Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel Considering that we had already last month a real great Monument Valley Look-A-Like Mobile Game the small Team from Stampede Games did too a real decent job with Evo Explores. You will hear from me not really anthing bad if it comes to the overal Gameplay of Evo Explores since it does deliver exactly what you are paying for so you can just go ahead and buy it you want to play more of "I`m not Monument Valley but you will still enjoy playing me"- Evo Explores if you aren`t as nitpicking as I`m if it comes to rating Mobile Games. For all those that are still unsure about the Game let`s dig into it and see what Evo Explores has to offer. As you might have already guessed it thinking outside of the box might be again the key to solve the puzzles in Evo Explores. Some puzzles (those at the beginning of the Game) are as usual very easy but later on (There are currently 14 bigger Levels that are split into 2-3 seperate smaller Once) the Puzzles get harder and you will have often really take your time to find out how to get where you have to go to reach the exit. Considering that Evo Explores does cost the same as the DLC for Monument Valley don`t let yourself fool in believing that the Game is as long as the Main Game if it comes to Monument Valley. This isn`t the case. Evo Explores does cost as much as the DLC for Monument Valley since it has more or less around the same Gameplay Length as the DLC so don`t expect to much time on your clock past till you see the end credits in Evo Explores. Taking this into account Evo Explores still does make a pretty decent job in making me wonder how to pass through some of the Levels straight from the beginning while some are pretty much an I did rushed through and still don`t understand how I came up with the resolution - experience. That`s totally fine in my eyes since the Developer can`t always nail it and I prefer sometimes to just wonder if I went crazy when I knew straight from the beginning how to get through a Level while afterwards I couldn`t even explain it to someone else if I wouldn`t have a recording of it. As already mentioned some of the Levels will melt your brain and I strongly would suggest that you only watch like the first couple minutes of Gameplay before you risk to spoil too much of the Game and instead try to solve the Game on your own since otherwise you won`t get enough for you hard earned money if you let yourself spoil the hole Game. Conclusion: If you are looking for more Gameplay for your Monument Valley hunger you will definitly get your kick with Evo Explores. Everyone else probably will either wait for a sale of the Game or watch one of those Gameplay Videos and then decide it the Game is worth it or not. Considering that I have finished the hole Game in less the time it did took me to finish the DLC of Monument Valley I still believe that the current among of Levels should get an upgrade of around 2 - 3 more Levels but that`s already moaning on a Level where you cry the Developer some Gamer Tears about you being to fast to play through their Game just because you are used to that Genre which most of some of us truly aren`t. Rating: 4/5* *= I would have rated it straight with an 5/5 but the beginning of the Game is kinda too rough in my eyes since Monument Valley/Dream Machine : The Game/... have shown more then once that those kind of Genre always needs some kind of Intro and the lack of that in Evo Explores kinda makes it more then clear that it should have One. Don`t take it to harsh Guys but you are here in the Ring against two Games that set the bar very high and I can`t just rate here every Game in the Genre with a straight 5/5 when I have to look closer if everything else in Evo Explores is great.
Having finished this game, I too am extremely impressed by how polished this game is and how well-designed the levels are. I think the developer deserves a lot of credits and kudos for being upfront with what games (including Monument Valley) from which he drew his inspirations for this game. His honesty gives legitimacy to the game, along with the few truly new mechanics that he added to the game to differentiate it from other clones. I also encourage players of this game to go read up the developer's diary that he wrote on Indie DB (the link is in the OP's post). Despite the fact that English was NOT his native language, he wrote up a passionate piece in English about the trials and tribulations of making this game, including the risk he took by quitting his previous job to devote to this project. The story is touching and has earned a lot of respect from me. I agree with TheGreatEscaper that the difficulty level of the puzzles in this game is a bit on the light side. However, I think the optical illusions are quite clever and certainly more imaginative than Dream Machine (another game that takes inspirations from Monument Valley). The most important message, however, is that this game is largely the effort of a SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. He is able to make a game that can compete head-to-head with Monument Valley that took an entire development team / company years to make. Anyone who praises or tries to criticize this game needs to take notice of this fact. The game is short, no doubt. I sincerely want to see if the developer can succeed in this endeavor to continue development of this game to make more levels in future updates. KirillKuzyk, if you can answer it, I would like to know the factors behind your decision to develop the game on Android rather than iOS first? Though I understand the initial distribution strategy, there is a lot of data currently showing that most of the "money" made on mobile games is from the iOS side.
Wait, one person? I saw some other names in the credits, including an artist. Were those just small, assisting roles? I agree, though, it's a polished, well-made game and I hope we'll get to see more. Btw, if anyone needs help, I made a walkthrough, broken up into two levels at a time: http://www.appunwrapper.com/2016/04/09/evo-explores-walkthrough-guide/
Looks wonderful. Buying now! Hope to see this on Android too. My son's Kellin & Ashby will love it too.
Thank you for such deep and detailed review. To be compared with such great games as MV and Dream Machine is an honor to me. I have two friends who helped me with 2D graphics and server side. Huge thanks to them! Yes, I can explain this decision. It's really hard now to get people to know about your game, so I decided to start with the smallest mobile platform and then move to bigger ones. In this process I polished the game, fixed some bugs and fans helped me with translations. I didn't expect that there would be so much people who want to localize the game to their native languages. Thanks a lot to all of them! The idea was to collect nice reviews on smaller platforms so later have some credibility when releasing to big platforms. I don't know if this was a right decision, because I could've released the game before Dream Machine (Blackberry version was ready 4 month ago).
Finished the game, it's almost as good as MV, great job dev. Left a 5 star revieuw on the Dutch Appstore. Monument Valley is still number one because that totem was magical.
I love these games. Unfortunately, I am playing Evo after Dream Machine. Dream Machine feels like a step forward whereas this is a bit of a step back. It small criticism as Evo is very good, it's just that Dream Machine offers a actual challenge and not just pretty graphics. MV and Evo just feel really linear A to B flip switch B to C flip switch etc... gameplay. Nothing to give your brain to chew on like Dream Machine does
Yep, I can admit that Evo Explores is somewhat easy. I wanted to make the game everyone could complete without getting stuck. I'm planning to make a sequel harder and more elaborated because many people want it to be so.
Can you please not make Dream Machine? If that's what you were planning already, don't let me stop you. But please don't make it just because you think that's what people want. You can make a more challenging puzzle game without the addition of frustrating controls and fail states. For me, Dream Machine was more of a twitchy game than a puzzle/logic game.
No, I wasn't planning to copy mechanics from Dream Machine To be honest, I think that DM has several mechanics that doesn't suit well to such type of games. I have several new mechanics that didn't get into final version of Evo Explores. So I'll use them in a sequel.
Further to my previous message I have got further now and I am enjoying the extra challenge that comes in the later stages. It would have been nice if the challenge had kicked in a bit earlier. It's really small criticism as I am really loving Evo explores!
