Love Eternal

If you’re someone who finds themselves complaining about the state of modern games, you owe it to yourself to play Love Eternal. Even if platformers aren’t your go-to genre, the story is a strong enough motivator to see it through. If you do like platformers, well, you’re in for a treat. There are some major swings here, and while they’re not all home runs, I know one thing for sure: I won’t be able to shake Love Eternal for a long time.

Between a plot that stretches the realities of time, space, and comprehension, and gameplay designed to keep you laser-focused on the task at hand, it’s difficult to reckon with the passage of real-world hours while playing Love Eternal. So, I was startled to find I rolled credits in a bit over five hours. It will take me so much longer to fully ponder its provocative themes, tantalizing insinuations, and gratifying sense of accomplishment.

LOVE ETERNAL is strange, avant-garde, and downright hard, but it never feels cheap or unfair in its challenge. Its experimental storytelling is eerie and engaging, and the controls of the game are buttery-smooth and precise, making for platforming that’s as fun to play as it is challenging.

Love Eternal delivers on the promise of a psychological-horror platformer in most ways. Its setting and presentation create a world where you're never quite sure what reality you're in, and a big mechanical switch-up halfway through is a wonderful, creative surprise that I'll be thinking about for a long time. The game gets more meta in ways than I could've predicted, and left my own brain scrambled entirely by the end of the short four-hour experience. As a platformer, it's easy to understand, though the unpredictable momentum of movement unfortunately keeps it from feeling as precise as genre enthusiasts will surely prefer. Still, it's one of those "play in one sitting" type of games that you won't want to miss if anything about the premise speaks to you.

LOVE ETERNAL proves that simplicity and precision are a powerful match. Not a traditional horror game, but a surreal precision platformer with a melancholic, creepy vibe. Not for everyone, but fans of challenging, artsy platformers shouldn’t miss this one.

Love Eternal is a punishing psychological horror platformer built around a single gravity reversal mechanic that pushes precision to its limits. Brika crafts a stark, unsettling world where every room feels like a trial of patience and mastery, rewarding persistence with genuine satisfaction. While its minimalist design and focused mechanics create intense, memorable platforming highs, limited quality of life features, occasional technical issues, and a steep difficulty curve may test even seasoned players.

The biggest challenge in talking about Love Eternal is in trying to make sense of its failings. It isn’t awful, but worse: it’s just boring. It doesn’t offer much to chew on in terms of mechanics or story.