Evergate – PAX East Preview

The afterlife is collapsing, crumbling all around you as you whisp your way through a level solving puzzles and platforming through complex, open end solutions. In doing this you carve a path of creativity. There is an adorable and powerful lost soul named Ki standing, or rather floating, as the savior of the end of everything after death. Evergate is an experience that creates a unique and creative puzzle experience with open end solutions that gives a deep and creative method for accomplishing your tasks. With more to come, it’s exciting to see such an interesting entry into the pantheon of world-ending scenarios.

There is something more to Ki than just her design. Each level shows memories long since lost, even forgotten, returning, and in them lays the key for saving the cycle of rebirth. But Ki is not alone, as enemies wrapped in darkness and shadow move across the afterlife, feasting themselves on its destruction – drawn like moths to an open flame. Maneuvering around or confronting these creatures are a challenge, and even a single mistake forces Ki to begin her path again with each level offering a singular checkpoint to be used. A soft reset mechanic aids players when stuck and, while the demo at PAX East 2019 may not be heavy in content, it didn’t take this puzzle dope too long to figure it out.

However, it’s the physics and mechanics of this game are the real star, as the game encourages experimenting with the inclusion of the aforementioned soft reset at any point to help you start over and repeat your mistakes again and again, for the moment of glory in success. With the open ended puzzles results on how you accomplish this can vary, and even surprise you as you you can suddenly find yourself fixing a massive mistake at the last moment with some quick action.

Ki and the rest of Evergate are slated for release later this year, in late 2019.