Evolings is an indie turn-based, monster tamer/creature collector, roguelike game. In which you and your team of Evolings battle others as you make your way through three acts defeating each act boss on your way.
Details of Evolings
Developer: Sorb
Publisher: Super Rare Originals
Platform: PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 21st September 2023
Age Rating: 3
Story of Evolings
Evolings being a roguelike game doesn’t feature much of a story more of a gameplay loop. That loops consist of the player picking their starter Evoling and then venturing out on the procedural generated level grid. Tasked with defeating three acts and their bosses to beat the game.
Gameplay of Evolings
Gameplay as mentioned before consists of making your way through three acts, which finish with a boss. At the start you will have to pick your starting Evoling, out of three. There are multiple types including Candy, Space, Slime, Fire, and more. You can fuse three Evolings of the same type together to get a much stronger Evoling, something that is crucial in getting to the later acts. Not much carries over between runs as you only get a choice of some in game currency or some items to help you out. The game would greatly benefit from some more upgrades or something else that carries over into other runs.
You have limited options when it comes to battling Aswell with Evolings having 1-3 attacks/commands. Which range from different attacks, healing, and guarding. Guarding is this games version of defending and is vital in getting to the later acts. To get far in the game the player has to learn how to utilize a combination of both attacking and defending, or will find themselves in a endless loop of losing Evolings before being able to fuse them.
Pros
The Evoling character designs are simple but pleasing to the eye, taking a more basic approach similar to early Pokémon games, or something you could imagine on a Tamagotchi. Evolings types are also very unique and creative, I particularly loved the Candy type Evolings. Items are varied and add a massive bonus to the player. With some items making Evolings that die return as ghosts, this was my favorite, deal 20 damage to the enemy team, or even switch your team with the enemy one.
Hall of Fame is an option on the main menu which displays all your winnings teams of Evolings. Each entry shows the Evolings, the items, and a brief timeline for that winning run. Emphasizing shinnies and making them far more common than in games like Pokémon was a real treat to see. I liked seeing the color variations in the Evolings and collecting all the different forms. The stat boosts that shinnies get also helps in boosting up some of your Evolings. This can be crucial in getting strong enough to take on the next boss.
Cons
The lack of upgrades that carry through to future runs makes me resistant to put the time in to Evolings that I would other creature collector or roguelike games. With the branching world only having one or two branches every once in a while it would be nice to see a more branched path to allow for more planning and potentially easier runs.
Summary Evolings
If you’re a fan of monster taming games or rogue-lite/likes you may enjoy the whimsical aesthetic of Evolings and its core gameplay loop. Especially for the small price point of £4.99 the game is a perfect example of you get what you pay for. However, the gameplay loop was too mundane and didn’t offer enough variety or progression that carried through your future runs for me to truly get immersed to the point I didn’t want to put it down. Unlike Vampire Survivors I regularly found myself putting this down and accepting defeat.
You can purchase Evolings on Steam
Overall Rating: 6 – Reasonable!
Platform Played On: Steam Deck
Game Time At Review: 7.9Hours
Recommendation: Yes (if on sale)
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