In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, there’s an oft-quoted interaction in which the titular character, having fallen down the rabbit hole and become trapped in a dreamlike world, complains to the Cheshire Cat that she doesn’t want to be among mad people. “Oh, you can’t help that,” says the Cat. “We’re all mad here.” The Cat’s observation, and this interaction as a whole, perfectly captures the feeling of Everhood 2, the latest release from Foreign Gnomes.
In the best of ways, this Toby Fox-inspired RPG is as confusing and menacing as it is fascinating and funny, and while it likely won’t top most people’s lists when discussing the best RPGs on the Switch, it provides a memorable and worthwhile adventure that we’d suggest you try out.
The premise of Everhood 2 is… well, it’s complicated. You begin the narrative as a self-insert silent protagonist who awakens in a surreal world, guided on a quest by the cryptic wisdom of a mysterious creature named The Raven. It wants you to kill a dragon on its behalf, but you’re not yet ready for the fight, so The Raven helps you navigate the strange world of Everhood as you grow your power and “discover the color of your soul”.
Much like the previous game, there are much darker and more serious themes that gradually come to the fore, but most of the narrative experience for the 8-10 hours it lasts is an incomprehensible kaleidoscope of scenarios and conflicts that each leave you feeling more baffled and intrigued than the last. Whether you’re freeing a contingent of alien slaves under the control of a pack of hyenas and sharks or helping a small vegetable insurgency overthrow a kingdom, there is almost no rhyme or reason to the sequence of events, and there is absolutely no predicting what could happen next.
In a lesser game, this crazy, meandering structure could run the risk of ruining your interest in the plot, but Everhood 2 avoids this through its relatively lighthearted tone and brisk pacing. Even though there’s always a subtle, sinister vibe in the background, the characters have a funny way of interacting with you that ensures there’s always something interesting to deal with. Everhood 2 is the kind of game that happens to you, and once you let go of trying to understand it, the bizarre trip through this goofy, gonzo world is like no other.
Gameplay loosely follows the standard JRPG template in which you visit towns, delve into loot- and enemy-filled dungeons, and engage in tense combat, the star of the show here. It follows an interesting rhythm-based set up in which you stand on a note highway (similar to what was once used in the Guitar Hero games) and dodge colored notes that fly at you from the enemy at the top of the screen.
You can either jump over these notes or dodge to the side, but merely avoiding them will not grant you victory over your foes. A quick tap of a button just before a note is about to hit will make your character absorb the note, banking it in an energy meter that will allow you to respond with a