The Eternal Cylinder (PS4) Review
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Publisher/Developer: Good Shepherd Entertainment/ACE Team Software S.A.
Platform: PlayStation 4 (reviewed on PS5), Xbox One, Epic Game Store
Price: $29.99
Take your favorite world building/evolution style game. Play as a cute little character that, with the right food and support, can morph and grow into more than it ever could imagine. Think about how you can build a society, meet other creatures, and create a huge herd of creatures, each with their own special abilities to help each other. Then, IMAGINE A GIANT, WORLD SPANNING STEAMROLLER READY TO CRUSH ALL EXISTENCE LESS THAN A MILE AWAY THAT SUDDENLY BEGINS TO MOVE. This strange disparity: creating a better world only to see it crushed beneath the inevitable churning of the Eternal Cylinder, makes for a unique world that makes you want to understand it’s lore and history.
The Eternal Cylinder finds you in charge of a cute little race of malleable characters called the Trebhum. These creatures, as well as all the animals, plant life, and strange monstrosities you run across look like someone took Oddworld, Spore, and Monty Python and threw it all in a blender. From the tiniest creature to a skyscraper like giraffe—thing? or a world spanning dragon/snake, these oddly named creatures just ooze personality and uniqueness. Then, there’s the Cylinder. Cold, heartless, and neverending, the Cylinder moves forward across the procedurally-generated landscape every time you wander too far from a protective tower. Your only saving grace is to make it to the next tower before you and your tribe are flattened by the unstoppable Cylinder.
Trebhum have the innate ability to store food in their bodies to eat later. Some of it is just basic food for energy, health, or water supply, whilst others cause instantaneous morphing. New abilities are gained (and hilariously at times lost as your vision goes bad or your legs fall off for a short time). Beginning the game, it was frustrating to constantly fall into chasms filled with poison gas that I couldn’t get out of. Then I discovered the item that allowed me to develop powerful jumping legs to get back out. When I found the morph for a filter that let me breathe down there, exploration opened up even more.
The game cycles as such: search for materials to fill your survival gauges and such, look for more Trebhum (eggs, weakened ones to help, or simply waiting around), discover a mysterious cave or building to explore, trigger the Cylinder by breaking the barrier, RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN, and start again. Right when this feels like routine, you start getting wisps of what the story actually is: mysterious half-machines that do the Will of the Cylinder, and huge monstrosities that shouldn’t be spoiled for first-time players. There is a lot of exposition done, particularly when you meet up with Elder Trebhums, but there is still a lot of mystery remaining that could be explored in creative ways (animation, comics, fandoms, or prequel/sequels). Thing is, much like the Oddworld games, the world is simply odd, no need to explain, and makes it that much more endearing.
If I had to complain about anything, it’d simply be having to memorize what causes what mutations. Several times during the game I’d see something and need a particular ability. While that material is usually in abundance nearby, sometimes I’d get something backwards. Once I accidentally had all my Trebhum with the ability to convert materials to crystal, but it’s an auto-process and suddenly I couldn’t keep anything I needed with no way to undo the mutation. Other mutations felt all-or nothing: it stinks when you need to do precision platforming, but your grasshopper legs have only one setting and that’s a skyrocketing leap. I think that these issues could be alleviated if there was a little pop up you could request every time you get ready to eat a material, instead of having do deal with it afterwards with no backing out. (Note: There is a tree in a menu, but I feel something more dynamic would be beneficial)
The Eternal Cylinder rolls on, with a predictable pattern of gameplay. The Trebhum, while evolving, barely touch anything representing “offense”, so overall this game is outside of the usual comfort wheelhouse of playing a video game, as you are usually on the back foot fighting to stay alive. The developers definitely show wonderful imagination, as each and every creature is unique, and their weird designs have purpose. I remember running into a “rock” for it to split in half to let me through…. but it had teeth…and my Trebhum was not much longer for this world.
Creating a family of cute Trebhum with unique abilities that smartly morph into each other to complement and overcome obstacles is a lot of fun. Every character you come across, be they peaceful, violent, or full-on antagonistic is designed amazingly, with an art style that draws you in. At first, the procedural generation of each area may create something that you feel is insurmountable, but with the right mutators becomes manageable. The Eternal Cylinder continues on, and your Trebhum clan can and will find a way to overcome its inevitability.
Pros:
-Lush, creative world full of mystery
-Lore that makes the game much more than what it seems on the surface
-Well designed and cute characters, morphs and such
Cons:
-I’d like a way to see what a morph is prior to getting it, or a way to back one out
-Beginning of game takes a bit to figure out how to overcome certain obstacles
Special thanks to Good Shepherd Entertainment/ACE Team Software S.A. for providing a code for review!