Like Aeternum Game Studios’ prior work, Eden Genesis made me feel like I was a master of platforming – at least once I had spent enough time in each level patiently trying, trying, and trying again to get that S rank. Its platforming-meets-metroidvania is unique, but I just wish that there was greater effort made into giving each biome a unique set of mechanics to distract from the steep difficulty curve.
While I’ve been a member of DigitalChumps, I’ve been fortunate to review several indie games from Spain that have been fun, challenging, and beautifully designed. The Game Kitchen’s Blasphemous series might be top of mind for some of you Metroidvania fans, but you shouldn’t forget Tequila Works and Blitworks. You shouldn’t forget Aeternum Game Studios, either.
Aeternum Game Studios has put out two games prior to today, both of which incorporate part of the company’s moniker: Aeterna Noctis and Summum Aeterna. Both of these beautifully hand-drawn titles were notably difficult in the sense that they demanded your full and undivided attention to grasp their gameplay loops; they were set in the same universe, too. I’ve reviewed both games from Aeternum Game Studios and I’ve managed to enjoy them despite struggling with their steep difficulty curves.
Aeterna Noctis won my heart. In my original review, I praised it for being difficult while also innovative in how it presented platforming segments. It taught me to pogo-jump off floating orbs right from the start in levels that would instantly kill me. Every new traversal upgrade made it feel like I was able to bend time and reach new heights that were otherwise forgotten from other platformers. Since then, I’ve used Aeterna Noctis as the gold standard for difficult platforming done right. While it might not be a “perfect” metroidvania, it’s up there as one of my personal favorites.
Today’s review is not about a game set in the Aeterna universe, but it’s clearly made using some of the hallmark platforming and aesthetic moodiness that Aeternum Game Studios have refined over the years. Let’s talk about Eden Genesis.
Eden Genesis is a metroidvania disguised as an arcade-forward speedrunning platformer. On paper, it sounds like an unusual combination given that metroidvanias tend to boast long, elaborate, and exploration-heavy journeys with varying degrees of backtracking, occasional boss-slaying, and a deep universe of lore. Thus, the first few levels felt…familiar. I’ll say why in a moment.
Aeternum Game Studios have made Eden Genesis look like something out of their catalogue of moody metroidvanias without it being firmly nestled within their Aeterna universe. Instead, they planted the proverbial flag in a futuristic cyberpunk meets The Matrix metaverse that oozes with Easter Eggs for genre diehards wanting that kick of flavor-of-the-month futurism. It’s a nice departure from their medieval high-fantasy source material, to be honest, but it still incorporates complex platforming that fans of Aeterna Noctis might have wished for since 2021. Well, I’ve been wishing for it, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I was the only one.
Eden Genesis put me in the shoes of Leah Anderson, a citizen of Eden in 2072. Thanks to the wide proliferation of cybernetic implants, much of the population is at risk of contracting Synthetic Neurodegeneration (“SND”), a seemingly uncurable disease that causes those afflicted to suffer a total mental breakdown. Given Leah’s status, condition, and overall baddassery, she’s signed up for a highly experimental procedure that can combat her case of SND. She’s sent into the depths of her mind where she’s to complete highly difficult platforming challenges and unlock portions of her mind that have been plagued by SND.
Thus, Eden Genesis takes place in Leah’s mind – a space that contains a virtual representation of her city and its sprawling futuristic landscapes. I was taken through a dingy urban underbelly, a beautiful Asian biome, and a futuristic garden which incorporates greenery and metallic cables.
At the start, it felt like I was playing an old-school Kirby game in the sense that I was thrust into what I thought was a larger room with smaller rooms that acted as individual levels. It quickly became evident that I was to explore Leah’s version of Eden while completing every level I could come across so that I could proceed further. Completing a level with a high rank (A, S, or S+) gave me chips. Upon accumulating enough, I could explore deeper.
There are two types of levels in Eden Genesis – a platforming gauntlet and a combat room. Platforming levels had me race the clock while maintaining my momentum, running through/breaking orange blocks and enemies as I went. Combat rooms, on the other hand, simply had me quickly defeat all of the enemies in a room while taking as little damage as possible. Speed and maintaining momentum are two very important skills in Eden Genesis, as slowing down/taking damage would obliterate my score multiplier.
In a platforming gauntlet, I could very easily get by with taking damage or missing a few orange blocks and needing to backtrack. Most platforming levels had segments where I could give myself a speed boost to propel myself forward and get to the finish line while maintaining a degree of momentum. Combat rooms, on the other hand, were far more punishing. Taking one hit of damage would obliterate my existing multiplier while there weren’t that many ways for me to get it back. As such, if I took damage in a combat level, I was lucky to get an A rank. Otherwise, B or below.
I really didn’t enjoy the combat rooms because of how they weren’t evidently constructed to propel me forward. Needing to dodge enemies’ attacks that weren’t always clearly telegraphed became paramount to mastering these levels, which felt contradictory to excelling in a platforming level. It doesn’t help that some enemies had quite a bit of health and would retaliate almost instantly, making things artificially more difficult than needed.
Peak Eden Genesis gameplay looks and feels like a Sonic the Hedgehog game on steroids, though. Leah could run on walls, air dash, and reset jumps/dashes by destroying enemies. When I was able to hit those high speeds, Eden Genesis felt exhilarating and rewarding when I made it to the end of a level and destroyed the massive golden cube that served as the end point. Seeing that S or S+ rank at the end of a level made me feel like I was “good” at platforming. Complex platforming, in and of itself, is what Aeternum Game Studios does exceptionally well; their implementation of complex platforming in Eden Genesis is no different from their previous (and stellar) work in Aeterna Noctis.
My biggest complaint with Eden Genesis is how it presents its initial gameplay to the player and gears them up for the gauntlet ahead. The start of the game took me through a handful of tutorials that got me up and running (literally) in Leah’s mind to double jump, dash jump, speed boost off of angled purple floors, and attack with a sword and a debugging gun that I could only use sparingly. Then I was off to the proverbial races. It was then up to me to use everything I had learned in those few short minutes to get the highest score in each room. This means that there aren’t traditional levelups/upgrades that are obtained once an entire biome of levels are cleared.
This also means that there was a missed opportunity to give each of Eden Genesis’ biomes a unique identity. I kept hoping for unique platforming tricks and mechanics on a biome-by-biome basis. Instead, levels just got slightly more difficult in the form of enemy placement and level designs without a consistent feature. The difficulty curve sharply ramps up right from the start and demands the player to try levels again and again to chase a high score, which is a valid way to encourage replayability.
New Eden (Leah’s Eden) had a handful of secrets and smaller-form side quests, which was a great way to come down after a stressful 5-to-10 minutes spent chasing an S rank on a particularly difficult level. A hacking minigame often accompanied these side objectives, simply needing me to press correct buttons while the clock counted down.
As spent more time with Eden Genesis, the more I was reminded of Ghostrunner II and its focus on precision, timing, and a fragile protagonist. It’s not for the faint of heart, but at the same time, rewarding when those high speeds are reached. It just takes quite a bit of time and effort to nail the landing.
I’m left wondering who would enjoy Eden Genesis the most. Fans of Ghostrunner II and potentially Neon White might enjoy the fast-paced platforming that this game has to offer. I’m just concerned that Eden Genesis’ pacing might not encourage players to see it to the end. Perhaps metroidvania might enjoy this title, too, but the steep difficulty of the mechanics may push these players away. If it sounds like I’m being overly critical of Eden Genesis, it’s because I was slightly disappointed with its presentation over all else. That said, everything else from its aesthetic, challenge, and story were top notch.
Like Aeternum Game Studios’ prior work, Eden Genesis made me feel like I was a master of platforming – at least once I had spent enough time in each level patiently trying, trying, and trying again to get that S rank. Its platforming-meets-metroidvania is unique, but I just wish that there was greater effort made into giving each biome a unique set of mechanics to distract from the steep difficulty curve.
