PAX West Spotlight: Evergate

By: RaeTo begin with, Evergate is honestly a beautiful game. The art and aesthetics are absolutely lovely. It’s one of those ones at PAX that I saw the sign while browsing the exhibition hall and just knew I had to give it a try.I wasn’t disappointed – the music, graphics, and animation were all really stunning, and wrapped up into a really nice experience. In Evergate, the player has to solve puzzles to move forward. The mechanics are a little bit of aim-and-shoot – you have to break crystals in order to unlock the next path. To add a little difficulty, you also need to have access to that path when it opens, which means that even if you break every crystal, you have to make sure you end up in the right place or you may need to solve it again. As you continue on, you’ll find new powers and crystal types. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV1sRVvFwY4It’s a simple premise, but also a well-done one in Evergate. Players are forced to consider the whole environment as they progress. Is a crystal not acting as intended? Maybe you can use an enemy or another object to solve it. Is there something you’re missing? An alternate path to take? How can you use the crystals to end up on that far-off ledge?One thing I noted at the booth was that they were actually taking notes on the game feedback, and listening to players’ thoughts on what might need adjusting along the way. Let’s face it – pretty much no game is perfect. Somewhere, there will be a bug, or a thing that got left out, or one player will have a different opinion from another. It was a small gesture, but to me it showed that the devs honestly care about making Evergate a great experience for players.There’s no official release date yet, but you can sign up for notifications and read more at http://evergategame.com/ !