9 /10 1 Votes
Initial release date 16 December 2008 Publisher Zaratustra Productions | 9/10 Steam Developer Zaratustra Productions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date(s) Microsoft WindowsWW: December 29, 2008Mac OS X, LinuxWW: August 15, 2012 Similar And Yet It Moves, Dynamite Jack, They Bleed Pixels, Cubemen, The Adventures of Shuggy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eversion is a short platform game for Microsoft Windows by Zaratustra Productions. It features a small flower-like protagonist named Zee Tee, who is on a quest to rescue a princess named Nehema from the evil Ghulibas of the North, collecting gems along the way, much in the plot-style of early Mario games. Each level consists of a set of parallel realities, each of which features different hazards, a unique artistic style, and a distinctive soundtrack. By using Zee Tee's ability to "evert" from one reality to another, the player can navigate him through obstacles to reach his goal.
The opening screen and the first few levels are quite cheerful and colorful, but the environment becomes gradually more deranged and disturbing as the player progresses into other levels of Eversion. The game was inspired by a quotation from H. P. Lovecraft and it features a warning on the intro screen that it is "not intended for children or those of a nervous disposition".
Eversion is free to download, but a high-definition version can be purchased for $4.99 from Humble Bundle or Steam. Later versions of the free game feature an updated soundtrack and a completely overhauled final level, while the high-definition version features additional options and more detailed artwork, including support for custom levels.
Gameplay
The player controls Zee Tee by using the arrow keys to move left and right, the Z key to jump, and the X key to evert. Enemies can be dispatched by jumping on their heads; if Z is held down while attacking an enemy, Zee Tee will bounce high off its head, allowing him to reach higher platforms. Blocks with faces on them can be struck from underneath to yield gems.
Eversion is possible only at certain points within each level. Upon approaching an eversion point, the music of the possible destination becomes audible. Additionally, the screen becomes slightly darker or lighter. Everting at this location switches between two adjacent realities. Switching to a third requires visiting a different location from the proper starting reality. In total there are eight possible realities, though most levels use only a few.
In the HD version of Eversion, the background also changes when eversion occurs. The first layer shows a cloudy sky with hills. The second layer shows the same thing, but the clouds and hills appear to have been built artificially. The third layer shows the hills and clouds falling apart. The fourth layer shows a green ocean and sky, with a green sun in the center. The fifth layer is almost the same as layer 3, except the hills and clouds are not artificial. The sixth and seventh layers have the hills gain faces and arms, with the clouds turning into distorted figures. The eighth layer shows a purple sky showing the hills with black tentacles bursting out of them, with remnants from the sixth and seventh layers, and the clouds appear to be curvier.
Eversion allows the player to exploit the properties of the different realities. For example, in the first reality, clouds are visible as scenery, but they are intangible. In the second and third realities, clouds are solid, allowing the player to reach previously inaccessible areas. Plant-based objects also change, becoming solid, passable, or deadly depending on which reality is being visited, and certain bricks change from being solid, to breakable from underneath, to disappearing if Zee Tee steps upon them. Enemies move at different speeds and show very different attitudes from one reality to the next, while certain hazards only appear at certain realities.
Collecting the gems strewn about each level confers no benefit during gameplay, but collecting all of them allows the player to access a secret level as well as a new state of eversion, and at the level's conclusion, see a second ending to the game.