The Indie Informer

Twice, I’ve rolled credits on Everdeep Aurora. I wouldn’t be opposed to a third, as I want to see what happens when I tie up a few loose threads. However, I still hesitate to encourage others to follow my meticulously drilled path unconditionally. A gloriously retro-spiced title, the gameplay is multifaceted and filled with thoughtful, despairing, sanctimonious, and self-aware characters.

Somehow, though, everything feels like a side quest — perhaps because the main narrative is deeply obscure and easy to gloss right over. I’m a fan of games with a light lore touch, encouraging players to start with no knowledge and slowly put pieces together to personally form what it all means. In this case, it feels like I missed connecting with the game’s heart because it was a little too elusive. The nostalgic visuals, carefully crafted exploration, and thought-provoking themes keep me digging for more, despite the game’s narrative haze.

Shell is an endearing protagonist. In fact, there’s not a single character I met along my journey that failed to pluck my strings in one way or another. A frog, beautifully named Ribbert, searches for his daughter in an arch that has him face his own inadequacies. A lonely postal worker refuses to deliver the final blow to a struggling relationship, despite his duties. A thief readies himself to give everything for a sacrificial lamb. And at the center of all of this is a lonely little cat looking for her mother in the middle of a catastrophe. Who, by the way, has a dedicated meow button, which melts my heart every time.

The ground beneath the youthful feline shudders with impact. Meteors rip through the sky, demolishing everything in their path. I can feel the shock Shell experiences waking to this scene with her mother nowhere to be science, with only a quickly scrawled note leading her to head below ground.

The impact at the end — or the two ends I’ve encountered so far — is much less powerful. In the darkest corner of the lowest point, a cloak lifts, and its significance is muffled. It’s as if I missed a chapter, as I used my drill to plot out an entire society’s subterranean shelter. I tried to turn over every stone I could in this tile-based title. I upgraded my radar and drill to find more artifacts and people to help, which left me impressed with how much the developer has packed into every inch of the relatively small world. The risk of missing something without ever knowing it, though, is real.

The missable content structure is simultaneously a great strength and an unfortunate weakness. The urge to delve into every nook to uncover, typically well worth it, surprises is hard to resist. A sliver of an opening in the solid rock could lead to a meaningful conundrum or a satisfying platforming treasure room, making it nearly impossible to pass over anything that caught my eye. However, if I managed to miss a section of the map or a small opening along my path, I could literally just miss out on its content completely.

I’ve settled on one word for Everdeep Aurora: dense. It’s tightly packed with gameplay and objectives. The compact corridor containing all of its points of interest ensures I’m always engaging with something. I have to unpack the emotions held close to the vest for the characters and tease out deep questions regarding humanity’s darkest instincts. It can also feel impenetrable, with a story that requires a lot of heavy lifting from players. It takes effort to dig through, and there’s gold to find.