Guitar Hero meets Undertale in one of 2021’s best video games

It’s hard to forget my time playing Tool songs in 2008’s Guitar Hero World Tour. They are a clear standout: You don’t get to see the virtual band playing, but instead, a living background takes the stage. It moves and morphs — from a spiral of faces to a sea of eyes. It is difficult and long songs, leaving you stuck for an eternity. Horror threatens to engulf you.

I always wondered what would happen if those scenarios would go one step further — if those spectral curves would become actual obstacles in the way; if those eyes would try to attack me. EverhoodThe answer is here.

The so-called “unconventional adventure RPG” looks similar, at first glance, to Untertale. The premise follows a wooden-doll protagonist – whose arm has been stolen – and a cast of colorful, distinct characters stuck in an ethereal realm. The limb-thief is pursued by the characters through various areas in an “overworld view” similar to UntertaleEnemies can interrupt your combat encounters. Fighting takes the form of musical battles instead of RPG-style action sequences. The moment I saw the protagonist jump and dodge notes on a rhythm board fretboard, it was clear to me that I had to know. Everhood You would not find it anywhere else. (The game’s full name is The Inexpressible Divine Moments Of Truth: Everhood: A Ineffable Story of an Inexpressible Tale — for the sake of time, I’ll stick with the shorter version.)

Image: Chris Nordgren, Jordi Roca/Foreign Gnomes

An ATM, a knight, a frog who plays the guitar – every time conflict arises, the perspective changes and you’re in third person facing the fretboard. The idea behind interactive music videos that place the player in the center of the action was the basis of the project. EverhoodYou must endure all that the screen has to offer until victory is achieved. The songs range from EDM and rock to house, power metal to ballads. Each character adds their own quirks — some are more melodical while others are outright aggressive, forcing you to react quickly and restart a dozen times until you’ve learned the patterns.

It’s part rhythm game and part bullet hell, in which the visuals take the starring role. Some encounters can even be a bit psychedelic. You spin the fretboard quickly, dodge notes and try to hold onto your position. Then you disappear completely in the following segment. Your character is stretched across the screen. The space is slowly taken over by fluorescent gnomes, while aberrant colors fade with your movements.

The seminal is similar to it Untertale, EverhoodThe environment constantly questions its own design principles. The environment morphs from a D&D-style campaign, to a racing minigame, to a Shine-like labyrinth chase. At almost all points, my expectations were exceeded. I was ready to be surprised, considering that both games rely on absurd conversations, grim characters, and heavy use of visual imagery that doesn’t respect the norms we’ve grown used to in legacy titles. But there’s more. Untertale’s footprint is clear in EverhoodHowever, this latter deviation is critical.

[Editor’s note: photosensitivity and epilepsy warning for the following video.]

When I was first playing UntertaleI chose the pacifist path. I couldn’t bear to murder the colorful characters I met along the way. To this day, I don’t think I have it in me to kill any of them – the other routes remain a mystery to me.

Realizing this, I was elated. Everhood presents different endings, which are also based on the player’s choices (one requires you to walk on a straight line for three to four real-time hours through an “infinite” corridor inside an optional area), I wanted to follow the pacifist route once again. This seemed like an easy enough task, considering that none of the musical battles were lethal — or none of the enemies I encountered, that is. The story continued so I moved on.

However, something was off. Despite my best intentions, certain conversations – and mysterious warnings – hinted that this world’s characters might desire a different outcome. For centuries, people from this realm have searched for a way to escape, despite being bound to invincibility and the timelessness that goes with it. This was until the credits rolled. The protagonist was able to dodge attacks. As Act 2, the expectation is that the protagonist will go back to the beginning and have every encounter with the mechanic again, fighting against all those I encountered in the first part of the story. Refusing to respond would result in the death of characters and their desire for freedom. Yet, I persevered and determined to save everyone.

Image: Chris Nordgren, Jordi Roca/Foreign Gnomes

After getting stuck in the final battle, I decided to put the game aside for a few months and get back into the process of creating this piece. After hitting the credits, I expected a huge revelation. You are here: Untertale still coloring my perception, I expected Everhood to reward me for my pacifist efforts — to discover that Everhood’s characters didn’t It is really You want to live. This was wrong. The pacifist route was not, in fact, the “true ending.” A message on screen put it into simpler words: “Only death can release them. This is the way it was meant to be. If you have come here to receive an ending, I can’t give it to you. As you are the ending.”

EverhoodIt takes rhythm games as a starting point and creates micro-worlds within each song. It presents a charming yet simple art style, only to distort it later, changing perspectives and permeating the screen with some of the most impressive and fear-inducing visual effects I’ve seen in years. This game borrows enough from other games to entice players, and then pulls the rug from underneath them to great effect.

Similar presentation Untertale is a facade – the latter interrogates the wanton murder that permeates so many RPGs and, while tough, rewards you for avoiding it. In EverhoodHowever, this expectation could be the exact opposite. So many characters are trapped in an endless loop, suffering from the same thing. Everhood As the selfisher approach, I prefer a passive and pacifist path. As someone who always follows the “good” route in games, it’s hard to reconcile with the fact that I’m the only one who can free these characters from the burden of immortality.

EverhoodNew life is given to rhythm-game problems. I’m no longer just facing difficult note patterns or distracting backgrounds. Every interaction is a story. Each song is an upcoming memory. I’ve come too far to give up now, and I’ll do everything I can to save them — even if it means opposing what I’ve always believed in.