LogFAQs > #961962262

'Everhood' cant really be brought up without noting the music and mechanics related to said music. The perception of 'Everhood' as a rhythm game by many reviewers led to me misinterpreting the type of game 'Everhood' actually is. While this isnt a fault of 'Everhood' itself, it does bring an intriguing argument to why video game reviewers deserve to be purged from this plane. What was described to me through my various readings was a rhythm-action experience with 'Undertale'-like combat. So I expected a game where you perform actions by hitting the appropriate commands at the appropriate timing in an ever-changing gameplay loop. Instead, what the game offers is a more unique yet significantly less engaging type of gameplay where the boss performs the rhythmic actions and you just dodge the notes they make. Later on you can absorb some of the notes and fight back with them. There is never a change to this, though you do have to change up our strategy depending on which boss youre on. The Gameplay in 'Everhood' ranges from boring to infuriating, unfortunately never reaching the point of actually being fun. Ideally a game centered around music would make up for any of its flaws by containing music one would identify as bops or jams. I, personally, cannot identify with such a mindset. Aside from the absolute banger 'Tinnitus Dance' and the climactic 'Euthanasia Rollercoaster'', 'Everhood is severely lacking in the area of memorable or noteworthy tunes. Given the sheer size of its catalogue, this is truly unfortunate. It should be noted that the game drew comparisons to 'Undertale '' due to its aesthetic and writing, as opposed to its gameplay. It feels impossible to separate 'Everhood' from 'Undertale' in this regard simply due to how blatantly the former apes the latter. The creators of 'Everhood' saw 'Undertale' and thought, 'Yeah, we can do this meme shit.' Now, its important to distinguish immediately that I fucking love 'Undertale'. It is one of the greatest video games ever made, and the attention it brought to the indie scene was a bit unfathomable. The reason I Feel 'Undertale' struck a chord with so many is that it was quite innocent in its sensibilities. I Don't get the sense that 'Undertale' is actively trying to establish anything more nuanced than, "you should be nice", yet the methods it takes to reach such a theme are creative, hilarious, emotional, and, for better or worse, full of memes. Its intriguing to understand the creative process that went into 'Undertale'. Toby Fox was basically just a random dude with a creative idea and the skills to put those ideas together. 'Undertale' was not meant to be the event it ended up becoming. It was meant as a fun experiment from a guy that liked EarthBound a lot. The depth of 'Undertales' story and characters wasnt really understood until massive swathes of people hopped on the ride and built their own interpretations and theories surrounding the events of 'Undertale'. Yet when you take the game at face value, its a small, silly, and somewhat overly sentimental piece of art. Yet the small flourishes stuck with people. People who viewed the games story as something to engage wholly with were rewarded with something truly magnificent. The game is masterful in every way a game can be. But this wasnt something Toby Fox crafted himself. The depth of the Mariana Trench cannot be manufactured by humans, and neither can the depth of any single piece of art. Depth in a story is only made by how the audience of said story chooses to view it.

If you want an example of someone attempting to manufacture depth, re-read my first paragraph. Most of that is absolute bologna. The initial paragraph was written to fool you into believing I am extraordinary. If you personally read the opening paragraph and made the assumption I was extraordinary, you just got OWNED. I immediately deleted my analysis of 'The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD' when I noticed it gathering dust in my Medium drafts while looking into the stats of some of the actually interesting articles Ive written. It is, in fact, true that I have sufficient anxiety regarding my work and how I interpret said work, and I most certainly continue to refuse the editing process to keep that anxiety buried, but that anxiety comes exclusively from a place of privilege. I can write large chunks of somewhat legible text for days on end without becoming exhausted. Boredom, instead, is my greatest enemy. Writing about 'The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD' was fucking boring. Why would I dedicate so much time writing about the most ineffective way of playing one of the most mediocre gaming experiences ever conceived? That was a terrible idea.

Now, which paragraph is the truth, exactly? Am I truly regretful for the ways in which I have gone about practicing my hobbies? Or am I just rolling with whatever happens, acknowledging poor decisions and appropriately moving on? Neither are actually important, as I am continuing to manufacture depth with these questions. Much like myself, 'Everhood' also wants to possess depth. It goes to the length of completely aping an aesthetic to give itself perceived depth. Yet the story is an absolute dumpster fire if you stop to think about it for more than a few minutes. I, unfortunately, cant spoil anything significant due to the legal action CD Project Red took against me from the year prior, but I feel I should note that the actions the player takes, the way the game decides to speak to you about your actions, and the end result of actions youve taken are all full of holes and contradictions that left me actively annoyed as the credits rolled. This game has cool psychedelic scenes though. Like, wow, some of the best Ive ever seen. 2021 sure was a year where getting extremely high and watching longplays of 'Everhood' wouldve been cool for a variety of reasons. Welcome to the list you pieces of shit.

Everhood Score: 2/6