Evoland

[EddieA]

There have been lots of retro-style games over the last few years, but here's something I've never seen - a game that changes graphics and gameplay styles as you play.

As you play through Evoland, you’ll begin to unlock new technologies, gameplay systems, and updated graphics. One moment you’ll go from adventuring in Game Boy monochrome pixel graphics, to exploring villages straight out of the Super Nintendo era, to finally the beautifully rendered 3D that looks like it jumped right out of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS.

Here's a preview of the game, currently on Steam Greenlight and scheduled for release in March.

[Gratch]

That looks neat.  Will be interested to see how well they pull it off.

[EngineNo9]

I really like the concept but wish it wasn't the JRPG-style turn-based combat.  Something more like Zelda would have been awesome.

[Rumpy]

Here's a Flash version, which I assume is a sort of concept demo:

http://jayisgames.com/games/evoland/

[EddieA]

I really like the concept but wish it wasn't the JRPG-style turn-based combat.  Something more like Zelda would have been awesome.

The game has both.  According to the preview "The gameplay itself seems to alternate between the real-time action of a Zelda game, before graduating to the turn-based strategy of the Final Fantasy series: with plenty of dungeon crawling, puzzle solving, and even giant tortoise fighting in between."  It looks like you'll play both the Zelda-style and Final Fantasy style in each era.

[Rumpy]

Based on that flash version, you can skip chests if you want to, so I'm assuming that if you wanted to stay with the Zelda style, you could skip the upgrade. The chests are how you unlock different modes.

[EngineNo9]

I really like the concept but wish it wasn't the JRPG-style turn-based combat.  Something more like Zelda would have been awesome.

The game has both.  According to the preview "The gameplay itself seems to alternate between the real-time action of a Zelda game, before graduating to the turn-based strategy of the Final Fantasy series: with plenty of dungeon crawling, puzzle solving, and even giant tortoise fighting in between."  It looks like you'll play both the Zelda-style and Final Fantasy style in each era.

Interesting, I didn't know that.  The problem, though, is that I don't want any Final Fantasy in there, so it's still not for me.  

[EddieA]

The game will be released on Steam on April 4

[EddieA]

The game is available now on GoG for $8.99 and should be available on Steam this afternoon.

[EngineNo9]

Yikes, I just read the GT review and I have to say I'm glad I didn't buy this already.  Only 2 hours long, and not even a great 2 hours?   The turn based stuff is even worse than usual?    That's a pass for sure, heh.

[Caine]

Ouch.   Not a good review of the game.   Was expecting a lot more than 2 hours.

[CeeKay]

heh, thought I posted about reading about the length on the Steam forums when the game was released.  maybe if they put this in an indie game bundle, or if it hits below 2 bucks....

[Lordnine]

I watched the Giant Bomb first look thing they do for the game.  At least the part they showed gave me flashbacks to DLC Quest.  The difference seemed to be that DLC Quest was playing it all for laughs whereas Evoland seemed to take itself at least moderately more serious. 

[Eel Snave]

Yeah, DLC Quest's humor is a lot more pointed. The gameplay isn't as good, but it's sharper. Evoland? It's like they just said, "Hey, aren't old games great?" and called it a day.

[Rumpy]

Sounds like they should have just lengthened the flash version.