Overall, I’m torn about Everhood 2. Its rhythm-based battles are unlike any RPG I’ve played before. Its soundtrack is incredible. Walking through emptiness and seeing delayed payoffs from the worldbuilding side, though, makes the game feel less fun than it should be. I enjoyed Everhood 2, but I wish that I spent more time in the rhythm battles than exploring.
At the six-hour mark of Everhood 2, I was fighting a magic mushroom who repeatedly informed me that quests are meaningless and time was an illusion. Up to that point, I had engaged in many-a-quest, rhythm-based battles, and exploring Everhood 2’s hand-drawn world in an aimless fashion. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, where I was going, and why, but I sure as hell was intrigued.
This is the tip of the iceberg that is Everhood 2, Foreign Gnomes’ sequel to their 2021 cult-classic RPG featuring rhythm minigames, puns galore, and abstract worldbuilding that breaks the fourth wall in more ways than one.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to have played the original Everhood to have started Everhood 2. I was asked to create a character, a manifestation of myself, through the use of a simple quiz. Once my character was created, I was transported to a blank space with a gigantic purple Raven and several doors, most of which were locked. If you’ve played the first Everhood, there are assuredly Easter Eggs that are scattered about, but there’s no lore dumps or longform catchup to get started.
Like its predecessor, Everhood 2 is best played with as little knowledge of its story, characters, and events as possible. Going into Everhood 2 blind to the contents of its worldbuilding ensures that all of its surprises and plot twists, no matter how late they emerge in-game, are appreciated to their fullest extent.
Thus, I won’t talk too much about the contents of Everhood 2’s story. Instead, I’ll focus on the means in which it was told. Everhood 2 functions similar to a regular 2D RPG with hand drawn graphics and a cult following – think UNDERTALE or Keylocker. You’re thrust into a world with little known about it, only to figure things out as you go along. NPCs with silly things to say pepper every room, but the world is yours to explore.
Going through Everhood 2’s story felt like I was going through an anthology of distinct stories thanks to its method of dimensional storytelling. Being placed on an island with doors to other dimensions featuring radically different characters and substories kept me on my toes while also confused as to my character’s place within Everhood 2’s universe. On the other hand, it also felt like I was traveling without purpose.
I want to make this explicitly clear – I don’t have an immediate problem with aimless exploration in an RPG, nor do I have a problem with worldbuilding a reality that isn’t made whole until several hours in. UNDERTALE’s world is constructed similarly, chock full of punny NPCs and twists and turns until the final secret boss. I didn’t know what I was doing in UNDERTALE until the last few battles when the cards were finally laid on the table. Nebulousness is best utilized with breadcrumbs that point toward something greater – Everhood 2’s mysteriousness comes across as inconsistent thanks to how it handles large rooms that occasionally have little in them.
My problem with Everhood 2 is that there’s too much empty space when there should have been something. This could have been more NPCs, puzzles, battles, Easter Eggs, or something else to make some of the expansively sprawling rooms feel more alive. When I’m left walking through an empty room, unsure of where I am or where I’m supposed to go, it feels like a missed opportunity to connect with Everhood’s universe and appreciate its philosophical elements.
There’s little doubt that Everhood 2 will be considered a hit in all the right ways, especially among Everhood fans who’ve waited several years for a new title from Foreign Gnomes. My concern is that those who’ve played UNDERTALE, Keylocker, and Athenian Rhapsody will come into Everhood 2 and feel like the payoff of its ending comes too little, too late.
All this aside, let’s talk about the battles and original soundtrack. These two areas are where Everhood 2 shines brightest and sets itself apart from other 2D RPGs.
When walking through the world, NPCs would approach me and initiate a battle – no random encounters at all. Everhood 2’s battles take place on a rhythm game runway – think of one from Guitar Hero or Spin Rhythm. Colored notes fly at my little character. I can absorb the ones with white symbols, but the colored elements with black symbols I had to dodge/jump over. After absorbing several notes in succession without taking damage, I could unleash a powerful attack against my enemy.
Everhood 2’s battles play quite well, as the notes that fly down the runway correspond to the original track. To make things better, each enemy has a unique song, making Everhood 2’s soundtrack impressively large. Each enemy’s note patterns are unique and require a small degree of focus to excel. The chiptunes, rock melodies, and EDM-inspired songs are reminiscent of the popular RPG game tracks that have made Toby Fox’s games popular.
Everhood 2 features a light degree of aesthetic and battle customization. While my character could be freely customized with cosmetic equipment, I also could freely swap between weapons as I acquired them, each featuring unique strengths and weaknesses. When upgrading the weapons using the gems acquired from some of the small side quests (at least I think they were side quests), the weaknesses disappeared, and the weapons became stronger than ever.
My single complaint about the rhythm battles is that I would have liked some greater variety. As it stands, most battles involve single tapping, occasionally asking the player to press-and-hold, rapid-tap, or jump. I would have liked some more rhythm mechanics like a free-style input mechanic or something else to increase the difficulty.
I’m a fan of rhythm games. Despite my history playing them on my own devices and at the arcades, I had very little trouble with Everhood 2’s difficulty. I started off on Medium difficulty, but quickly switched it to the Hard difficulty so I could experience battles with a greater note density that corresponded to the melodies of the songs. I would recommend that you start on the medium difficulty and see where things go. If you’ve played other recent rhythm games, like Rhythm Sprout or Keylocker or Invector, you’ll probably do just fine on the Hard difficulty.
Everhood 2’s soundtrack is awesome. I cannot wait for it to hit streaming platforms so I can listen to it as I work on other things. Rhythm games are only as strong as their soundtracks – Everhood 2’s soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Overall, I’m torn about Everhood 2. Its rhythm-based battles are unlike any RPG I’ve played before. Its soundtrack is incredible. Walking through emptiness and seeing delayed payoffs from the worldbuilding side, though, makes the game feel less fun than it should be. I enjoyed Everhood 2, but I wish that I spent more time in the rhythm battles than exploring.
