Game: Evan’s Remains
Genre: Adventure| Platformer|Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PS4, Xbox and Steam)
Publishers | Developers: Matías Schmied |Whitethorn Digital
Age Rating: EU 7 | US E
Price: USD $6.99 | AUD $9.29 | CAD $ 9.23| UK £5.59|EU €6,19
Release Date: 11th June 2020
Review code used, with many thanks to Whitethorn Digital
The opening screen for Evan’s Remains is terrific. A young woman in a wide-brim hat stares out at a lovely but deserted tropical landscape. A bittersweet theme tune plays out as you watch her hair and dress moving in the breeze. It’s peaceful, but also wistful.
Story
You play as the young woman — she has been sent to an island to search for a missing person of great significance named Evan. As she explores the island she encounters mysterious people and puzzles throughout the landscape. I can’t really get into details here, because a lot of what happens will be spoilers, but I will say that the style of the story as a whole is a mixture of surreal, tragic, and at times even reminiscent of a Christopher Nolan work. The tone is an odd mixture of cynicism and heart; you’ll be hit with emotional moments, but you’ll also grapple with a kind of harsh reality that comes with it.
The character work is solid — there are about four main characters, and all come across as interesting and well-crafted. One of them is particularly endearing, and sometimes came out with dialogue which made me pause to consider it before continuing. The plot is a tricky one, with twists that continually surprised me. The dialogue also works well — my favourite conversations took place during certain ‘flashback’ type scenes between two young men getting to know one another while playing a game. It felt natural and engaging.
Visuals and Sound
The visuals are gorgeous. The creator, Matías Schmied, has a real talent for aesthetics. I mentioned the cover art and opening screen, but the in-game look is just as appealing, if not more so; there is a polished prettiness to a lot of scenes. You will see your character running across sand while her movement matches her reflection in the water; a dark sky in the middle of the night with stars and the moon above; a field of red flowers, and so on.
Character portraits during conversation, while not the sharpest, are well-drawn. If I had to critique anything, I would just say that there is an unnecessary little flash that occurs every time a dialogue message comes up, but this is just something I found to be a tiny annoyance. The music, as I mentioned earlier, is also a strong aspect; the tracks are soothing.
Gameplay
The gameplay element is actually more enjoyable than you might think. The controls are very basic — you move with the analog stick or the d-pad, while the A button is used to proceed through dialogue or to jump. (Oddly, the B button also lets you jump, so you end up with two buttons that do the same thing.)
The core gameplay involves a bunch of puzzles with teleporting platforms and disappearing blocks that shift depending on what you do. You have to figure out the correct order of movements, shifting things around, until you are able to get through them. They aren’t too difficult, although one of them had me stuck for a while, and they are actually quite fun to figure out.
The puzzles will make you think carefully as you try to order them in your mind and then try it out in the actual game…or, like me, you can simply keep hopping around and testing things until you triumph. There is also an option to actually skip specific puzzles if you bring up the menu while trying to get through them. Impressively, the puzzles are also worked into the story in various ways.
Conclusion
Evan’s Remains is polished in just about every department. It may not focus on gameplay as much as some would like, but personally this didn’t bother me at all. It’s a sad and interesting experience, and one that I definitely recommend.
Final Verdict: I like it a lot
