throwback to your childhood NES/SNES rpg days. Get past the nostalgia and Evoland 2 certainly can stand on it's own with the minor flaws of just trying to do too much.