The Indie Informer

“Flip, hit the first gem. Flip just after passing the platform. Hit gem, immediate flip. Hit gem, flip after a beat. Hit gem, flip just before hitting the gem near the laser. Aim towards lever and flip before platform.”

Many things in Love Eternal don’t make sense until they do.

I lifted the helpful stream of consciousness above directly from a private chat (read: support group) for reviewers running through the game before its release. If you can believe it, those tangled phrases helped two people — that I know of — glide through an even more tangled level. Compared to the title that inspired them — with its mind-bending narrative and platforming aberrations — those instructions seem relatively straightforward.

Paralysis in the midst of ever-moving fluidity. Mundanity masking unworldly phenomena. Understanding despite an immortal incomprehensibility. This is the essence of Love Eternal. Or, to put it more clearly for anyone looking to get a sense of the experience, the game marries irresistible, gravity-bending challenges with an enigmatic and magnetic plot. Even if sometimes you want to, you’ll be hard put to stop.

Keep in mind as you continue reading, the following will feel like it’s helping you grasp at a greater understanding of this game. That’s misleading.

It’s a fact that our heroine is named Maya. She does find herself trapped within maze-like castle corridors. Her only option is to navigate chambers of plummeting drops, fearsome spikes, and crimson-shedding lasers. What seems like an absolute positive will keep you absorbed in this deadly world: exquisitely calibrated motion.

Each disparate room holds a self-contained obstacle course. It may look impossible to reach the end, but Maya has a powerful — and thoughtfully unexplained — trick up her sleeve. At the push of a button, she can flip gravity. About to plummet into a bottomless pit of death? Just switch up the gravitational pull so you are flying towards what was previously the ceiling. It’s simple and satisfying, drawing on sensibly structured physics.

But don’t mistake simple for easy. As Maya climbs deeper into the labyrinth, the levels grow increasingly diabolical. Which is why what seem like great game features — exquisite motion and instantaneous resets — become the bane of my existence. I can’t put it down, even if I’ve spent hundreds of lives in my pursuit of the finish line. The final challenge looms over all who dare enter here. And, having passed it, I live for watching others take it on.

Between a plot that stretches the realities of time, space, and comprehension, and gameplay designed to keep you laser-focused on the task at hand, it’s difficult to reckon with the passage of real-world hours while playing Love Eternal. So, I was startled to find I rolled credits in a bit over five hours. It will take me so much longer to fully ponder its provocative themes, tantalizing insinuations, and gratifying sense of accomplishment.