PC Critic Reviews

Evoland is a unique game in that it’s impressive to see the scale of references and care to detail that is present within it. Despite several surprising flaws, it’s not often in a game where one can relive some of the greatest game-playing experiences from Final Fantasy and Zelda in a couple of hours and the combination of the two games is almost seamless in their execution.

Even though it may be a rather short experience, and the controls can be rather tiresome, I can’t really downplay Evoland. The satire on the entire evolution of games and the comical use of RPG tropes had me playing and smiling throughout my experience. For only $10, you get a rather charming title that never overstays its welcome. I was hoping for more by the end, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the overall experience.

Evoland is a game that evokes nostalgic feelings in old veteran players but that probably will leave the younger ones, despite an extremely fun gameplay hybrid, disappointed.

At once a grab-bag of silly references and a keenly observed tribute to the games that helped build action-adventure and role-playing games, Evoland is more than just a showcase of retro graphics.

Evoland has to be appreciated for what it is, which is less "game" and more "journey traveled." Nostalgia's a hot selling piece these past few years.

Evoland is a good chance for nostalgic gamers to revisit the better memories from their childhood with RPGs.

The old-school approach of the gameplay is not that fresh anymore and the steep price cannot justify the overpriced sentimentality. [May 2013]

RPGs are usually very long, and as many of us have grown up, we simply don’t have the time to play through them anymore, making Evoland an extraordinary journey through a much simpler time that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Evoland is a frustrating affair. Its premise is great and it has potential to spare, but instead of an inspired retro journey all you get is a combination of lazy jokes, bland Zelda-esque gameplay and numbingly tedious JRPG battles. [June 2013]

A terrific idea – Evoland lets us gradually unlock milestones in evolution of RPG games and see how they influence the experience. Unfortunately about halfway through this charming game turns into a torture chamber, because it wasn’t thought out well enough in terms of gameplay. [CD-Action 06/2013, p.79]