Check out our review of Europa to find out what we thought about this game of adventure, exploration, and meditation.
If you have ever seen the TV show, Sons of Anarchy, you would have seen the protagonist Jax Teller always scribbling in a small diary. He was writing down life lessons and messages for his yet-unborn son. It’s something that I kept on harkening back to repeatedly during my five-hour playthrough of Europa – an action-adventure indie game developed by Novadust Entertainment and published by Future Friends Games.
I kept thinking about Jax’s journal from the show because, as you explore the Studio Ghibli-esque terraformed paradise as Zee, you find notes penned by your father. Notes that tell you about the plight of the old Earth and what happened on Europa.
Europa was developed by former Overwatch and Diablo 3 Art Director Helder Pinto and a small dev team he assembled. It’s been his passion project since 2017, alongside his “proper job” as an art director working on games such as Overwatch and Diablo 3. More recently he’s enlisted a crack squad of friends, Alex Petherick-Brian (programming) and Brian Horn (narrative and cinematics) working under the banner of Novadust Entertainment, alongside other wildly talented folks such as novelist Grace Curtis (narrative) and composer Matt Thomason (music/soundtrack design). Europa is slated to launch on October 11th, 2024.
Zee is a human child stuck on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter – without another soul in sight barring the old rusty mechanical Gardeners. He jumps, glides, and soars through the air serenaded by melancholy strings and saddening piano notes. As Zee uncovers the secrets of Europa, you sketch gardeners that fly about Zee’s head curiously, some shaped like birds, others like bees. Even others cower and retreat into their shells.
Those aforementioned journal entries essentially set up the narrative of the story. It is a story of human folly and what seems like the environmental destruction of Earth. The mystery that drives the game forward is uncovering what has happened to the people who had come to Europa to terraform the satellite. You get the sense something went wrong here too – with ruins all around and sentient machines green with moss and creaking with age, going about their business. I have rarely felt this sense of apprehension and relaxation at the same time in any game.
Europa is a surprisingly optimized game – with very low requirements in terms of resources. But it is gorgeous – marrying Howl’s Moving Castle and Tears of the Kingdom to create wide, lush vistas that draw you in. You can always see Jupiter in the sky, looming over all your actions. The frame rate never dips and the game never looks “bad”. If you are a Zelda or Studio Ghibli fan, this is right up your alley.
The entirety of the gameplay is based upon traversal – you have a jetpack – Zephyr which you use to jump, glide, and fly as you move around the serene peaks and valleys. Zephyr can be upgraded with Crystal Stars and there are simple platforming puzzles around the ruins. I don’t want to say Europa is a cozy platformer but it is a cozy platformer. It is a relaxing jaunt through a lavishly created world. The actual mechanics of the traversal though, can feel floaty and imprecise. But the game doesn’t demand exact precision either. You feel like you are learning the controls along with Zee. Stumbling along feels natural, like this is how it’s meant to be.
Europa always feels bittersweet – a beautiful world has sprouted among the ruins of what feels like an intergalactic war but there is always this crushing sense of loneliness. And this little boy, the last human is your proxy in this world. His awe and wonder are contagious but you feel protective of this boy, even though almost nothing in his world poses any threat to him. Europa always pulls you along to find out what’s over the next hill, past the next bend. It feels like a world of unlimited potential.
Developer: Novadust Entertainment
Publisher: Future Friends Games
Release Date: October 11th, 2024 (PC, Switch)
This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the publisher. The PC version of Europa was played for this review.
Thank you for reading our review of Europa. For more interesting articles about indie games, be sure to check out the links below.
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Dungeons of Hinterberg Review
- SCHiM is an intriguing puzzler about hopping in and out of the shadows
- Conscript Walkthrough – Chapter 1
- Best Indie Horror Games of 2024
Videogames.
Gym.
Sneakers.
Manga.
My dog.
In that order.
