At the risk of being completely unrelated: do you know the music they play at the spa? That kind of spaced-out, synthesized soundscape that's not exactly music, but it's not exactly music either. No music? The kind of playlist you might find if you take a wrong turn from your favorite lo-fi playlist? Soothing chord after soothing chord, interspersed with birdsong, sounds of rain or crackling fire? Good, Europe It is that, but in the form of a video game, at least in regards to its gameplay.
EuropeDeveloped by Helder Pinto and Novadust Entertertainment, it is a game primarily about gently floating through cell-shaded environments to the beat of soothing piano and electronic music. You play as Zee, a humanoid boy who uses a “Zephyr” backpack to fly through serene landscapes riddled with overgrown ruins and kitschy robots. During its opening hours, Europe looks like it should have been titled Beautiful view simulatoras he takes you from one stunning vantage point to another, panning the camera to show off the game's painterly aesthetic and surprising scope. If you liked the opening of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Europe it does that kind of epic zoom out every 30 minutes or so. (Just a slight exaggeration.)
Taken only from vibrations, Europe It is a relaxing experience that borders on the meditative. The challenge is absent here. Many enemies can be disabled with a hug. The puzzles are superficial and solved quickly. You can't die. If you're looking for a challenge, look elsewhere. Europe trades difficulty for the joy of movement as the player explores the nooks and crannies of a beautiful, yet largely empty, world. Besides Zee, that world is populated only by a variety of fauna (deer, rabbits, foxes) and robots worth an ark's worth. And it's this last population that introduces the game's most obvious conflict: a stark contrast between its aesthetics and its narrative.
There is no shortage of post-apocalyptic games. EuropeFor all its cold elements, it is another entry in that genre. Humans have colonized Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, transforming it with artificial intelligence-produced terraformers into something habitable. But not all is well in the mission to create a second home for humans. The game is narrated by an old man writing to his son, and you spend your time compiling the pages of his diary, piecing together the story of what happened before you set out on your European adventure; Turns out a story that's pretty dark. As the game progresses, it becomes clear that humanity's flaws came with them to Europe, as the terraformers decided long ago to rebel against their creators, considering humanity to be the antithesis of their directive to create an ecologically healthy environment. . This conflict leads to an open war, when humanity abandons the earth and takes refuge in the sky.
Image: Novadust Entertainment/Future Friends Games
Without giving anything away, I will say that, in concluding EuropeThe game makes a definitive statement about the conflict between human life and the environment. However, the questions raised by EuropeThe story of – mainly, should humanity be given a second chance to sustain a planet if they have failed time and time again to do anything other than destroy wherever they call home? – contrast with the experience of playing, which is sublimely relaxed and, as I've written, almost completely conflict-free.
In the brief three or four hours it takes to complete the game, you will find landscapes where you are unbothered by industry or greed, reading page after page about how we humans, even in our desperate flight from a ruined Earth, take our warlike inclinations to bear. what they should be. It has been a utopia. In his narrative, Europe It explicitly asks the player to consider whether we, as humanity, deserve a Europe. My own response, watching the clouds roll over green hills dotted with carefree biological and technological creatures, was, frankly, no. We had our chance. Let them try. Let someone else have a chance if we've wasted the first and second. Let the world reclaim the world and see if a newer, kinder order can emerge.
I don't think the developers agree with me on this point, but I find it fascinating that the game allows this reading. Europe has some drawbacks as a game: the camera can often fight you mid-flight, some sound effects still look like placeholders, and the periodic disabling of Zee's ability to glide freely through the air (as a way to add challenge) it just doesn't work. well, since it's not fun to be able to fly and then be told to walk. And, again, if you're looking for a challenge, look for greener pastures (although good luck finding greener pastures than Europe's).
However, while Europe It's not a game I can recommend without reservation, what I admire most about it is its unwillingness to square the circle of its gameplay and its narrative dissonances. Having seen where the story lands, I can safely say that the contrast is not unintentional on the part of the developers. And while I personally find myself angered by the most hopeful inclinations, I admire the fact that, to the end, Europe He asks you to decide for yourself what you think of all this. It's a brave game that hands those thematic decisions over to its player rather than hitting them over the head with a desired interpretation. Europe It may be the spa music of post-apocalyptic games, but its relaxation raises a deeper question: Do we deserve a greener world? And if not, how could we change ourselves to fit into that greener utopia we've dreamed of for so long?
Europe was released on October 11 on Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. The author played on PC using a download code provided by Future Friends Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon's ethics policy can be found here.