The weight of memories burdens Rock Paper Shotgun’s news editor Edwin Evans-Thirwell as he traverses through the bleak mazes of LOVE ETERNAL, the unconventional horror platformer about escaping the domain of a selfish god from developer brlka and publisher Ysbryd Games.
The threats to protagonist Maya’s safety and sanity range from both obvious to harrowing. While in the mazes of a mad god’s designs, there’s the usual precision-platformer hazards of spikes, traps, lasers, and switches to overcome, with Maya’s ability to reverse gravity proving useful along the way. But reversing gravity won’t do much to lessen the insidious corruptions of a seemingly suburban environment with a penchant for coughing up monstrosities parodying supposedly familiar faces.
Commendably harrowing, yes?Celeste meets Silent Hill is one framing –Gris but grimdark is another. I already know I’m going to struggle with the platforming, but I’m very curious about the setting, which reminds me a little of Void Stranger‘s bottomless sokoban-scape. I also like the treacherousness of the presentation, with larger animated sprites suddenly louring into view during the hop-and-bop sequences. I like it up to a point, anyway. If the game does the fourth-wall peekaboo routine every time I have to carry out six mid-air gravity flips in a row, I am going to get Cross.
The twisted prison entrapping Maya are hauntingly suggestive, as if woven from her own memories and agonies. Acrobatic gravity-defying feats may take her on a journey through its depths, but they will likely not be enough on their own to cease her torments. Uncovering the nature of her god-spun maze and the monsters lurking within it will exact a cost of a shape and value not yet apparent to Maya.
Read the full Rock Paper Shotgun article here.
LOVE ETERNAL is headed for PC via Steam in 2025. Wishlist it on Steam here, and follow its social media on Twitter/X.
