Everhood

Everhood
Everhood logo
Developer(s)	Chris Nordgren Jordi Roca[1]
Publisher(s)	Foreign Gnomes Surefire.Games[2]
Programmer(s)	Jordi Roca
Artist(s)	Chris Nordgren
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch
Release	March 4, 2021
Genre(s)	Adventure, role-playing, rhythm
Mode(s)	Single-player

Everhood, or Everhood: An Ineffable Tale of the Inexpressible Divine Moments of Truth, is a 2021 video game developed by Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca. The game's plot involves a red doll-person trying to recover their stolen arm from Gold Pig, an immortal inhabitant of the land of Everhood.^[2] Along the way, the player allies with a small creature by the name of Blue Thief, and encounters a variety of characters who either attempt to aid or deter the player on their quest to retrieve Red's arm. It was released on Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch on March 4, 2021.

Gameplay[]

"Everhood" features retro-styled graphics and a rhythm-based battle system.

Everhood was described by Screen Rant as an adventure RPG that focused on having its battle system based on a rhythm game as opposed to a standard strategy or turn-based combat system.^[3] Similar to Guitar Hero, the battlefield consists of five lanes that the player can move between freely. Each enemy in the game has their own battle theme, and will time their attacks to the song's beat. However, unlike standard rhythm games, the player is meant to dodge the enemy's attacks rather than hitting them.^[4] At the beginning of the game, attacks can only be avoided by jumping over them or dodging to the side, but after acquiring Red's stolen arm, the player can absorb attacks and fire them back at the enemy. Initially, the player must survive for the entire length of the song to progress, but later-game battles loop until the enemy's health is drained by deflecting their attacks.^[3]

Plot[]

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

At the very beginning of the game, a disembodied voice directly addresses the player, asking them to "abandon their humanity and accept immortality" in order to enter the land of Everhood. After accepting, the player is given control over Red, a mute wooden doll who awakens after their arm is stolen by Blue Thief. Red's other limbs are strewn about the ground, but they quickly reattach themselves, allowing Red to begin following the thief's trail. Frog, an anthropomorphic guitar-playing frog, engages Red in battle to test if they are capable of surviving in Everhood. Red then follows Blue Thief into a nightclub, where they steal a VIP pass from Zigg, an arrogant patron who fights Red after the latter accidentally causes Zigg to spill their drink. Inside the VIP room, Red discovers Blue Thief presenting the stolen arm to Gold Pig, an obese pig-monster adorned in jewelry and surrounded by treasure. Laughing at Red's inability to catch Blue Thief, Gold Pig uses magic to drop Red into a nearby incinerator. The incinerator is intentionally very difficult to escape; if Red manages to survive, the game will praise the player's skill, but deem their efforts useless. The camera will pan to the side, showing dozens of burned corpses resembling Red, while the game remarks that "Pink has already been here many times." Red is then allowed to exit the incinerator, skipping the post-mortem battles but otherwise continuing the game as normal. However, Red's death in the incinerator is a major plot point, and the player is intended to fail on their first playthrough.

After succumbing to the incinerator, Red is transported to the post-mortem world, a strange, ethereal landscape where they encounter Pink, a glowing figure also missing an arm, who briefly attacks Red before disappearing. Exploring the area will trigger a fight with a large group of gnomes, who induce several visual distortions and distracting effects during the battle until they are interrupted by the disembodied voice from the beginning of the game. The voice once again speaks directly to the player, stating that they are not meant to be in the area. The voice offers the player an "Absolute Truth" (if accepted, it is revealed to be "Nothing is lost") before restoring Red's body in the now-defunct incinerator. Red exits the incinerator, and discovers that Blue Thief is still present, their legs having been stolen by Gold Pig. The two form an alliance, and set out into the rest of Everhood to find Gold Pig and retrieve their stolen limbs. Red enters the Cosmic Hub, a dark, sparse location only populated by a small number of sentient doors. Each door leads to a different realm within Everhood; the player can enter all but two (one is locked, and the other is only a frame, missing its actual pieces) in any order they choose.

One door leads to Cursed Castle, which contains a piece of the missing door and the "Mirror of Truth." Approaching the mirror, Red's reflection speaks aloud in a self-loathing tone, cursing themselves for evil actions they have committed in the past. Another door in the hub leads to Cart Carnival, where Red wins a go-kart race. However, when attempting to return to the Hub, Red enters a different door, the original having been hidden for an unknown reason. Red falls into the Mushroom Forest, where they find and return the gemstone eye of the happy-go-lucky Green Mage. After clearing a path for Red to continue through the forest, Green Mage suddenly declares Red an enemy and fights them, before ultimately stating that they "don't care about any of this!" and departing. In the main area of the forest, Red can optionally find eight hidden mushroom creatures, unlocking a secret battle with the Brown Slim Mushroom that ends in another encounter with the disembodied voice and an offer of the second Absolute Truth ("You are me and I am you.") Chasing a rabbit out of the forest, Red is caught in a trap set by the mad scientist Professor Orange, who drags Red back to his lab and attempts to defeat them with the Masterpiece, an "artificial replication of an ancient creature" that quickly malfunctions. Orange then engages Red in a "quantum battle" that takes place in the overworld rather than the game's battle system, which he theorizes is the source of Red's power. However, Red still avoids the machine's attacks and escapes the lab, discovering the second piece of the door and leaving the forest. A third door leads to Midnight Town, which can be accessed as soon as the Cosmic Hub is entered but serves little purpose until Green Mage is encountered in the Forest. Red enters Green Mage's house, who invites them to join a session of Medallion, a tabletop role-playing game, with an ensemble of previously-encountered characters. The session focuses on Red acquiring the "Sword That Can Deflect Red Attacks," and proceeding to fight a number of enemies with a new mechanic added to the battle system -- red attacks that the player can hit back at the enemy to damage them. After reaching the tower of the Evil Wizard (portrayed by Green Mage despite also being the game master,) Red defeats them and the session ends with a victory for the heroes. Green Mage gives Red the final piece of the missing door as thanks for participating. A final door in the Hub leads to a small room containing Lost Spirits, whose presences are unexplained until the game's latter half.

Once Red has acquired all three pieces of the missing door, the player can access the final major location of the Cosmic Hub - a vast, mostly empty desert. Stopping to rest partway through, Blue Thief reveals to Red that they have a very faulty memory, and can no longer remember why they are accompanying Red in the first place. After traversing the rest of the desert, Red enters a temple discovered to be the hideout of Gold Pig. Purple Mage, hired by Gold Pig as a bodyguard, attempts to stop Red by resurrecting undead mercenaries, then fighting Red one-on-one, but they ultimately concede. Gold Pig then fights Red to the point of exhaustion, during which Pink briefly reappears, lamenting their powerlessness to stop Red. Gold Pig reluctantly returns Blue Thief's legs and allows Red to retrieve their arm from a vault.

Red regains their arm, and credits briefly roll before being interrupted by Frog, who explains Red's true purpose in Everhood. The world's inhabitants, having sacrificed their humanity for immortality eons ago, eventually exhausted the possibilities of Everhood, and many were driven to insanity by boredom. With their arm restored, Red gains the ability to kill the inhabitants of Everhood by deflecting their attacks, and is asked by Frog to kill everybody out of mercy, admitting that the request poses a severe moral dilemma. A group of Lost Spirits, who have sporadically encountered Red throughout the adventure, encourage the player to carry out Frog's request, giving Red a magic 8-ball that displays the remaining number of souls in Everhood. The player can pursue a number of different endings after acquiring the arm, all except the "true ending" allowing Red to immediately return to the main storyline after completion.

Optional endings[]

The first optional ending is obtained if the player refuses to kill the inhabitants of Everhood. Red will eventually encounter Frog again, who becomes angered at the player's desire to "be the good guy" despite the inhabitants' suffering and engages them in a lengthy, difficult battle. Frog is revealed to be a Lost Spirit before being granted release from Everhood by the disembodied voice. The voice then tells the player that they are still able to come back and finish Frog's request at any time, stating that death is the only release for the world's inhabitants and closing the scene by forcing Red to fall unconscious.

The second ending involves traversing a several-hundred-room corridor underneath Green Mage's house, consisting mostly of empty rooms and occasional warnings from Green Mage that there is nothing at the end. Eventually, obstacles appear that require the player's input to avoid, preventing the ending from being easily obtained by holding down a button. Traversing the corridor takes approximately 3.5 to 4 hours, and at the end the player is presented with a special hand-drawn message of congratulations and a bed of flowers for Red to rest in. Reloading the game returns Red to the same room, but the player is allowed to bypass the return through the corridor.

The final optional ending can only be accessed if the player completes a variety of side quests throughout Everhood, obtaining three special gemstones and inserting them into a statue in the Cosmic Hub. Red is immediately transported into a fast-paced battle against the Dev Gnomes, two creatures vaguely resembling the game's developers, Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca. Red faces Chris alone until he loses control of his attacks, then battles Jordi as he works on a machine labeled "EVERHOOD;" screenshots of the game's development emerge from it periodically. Finally, both Gnomes attack Red simultaneously, finally enabling Red to counterattack and kill them. The game abruptly cuts to credits, with "R.I.P" positioned next to Chris and Jordi's names.

True Ending[]

After receiving Frog's request, Red traverses Everhood a second time and kills each inhabitant they encounter one by one. Some inhabitants willingly accept death, but many resist Red's actions and fight them. Almost every battle that Red has previously encountered is revisited, but the player must now absorb attacks and return them at the enemy; battles now either loop indefinitely or must be restarted once the song ends. The entrance to Midnight Town has been blocked off due to the Mages' awareness of Red's murderous capabilities, and must be accessed by a back door provided by Blue Thief. On the way to Blue Thief, Red is intercepted by the Higher Beings, a powerful group of abstract figures resembling Aztec gods, who test Red to see if they have the potential to finish their quest. After revealing the path into the town, Blue Thief willingly accepts death, lamenting that they would have soon forgotten the entire adventure regardless of Red's actions. Several new inhabitants are fought during the quest, including a hairy bull-like creature known as Rasta Beast, the clumsy, underwear-clad knight Sir Lost-a-Lot, and the hand cursor from the game's interface (afterwards, the hand is replaced with Red's own hand, and narrative dialogue changes to Red's internal monologue.) While traversing Cursed Castle, the player can discover a painting that shows a cutscene featuring Pink in an Earth-like city after being hit by a car. They walk a short distance before encountering a Higher Being, and the scene immediately cuts back to Red.

After every inhabitant of Everhood has been killed, the Lost Spirits meet Red in the Cosmic Hub, instructing the player to destroy the sentient doors leading to the now-empty areas of Everhood. Red is then given the power to defeat the world's sun -- revealed to be the white rabbit previously encountered throughout the game. Destroying the sun causes a supernova that brings Red into the afterlife, forced to face retaliation from the angered souls of their victims. Red is almost overpowered by the retaliation until the doll suddenly collapses; Pink appears in front of Red and urges the inhabitants to accept their deaths, stating that Red killed them out of mercy and that they had done what Pink could not. The souls admonish Pink and accuse them of being the true killer; Red's body had burned in the incinerator, and Pink had created an illusion of the doll to cope with their actions. It is revealed that Red is a separate ego of Pink's, and they had unwillingly committed several previous killing streaks before the player even assumed control. Pink had torn Red's body apart in an attempt to control their urges, but they were reformed when the player entered Everhood. The inhabitants become Lost Spirits, leaving Pink alone in a vast, empty expanse. Distressed by their own actions and not knowing how to continue, Pink allows the player to control them once again, eventually discovering a small cottage. Frog is resting inside, and thanks Pink for freeing Everhood from immortality despite the emotional burden the deed carried. Pink enters a pure-black abyss, the player commanding them to sink into the cold void against their will. Once Pink is entirely submerged, they encounter the source of the disembodied voice -- an intricately patterned cube that represents the universe itself. Devoid of inhabitants and presumably having existed for an eternity, the universe enthusiastically challenges Pink to one final battle, thanking both them and the player for their deeds until it dies, causing reality to dissolve into nothingness.

Pink awakens in an otherworldly space, surrounded by their friends. They have arrived in the Waiting Room, an in-between point of life and what comes after. Pink reconciles with the game's full cast of characters, who thank Pink for their help, speculate on the afterlife, or apologize for retaliating against Pink, having realized that immortality only brought suffering. Finally, Pink talks to a figure greatly resembling Buddha, who declares that the player's long journey is at an end, hoping that the experience was "interesting and enjoyable." A final battle serves as a farewell, each character giving one last thanks to Pink for freeing them. Once Pink is the only one remaining, they turn directly to the player, thanking them for guiding Everhood to freedom before moving onto the next life. The player is offered the final Absolute Truth, which states that absolute truths do not exist -- only half-truths that can be freely interpreted. The player is urged to take care of themselves, as they "still have a long time left, and some after that." The game automatically saves, and the player is informed that they can start a New Game+.

New Game+[]

After completing the game's true ending, the player's save file becomes inaccessible, but is able to be turned into a New Game+ file, which restarts the game from the very beginning. The game is exactly the same until Red retrieves their arm, at which point they will be approached by an anthropomorphic cat named Sam in the Cosmic Hub. Sam reveals that he is aware the player is on a second playthrough, and offers a new ending in the form of a "treasure hunt." Following Sam will lead to a new area that contains a lone house carved out of a tree. Red attempts to enter, but is interrupted by Cat God, the "ancient creature" that Professor Orange attempted to recreate, represented as a massive, three-eyed cat head. Declaring that the player has "seen too much," Cat God fights Red until they either run out of attacks or their health is depleted. "Killing" Cat God will cause them to offer the player a fourth, secret Absolute Truth ("Yet you stand.") Sam and Red enter the treehouse to discover that it only contains a video game system, where Red can play Sam at virtual tennis. Red then enters a second incinerator which cannot be escaped, destroying the doll's body and forcing out Pink, who angrily resists the player's control. Two separate endings are possible; if Professor Orange is alive, he will create another body for Pink to inhabit (stating that he has done so "many times before.") Pink enters the new body, hoping that it will finally prevent their ego's murderous influence over them. However, if Red has already killed Professor Orange, Pink will admonish the player for their actions, choosing to remain alone in the incinerator forever to prevent further deaths.

Reception[]

Zoey Handley of Destructoid praised the music in the game, but noted that the story threw in too many plot twists and critiqued spelling errors and long load times within the game.^[2] Nintendo World Report's Jordan Rudek praised the game's rhythm-based combat and humor and called it "an instant classic", while also noting the grammar and spelling errors within the game and long loading times.^[7]

References[]

This video game–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t