EarthNight (Switch) Review
Release Date: December 3, 2019
Publisher/Developer: Cleaversoft
Platform: Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Steam
Price: $14.99 (or Apple Arcade subscription)
EarthNight is an amalgam of beautiful artwork and classic arcade games. Set in a strange realm where dragons have taken over the earth and humanity has fled to space, adventurers Stanley and Sydney take on the ultimate parkour challenge, riding the backs of snakelike dragons and vanquishing monsters whilst skydiving down to Earth in their attempt to regain control and help rebuild society. What this translates to is a much deeper endless runner experience, set to a blasting chiptune soundtrack featuring procedurally generated levels based on beautiful hand-drawn artwork.
Straddling the line between arcade gameplay and adding depth to an endless runner can be difficult, and EarthNight does it about as well as you possibly could. After choosing one of the two characters, you are set off on your skydive. Players are in charge of speed and jumping. Stanley can jump high or long, while Sydney has the ability to double jump or dash forward in midair. Sydney takes a bit more to master as your options are more varied, but provides for a more controlled experience once you get a grip on her control scheme. Players are constantly moving forward, dodging or stomping on enemies and collecting junk and treasures that can be traded for water, humanity’s main currency now that everyone’s stranded in space.
Another attempted “straddle” is between arcade and epic story. Early arcade games (like Pac-Man) didn’t need a lot of story, and later arcade games would have teasers mixed in with gameplay trailers to help you understand what the story was about. EarthNight tells a basic startup in it’s teaser run, but it screams for more: Why are there dragons? How did the humans escape to space? Any remaining story and lore is delegated to the Scrap Market collector, who also is completely in charge of the precious water. It feels like an indie tale that could really be fleshed out into something more with the proper budget.
EarthNight is an endless runner with extra tweaks to give it more depth, but the genre in general has a hard time getting out of the shallows. Varied enemies show up and you have to dodge or jump on them. Jumping on a chain of five or more will restore health. My frustration comes in when you are a split second off, you end up missing a chain, because it kind of sets the next group of enemies up to make those chains happen, and if you aren’t ready you end up missing them all or worse yet taking damage from multiple ones. You can’t practice certain runs, either, as each run is procedurally generated. Getting it right, however, is extremely satisfying. At first, you will be frustrated. You can’t seem to reach ledges high up, certain jumps are too close, making you miss treasures because you leap right over them, and you have no idea what to do when you get to the dragon’s head. As you run and collect items, it leads to power-ups being spread across the levels. These give you boosts or the ability to swing a weapon whilst the energy remains. As you unlock more of these, you stay alive longer and are able to dive closer to the Earth. At first it feels like you are going nowhere; but you soon see that while you are constantly heading back to the ship and starting at level one, it slowly but surely gets easier as the levels populate with power-ups.
EarthNight may be an odd duck, but it’s value price and interesting twist on an endless runner makes it worth more than other games in the genre. You can find it in your Apple Arcade subscription if you are already on, hit a trial if you aren’t a member, or pick it up at retail price elsewhere.
EarthNight grew on me. I was at first turned off due to the lack of information, difficulty, and no engaging plot. As the game went on and the trader leaked little bits of information, power-ups filled the area, and I started hitting a groove, I found a lot more fun to be had. It only gets zanier as you get closer to the ground, with more and more bizarre enemies trying to take you down and only one life to live, but hitting a perfect run feels euphoric and the beautiful art looks to be out of a crazy fever dream.
Pros:
-Beautiful hand-drawn artwork that fits seamlessly with the procedural generation
-Randomization combined with slowly growing set of power-ups creates a varied and fun game for short bursts
-Wonderful expansion on the endless runner genre
-Character select makes a difference on how you play the game
Cons:
-Very loose start, lack of knowledge on what to do and what the story entails
-Endless runners go fast, meaning little room to expand
Special thanks to Cleaversoft for providing a code for review!