Review: Everdeep Aurora (Switch)

Two years back—yeah, feels like yesterday—I was at PAX West 2023, just wandering around, looking for that next cool thing. And bam! I came across Everdeep Aurora. I swear, no battles, just puzzles and exploring. Kind of hooked me, so when I got the chance to really dive into it, you bet, I took it.

Anyway—oh, yeah—I was going on about the game. You start out as this kitten, Shell, hunting for her mom, which sounds simple. But then there’s this whole meteor shower thing forcing everyone underground. Odd, right? With this dinky drill, you’re digging down, deeper and deeper. I mean, honestly, the deeper I went, the weirder it got. You meet a bunch of characters with their own oddball issues—like a girl looking for her lost dog, a remorseful frog, and this sneaky snake who’s conning everyone. I guess it’s about kindness or something, helping them out progresses your game.

Now, the exploring part—it’s kind of wild. I often ended up with more hats than I knew what to do with. I know, hats? Just go with it. And the documents, gems, and whatnot—there’s a lot. Visuals? Straight out of a Game Boy Color fever dream, but in a good way. Even when things got repetitive, there were weird mini-games to spice it up. 2D exploring, dice rolling, retro cutscenes—it’s all in there. But man, without any waypoints, you could end up lost real fast—like, where am I again? Forget about a quest log too, you’re on your own, remembering who needs what. Speaking of adding stuff, having a few guideposts would’ve been a game-changer, you know?

Oh, right, there’s this jitter with the framerate on the Switch. It’s subtle, but come on, I expected better. Maybe it’s just me being picky.

In the end—if there ever is one—Everdeep Aurora is a mixed bag. The music hits just right, graphics are a nice throwback, and a game that focuses on discovery without combat? Nice. But being lost half the time? Not so much. Some folks might love it—a real unwind type of game—but if getting lost bugs you, watch out.

Right, so the takeaway? Depends on whether you thrive on unraveling mysteries or get irked by mazes with no map. But, oh well, maybe that’s just life, right?