Everhood

Everhood is a musical RPG game done in a pixel art style. The game was made by the independent studio Foreign Gnomes, co-founded by Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca.

Plot

The main character of the story is a tiny puppet in a red cape who wakes up after a long sleep somewhere in the middle of the forest. Before it can put itself back together and get back on its feet, a thieving gnome steals one of its wooden arms. The protagonist chases after the criminal.

Mechanics

Everhood is a two-dimensional game with a vast, challenging world. During its twisted journey, the protagonist encounters a number of NPC's, often challenging them to duels.

Battles mainly consist of avoiding numerous attacks from the opponent, rhythmically matched to the accompanying music. The player must stay alive until the given music track comes to an end. In the later stages of the game, the main character gains powers that can be used to counterattack.

Additionally, during exploration, the protagonist often encounters different types of challenges that they must overcome in order to unlock the next location and push the story forward. Sometimes these are puzzles based on musical sense (discovering the appropriate sequence of sounds) or challenges based on agility and speed, like car races.

The game offers several difficulty levels: easy, normal, hard, and expert. The Story Mode option has also been introduced - with faster regeneration and more life - for those more interested in learning the story than enjoying the gameplay itself.

Technical aspects

Some of the visited locations are presented using the side-scrolling technique, while others use a top-down view or the camera positioned behind the hero. The gameplay is accompanied by a simple, dynamic soundtrack that captures the atmosphere of classic 8-bit titles.