$20 Game of the Week: Eversion (PC)

As we all know, Halloween is this month, so instead of doing one big long horror themes Lost Classics/20 GOTW at the end of the month, I’ll do several smaller $20 GOTW each week of the month and throw in a horror themes Lost Classic and Maximum Letdown as well. This is the first of several horror themed 20GOTWs each week of this month. Most of them will be indie releases, but if you want a good scare, check them out! This week’s game is Zaratustra Productions’ Eversion, an innocent looking platformer, or at least it starts out that way. The Lovecraft quote at the beginning of the game and the developer’s warning that this isn’t for kids should cause some alarm.

Take a good look at that image up above. You probably saw it on Steam, or somewhere else on the internet, and you dismissed it, thinking that this just so happens to be yet another Mario-style platformer, and when you first start it up, it seems that way. Heck, it even has a cookie cutter plot: the cute looking Zee-Tee (you) has hop and bop enemies on his way to rescue the princess! Of course, things get….interesting to say the least. You see, to get through the game’s worlds, you have to ‘Evert’ them by pressing a button in a certain location. The world then turns inside out, and the properties of some objects are changed. Blocks that weren’t breakable can now be broken, clouds now become surfaces that can be stepped on, and background details now become solid. As you continue to evert, the game becomes even more darker and disturbing. Eventually, you’ll come across one of two endings depending on how many gems you collect.

Eversion is available in two versions: a free basic version available on the developer’s website (and on tiggit), and an enhanced HD version on Steam with upgraded graphics, a new soundtrack, and other extras. Eversion is a complete mindfuck of a platformer, and it’s scares come from its sheer shock value unlike most survival horror video games. If you want a good scare, check it out, but the developer wasn’t kidding when they said that this isn’t for those with a nervous disposition.