Hello. I am koola, and . . . I think it's fair to say that I am a fan of the Everhood series, despite some big issues I have with both games.

I hear a lot of people comparing the first Everhood to UNDERTALE, but that makes about as much sense as a comparison to me as does another comparison I've heard: Wii Music and Trombone Champ. I described my thoughts on this comparison at length in my article specifically devoted to Trombone Champ, but Wii Music is what i have since began to call a "strict" rhythm game (in the vein of games like Rhythm Heaven, MUSYNX, Rock Band, or even something like Melatonin, while Trombone Champ is more of a music game in the same vein as something like Geometry Dash, BIT.TRIP FLUX, or games like Taiko no Tatsujin or Fairhythm on easy mode. Everhood is a game in this genre I would consider to be "music games" that are specifically focused on rhythm, while UNDERTALE is more of an RPG (albeit one with bullet-hell battles) than anything.

. . . I got the first Everhood as a gift for a friend back in September 2024. I had seen the store page once or twice and thought, "Hey, this game looks pretty interesting." Also, I had a vague memory of some people saying that it was kind of like UNDERTALE and that it was pretty good. He liked UNDERTALE to an extent, and so I figured he'd enjoy it. I also figured that since, at the time, this friend and I had recently made a Steam Family group together, if he didn't enjoy it, I could go through it.

That friend does cyberschool and attends Civil Air Patrol, but when he's not busy with either, he has a fair amount of free time. As such, because he wasn't busy with a whole lot around September, he was able to knock out the 6-hour game in about three weeks. He and I talk often at our youth group, and so I asked him without spoilers how the game was. He said that he liked it, but that it was harder than other games he had played.

. . .I was not aware at the time how much he was withholding from me based on me asking for him to describe it to me without spoilers. As such, if you want to not be spoiled, please do not continue reading this article.




MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EVERHOOD AND EVERHOOD 2 BELOW




















I played Everhood for a bit while he was still going through it, got stuck, abandoned it, and came back to it several months later. This is now a pretty common occurrence for me. When I came back to the game, I started to really enjoy the characters and story. I beat it rather quickly because of that.
. . . I was not ready for everything that Everhood threw at me at the end. I really liked the first half of the game, and if they credits rolled at the point when you get your arm, I'd probably put the game in as something that's close to DELTARUNE or Pizza Tower mentally, in terms of how much I liked the game. However, the fact that you are tasked with killing everyone "to free them from their eternal suffering" even though they just get reincarnated and sent to a different location in Everhood does not make sense to me. I also . . . really did not like having to murder some of my favorite characters. . . .

However, as I previously stated, I did enjoy the characters and the storytelling in the content of the game that doesn't involve, uh, killing everybody. I beat Everhood (well, I didn't really finish it, I just killed Flan and then cried and realized I kind of don't really care about finishing the game anymore so I looked up the endings and lore online) around February 26. Liking the characters and the overall game design, I was excited for a sequel, especially one that wouldn't have the same issues with the ending as the first one did.

. . . What made me think that the second one wouldn't have the same issues as the first? Well, essentially confirmation bias: the fact that many things were improved. The art style, user interface, and overall production value of the game were all leaps and bounds above the first one, and I noticed that many complaints of the original were addressed in this release.

Prerelease, all that I had heard about Everhood 2 (besides what was contained in the trailer) was that the ending was a bit of a letdown. I learned about this from Steam discussions. Now, I had found that from a specific Steam discussion thread that was talking about the ending, noting that "you just killed R" (that was all I remembered) and "that was it?" Foreshadowing. . .

Opening the game, I immediately recognized several grammar mistakes. The game is 10-12 hours long (according to the developers. My Switch says that I have at least 15 hours on the game), and as such, I was concerned that this would be a theme throughout. It . . . was. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best at grammar, but I could tell that this game needed a good proofread. From what I hear, this was the same with the first Everhood at launch, so hopefully this aspect of the game will get better with time. Many people online don't seem to talk about the fact that this game is riddled with typos; I think a big reason why is because most of them are so small to the point where your brain will auto-correct them and you will be easily able to understand what's being said.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the music. As I have described in previous articles, most of the time after I complete a game, I will add some of my favorite songs from its soundtrack to my big general playlist (I don't really have any other playlists that I listen to.) Everhood 2's soundtrack takes up over 30 songs of that playlist. (Most other games will get up to only half of that.) It is by far one of my favorite soundtracks to listen to, joining the likes of UNDERTALE and Pizza Tower. I believe this is mostly because of the soundtrack's switch in direction from the composer Chris Nordgren to the composer Cazok. Cazok has much more of a rock style of music, and uh, being a teenager, I like that. That's not to say that Everhood has a lack of good songs (I like "Frogs are Friends", "Space Dub Town - Dub", and "Flower Shop" and love "Suspense"); I just happen to be a bigger fan of Cazok's music style.

Another thing I heavily enjoyed would be the combat. Reviewers of Everhood 2 will commonly say that the updated combat was their favorite part of the game; I don't necessarily agree with that, but I will say it is one of my favorite parts of the game. I really look fdorward to every opportunity for combat, including the random encounters (except for the "defend this person sequences").

Overall, I enjoyed the writing despite the typos. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the ESRB rating does not mention this and despite the fact that it was absent was from the first game, Everhood has a few uses of profanity. Other than that, the writing was fun, and I especially enjoyed the characters of both Riley and Sam. Unfortunately, as many before me have pointed out, the ending leaves much to be desired. You kinda just . . . kill Riley . . . and the game ends, with a fake win screen . . . that transitions into the real credits, and then you get told by Shade how nothing really matters. (Which is also said by the fake Riley in effect with "All is vanity", but I feel like that's more referring to the New Spiritualist idea that life is an illusion and consciousness and all that jazz.)

. . . The general sentiment I see surrounding both games' endings (among those that enjoy them and don't share my critiques) are that they are meant to be art, not consumed as products, but rather to be reflected upon and added to your, uh, brain . . . catalogue? (I don't know how to phrase this.) I don't really agree with this idea. Everhood's ending definitely seemed like the developers were trying to go that route, especially with the multiple times it asks you if you want to stop killing, the fact that you cannot play the game on that save after you kill everyone, and the fact that the doors are encouraging you to go through with it, but I feel like if they were trying to put that philosophy out there, that they should have thought about it more. If the whole idea is "life is suffering", and "immortality is bad", then why would being killed and being reincarnated in a different location with the same problems solve that issue? With Everhood 2, the "games as art" mentality starts to fall apart for me. Given the many typos, the several bugs at launch, and the weird . . . bad ending, it makes me definitely feel like the game was rushed. This is only aided by the fact that the writers create several setups that simply do not have payoffs, and that weekly battles are a thing. The idea that many of the ending's defenders are saying is that "it was mean to to be a statement about how nothing really matters, and fiction is pointless, so why don't we end it in such a way that seems horrible? It's just a game. It's a statement that nothing in fiction really matters. Entertainment sucks." . . . and yet they have weekly battles? This just feels like an excuse for a bad ending to me.
I am not meaning to say that you should not play Everhood or Everhood 2. Like I said, I did enjoy both games, and I quite often go back to Everhood 2 and play a few battles. The games are well-designed, and I'd recommend them to people. Just . . . don't turn to them for escapism, or get too emotionally invested in them, like I did. I recommend them, and as I stated at the beginning, I think it's fair to say that I am a fan of the Everhood series. That's all.

I've been koola, and I've never seen a game have as many random and real characters as Everhood 2.

(Everyone from Genghis Khan to videogamedunkey . . .)

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