I felt that the game was speaking on the relationship of technology and nature, especially in its setting. On my first time seeing this cutscene, I knew that Ann’s work for the National Science Lab would be critical to the plot - does Ann’s work have any relation to the strange interface that flashed in Maya’s eyes? Does it have some relation to the synthetic, robotic world I was transported to? I felt that Ever Forward had something important to say, and that it would relay this information in the form of Maya’s memories of Ann and herself. She tells Maya, “I know you’ll be fine without me,” a message that would be later repeated in multiple cutscenes.Īlthough brief, the cutscene acted as a major catalyst in my journey through the demo. However, they are interrupted by a call from the National Science Lab meant for Ann, who presumably has been called into work. She says that she fixed Maya’s swing for her, and Maya rushes outside to see it. Maya, the girl who I’ve been playing as from the start, is called outside by her mother, Ann. The game takes an incredibly minimal setting for cutscenes.ĭuring the first cutscene after the first round of puzzles, the player wakes up in a bedroom, staring at glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. She has a busy mother named Ann who works at the National Science Lab and seems to be working on some sort of critical technology. Crafting A Bleak FutureĮver Forward’s plot is crafted through memories supplied by a girl named Maya. After a handful of puzzles, I was finally given more of the story. The button puzzles get pretty hard towards the end of the demo.Īs fun as the beginner puzzles were, what really kept me going through them was having the chance to learn more about the main character, the world, and the relationship between them. There isn’t just one way to solve each puzzle, and I had a few “aha!” moments as I started applying the newly learned game mechanics to the puzzles that lay ahead. Although it sounds like a simple concept not at all unfamiliar to those who play puzzle games, Ever Forward still provided a few head-scratchers. The final puzzle of that set might challenge the player to distract a Roundy-Bot while dealing with a gate puzzle.Īlthough more barren, the puzzle world is still quite beautiful.Īs a puzzle game, the developers crafted a sense of natural difficulty progression with a sensible level design meant to reward players for clever thinking. For example, one puzzle may teach the player how to distract one of the Roundy-Bots with sound by throwing a box, while the next puzzle tests the player’s ability to do so under time pressure. Each mechanic is slowly introduced over time, giving players time to feel comfortable with the controls. However, the developers don’t just leave you at the mercy of the mysterious machines. The game introduces its main challenge: avoiding robotic sentinels called Roundy-Bots and solving button puzzles with increasing difficulty. There's an extreme dissonance between both environments of the game. The objective that lay ahead (and for many more rooms to come) was simple: solve the puzzle, move forward. I wondered about its connection to the computerized screen that had flashed beforehand. It lacked color or any natural objects, save for a few trees growing out of the stone-like structures. I was teleported as soon as I approached the “corrupted” area of the beach - sent into an alien, unfamiliar and cold world. But the start of the game filled me with so much curiosity that I just had to ask - what would learning the whole story cost me? It was at this point that I knew Ever Forward would be telling its story with subtlety, and I would only be given small pieces of a bigger picture. It is pulsing red and with a single dainty bonsai tree inside of it. On my next blink, a strange, black and red ooze in the shape of a tree root pops up in front of me. Then, the screen buzzes, and visual glitches start to appear in her eyes as data fills the screen. The game has absolutely gorgeous landscapes. She's eyeing the beach and the distant trees. A girl in a plain white dress appears in the distance as the camera zooms to her eyes and shifts to her perspective. The demo starts with a relaxing beach setting. It’s a quiet, lonely game - but not empty. I think the game hits a sweet spot between minimalistic design and worldbuilding that is hard to come by. Seeing as the game releases on August 13, I thought it would be a good time to play the demo.Įver Forward tells a thought-provoking story with multiple interpretations (going as far as the demo would take me, anyway). It had a minimal visual style that I just love seeing, with the added bonus of being a puzzle game. I was looking through a list of demos on Steam when I came across Ever Forward by Pathea Games.
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