We are Eva

Review

Eva is a peaceful creature who lives between dimensions, and her favourite pastime is sleeping. A while back, she started waking up abruptly from her beautiful sleep with the feeling that an evil force was growing within the worlds. But our peaceful creature has a significant weakness; she is almost blind.  That’s where you come into the equation! You must help her travel safely between the dimensions and discover what the evil is that she is talking about! Welcome to We are Eva.

We are Eva is a difficult precision platformer game with beautiful pixel artwork, developed and self-published by Totally Normal Creature on the 16^th of June 2023, on the Steam platform.

The first several levels of We are Eva are basically a tutorial.  You’ll see that you have to reach a teleporting point in order to complete the level, and discover how to control Eva. All of these stages are played on one dimension. Then the fun and frustration arises, from that moment all the way through the game. I must mention that I have not finished the game as I am stuck on one level, and so far, I must have killed Eva at least 200 times. There is no doubt that Eva and I need time to recover, as Eva is not too happy with my latest performances.

But let’s go back to the point right after the tutorial to give you an idea of what to expect. It is rather simple, really. You’ll be introduced to a stage with two dimensions defined by two colours. You can switch between the two and see if you can reach the teleporting point. On rare occasions, you may succeed in reaching the teleporting points using one dimension, but you must display both dimensions on most levels. There are a significant number of dimensions, such as the Sticky dimension (brown), Slippery (yellow), Toxic (light green), Back-the-Front controls (purple) and others that I have experienced so far. On top of that, some of these dimensions will create obstacles when Eva lands on the platform. Each dimension has its own colour.  Eva’s colour will match one of the dimensions. If there is a wall blocking her path, the only way to go through that wall is to swap her colour to match the other dimension.  On some of the dimensions, this change of colour will trigger a new obstacle.

The issue is that she must land on or grab the edge of a platform of the same dimension, or a black platform, to be safe. To make the equation even more complicated, before she can enter the teleporting point, she must grab one of the two dimension’s stars displayed on the level, and yes, Eva must be the same colour as the star. Other bonuses will come your way in the form of obstacles such as spike platforms, goblins that shoot projectiles from a crossbow, a dimension ghost and/or a group of stars that can change dimensions or controls on you. I am sure there are more obstacles, but I haven’t experienced them so far.

All levels are dynamic, which is really good because of the increased challenges.  It does, however, create more frustration.  The levels will change slightly each time Eva dies.  Seven or eight variations  are enough to stuff you up, just when you think you’ll reach the teleporting point on your next attempt. But just wait until you reach the night dimension, as it’s even more fun and frustrating (and I mean that in a good way). Now you have to visualise and remember the other dimension! I wish you all the best with the levels that have both night and back-the-front controls. You will feel euphoric when you actually reach the teleporting point! Such satisfaction, and then back to . . . “Oh no, how am I going to do that?” Did I mention the moving and crumbling platforms? (I guess I’ll let you discover the rest, otherwise Eva will be on my back.)

Eva will pop up every now and then and make funny comments to lighten your mood, which is a really nice touch from the developers. She will also welcome you back to hell whenever you play the game. What a lovely creature.

I enjoy precision platformer games and consider myself pretty good at it. Probably at the lower end of hardcore. And yes, hardcore precision players will love this game, and I think newcomers will also enjoy it as the difficulty progression is well-balanced.

Regarding the controls, it is definitely a game to play with a gamepad. Try with a keyboard if you don’t mind buying a new one after a burst of frustration! Otherwise, go for the gamepad.
The controls are really tight, which you’d expect with this genre of game. The artwork is really good, and the game runs well. Two languages so far, English and Ukrainian. 

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com      

 We are Eva Steam Store page