It is safe to say I didn't really enjoy Evoland 1. While it did jump through the evolution of RPGs, the short amount of time spent in each era made the whole game feel hollow and shallow. Missing every oppertunity to showcase what made those games great.

So, here comes Evoland 2. And this. This is a great game!

Like Evoland 1 it's a passage through the eras of RPGs, but this time not only explore a good number of other and unrelated genres, but has an actual plot and allows you to spend time with it and make use of the concepts created in the gaming history. Let's take a look.

The subtitle here is "a slight case of spacetime continuum disorder". You, the almost mute protagonist experiences the eras of gaming by where they are in the past, present, and future of the game's timeline. And with less 4th wall breaking.

What I really enjoyed is the followers perspectives on time during the dialogue scenes. To the main companion, a changed future is something you want to alter. As far as she is concerned, it has not happened yet and the world is able to be saved.

The same is true for the companion from the past! For him, your present and the future line both have not happened. These viewpoints do shift over the course of the plot as the story progresses and the consequences of actions are being felt. While it is not the type of game to full deal with the dilemma, it is great to see this addressed.

The actual plot deals with a war between demons and the victorious humans. Of course, there's a magical stone structure called a magilith that makes everything go wrong and throws you into the different eras, and you have to keep finding magiliths to get back to your own timeline and make sure the correct future is fixed. As much as you can at least.

As said, it is not just RPGs as seen in Evoland 1.

Evoland 2 mixes in elements of various platformers, complete with the evil set of timed jumping puzzles. These levels are fairly linear, much like the majority of the game they are a set of horizontal or vertical corridors. But there's just enough hidden areas and little twists and nods to avoid shouting at the screen.

There's block pushing Sokoban style arenas, mixed in with water/volume puzzles, and top down combat. A Bullet Hell shooting mission, that you can totally cheese with powerups. A decent enough side on arcade fighting game in the style of street fighter. Minecart movement and track altering areas that see you zooming across a rather large map, before ending up in a bomberman style combat. Profession Layton type logic games, with the 'you got it!' animations. And more! It coves so many genres and styles that it is worth keeping some secret for when you come across them to make you smile.

And none of it feels as shallow and hollow as the first game. You get to spend time in each area, with each genre. It showcases the systems they use and gives you time to learn them and work on more advanced solutions. Though never too hard, aside from a D'Oh! moment when I probably should of gone off for a sleep!

Evoland 2 takes large a nod to the inspiration, and making it more than something to just point at and go "Hey, It's that thing from the thing!"

Graphically everything is clean and easy to tell what it does and is in the game world. There's a few static objects that give no indication they are interactive, but these are more for hidden unessential loot than anything else. Otherwise it is pointed out to you by a NPC and is the only type object in the room they are describing.

And you are telegraphed on everything you need to know and who mess with, along with actions from bosses and various enemies.

Sound and Music design is also very well done. Little ambient and reactive sounds for each action make even small objects feel like they have weight or have done something useful as you collect them.

There's enough music tracks that keep the game's motif running through that it feels consistent and fresh throughout. I have taken to adding the OST to Foobar2000 in a random rotation with other selections of game music.

I really enjoyed this one. It is everything that the first game wanted to be, but was lacking in. Experience decades of gaming history in enough of an amount to be invested, and enough that you are ready to move on once the area is done.

If you played Evoland 1 and felt the same as I did, I really recommend taking a look at Evoland 2. If you like a wide variety of action/arcade genres you also really need to play though this wonderful little (*actually, quite long!*) piece of gaming.

Game Acquisition: Humble (Best of 2016 Bundle)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Threads: 1 2 - 3 and 14 March 2018
PC Used: Scorptec Venom 2009 MK2

OS: Windows Vista or better
Processor: Intel 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo or equivalent
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia 260 GTS / Radeon HD 4850 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 800 MB available space