Okay. So. Here I am, playing Eversion. Apparently, this game is terrifying. I know practically nothing about it, but thought I’d give it a go. We get started with a H.P.Lovecraft quote and a warning that children and those with a nervous disposition should not play the game. Then, as I cringe away from my monitor, wondering what horrors this game will unleash upon me.... we cut to a bright and happy menu where cheery music plays. After setting my controls, I tentatively hit the “evert button” and begin the first level. We start in a world where all is sunshine and flowers. I control a cute little cloud creature, that has very similar controls to Mario. There are platforms, smiling blocks that reward me if I headbutt them, flags at the end of every level and cute enemies that I kill by Goomba stomping on them.
All is right in this world. Even my enemies look happy as I cheerfully murder them en masse.
◊ As I near the end of the level, I notice that there were some gems that I simply could not reach. Holding my breath, I press the “Evert button”....... and nothing happens. I shrug to myself as I move on to the next level. Much to my embarrassment, I die several times on the first few platforms through stupid mistakes, possibly caused by me wondering what the hell the evert button does. If I was a less Genre Savvy person, I would be tempted to think that the game wasn’t so bad after all. However, I know that the game is just trying to lull me into a false sense of security. It is at this point that I encounter an impossible jump.
◊ I know what I have to do. Slowly but surely, my finger moves toward the evert button. I press it, wondering what eldritch horrors it would unleash upon me... and again, nothing happens.
By this point, I am a little puzzled and annoyed. Where's the cosmic horror that I was promised? HOW THE HELL COULD I MAKE THAT JUMP? THERE WAS NOTHING BUT CLOUDS THERE! I try everything from repeated suicide to killing all my enemies over and over again, but the jump persists in its impossibility. Suddenly, I notice a point
◊ on one of the platforms where the music dims and another tune can be heard. I press the evert button and... Here. We. Are.
The cutesy enemies gain a strange expression, the music changes (Although it is still fairly happy)... and the blocks continue smiling inanely. Seriously, what is wrong with them? The world just shifted into a place of supposed eldritch horror, and they continue to smile as if nothing has happened. Putting that aside, I approach the jump I was having so much trouble with before and find that the clouds are now tangible. Still, I have not yet discovered anything truly scary. Perhaps this is a second stage of deception, to fool people into thinking that they’ve found the unnerving parts? I reach the end of the level without anything else happening.
As I enter the next level, I notice that I am still in the everted world.
◊ Shrugging mentally, I move on. I discover another impassable point, but this time, I am easily able to find the eversion spot. I return the world to its natural state and move on. Immediately after however, I am forced to change the world to pass some trees. I press the evert button and... find that I still cannot pass them. Puzzled, I look around and find another eversion spot. I press evert... and the world changes again.
◊ The music can no longer be called happy. The blocks have completely stopped smiling. My enemies now have small pinpricks for eyes and don’t even have mouths, let alone smiles on their faces. The trees have been withered, allowing me to pass through. As I do so, I ask myself if it is likely that there will be any deeper levels of eversion. Of course, pyr0. I reply. Of course there are. With this on my mind, I move on. I have to evert on a regular basis now. After passing two more tree/cloud pathways without event, I reach another eversion point. I casually press it, and instead of returning to the "normal" world, the world goes into the deepest eversion that I have seen so far.
◊ The world appears to be in decay. The trees are merely piles of dust upon the ground. My enemies are motionless, with only one eye (they can still kill me however, as I discover in an experiment). The music changes once again, into a more frantic tune. Bricks are cracked, and I can destroy them with ease. . As I move on, suddenly BLOODY HELL WHAT WAS THAT
◊. A sharp noise plays, and the world comes apart behind me, as if I had damaged it by everting. As I get over my original shock I decide that being caught by the black world eating bubbles would be a Bad Thing TM. However, I run straight into recoulered water and die, due to my shock. As I run from the world eating bubbles, I discover that yes, being in them is a Bad Thing TM. Most of the scare value however, comes from the shock of the sudden involuntary change of worlds. I clear the world on perhaps my third try, and am forced to stop playing by my family.
Now I turn to you, TV Tropes. Should I continue playing this game? If so, should I continue posting my horrible Let’s Play here? Or should I keep my sad, unfunny ramblings to myself? You be the judge.
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