First released in 2021, Everhood became a surprise hit that arrived in the right place at the right time. We were still locked in our houses due to the pandemic, games were being postponed due to developmental setbacks, there was nothing new in the horizon at the time. That trippy nonsense of a game arrived like an LSD-drenched missile and captivated me with its weird art style, rhythm-based gameplay, and plot twists. It was, however, a typical case of a game you’d never expect a sequel to be made out of, considering its one-and-done premise and plot. Yet, four years later, Everhood 2 is out. Let’s give it a look.

The whole announcement of an Everhood sequel was weird to me, and not in the same way I consider that game charming due to its weirdness. I just never expected a follow-up to a story that simply did not leave any loose ends. Truth be told, Everhood 2 is less of a proper sequel and more of a “story set in the same universe”. In it, you play as a crudely drawn light being whose color is defined by a pretty odd questionnaire given to you at the beginning of your savefile. The game will ask you everything, from your name to your current mental heath state, as well as your opinion towards Fortnite. I am not inventing anything, that s*** actually happens.

The results of this borderline job interview will decide upon the color of your character’s body. Again, don’t ask why, the game just stated that blue is the color of my soul, and I just went with it. The main objective of my quest is to venture many realms, improve my skills, and defeat the Mind Dragon, an embodiment of the my anxieties and traumas. Many (trippy) events happen before and after that flagship moment, but that is the core premise of Everhood 2. And if you’re paying proper attention to Everhood lore and what I’ve just written above, you’ll be asking yourself: improve skills? Defeat an enemy? So wait, what about the predecessor’s focus on avoiding combat if you wanted to?

This is one of the main differences between both games. Everhood gave you the choice between actually engaging in combat or not. In true Undertale fashion, you had free reign over your actions. In Everhood 2, you don’t have the same flexibility. The game wants you to engage in combat, and even allows you to grind on enemies in very specific (and highly linear) sections.

The combat is still largely the same as its predecessor. Each enemy will throw you into a Guitar Hero-esque board and spit out harmful notes to the beat of a (usually awesome) song. The difference being, right from the getgo, you are not told to avoid the notes, you’re meant to absorb them. The rhythm-based gameplay kinda goes out of the window because you’re not trying to masterfully avoid attacks to a beat, but actually facing these notes in order to absorb them, charge a meter, and blast enemies when the meter is somewhat full. Bear in mind, the combat is excellent, it’s just very different from the first game, as you don’t have a choice in wanting to engage in violence or not. This morality aspect is not present.

Both games are still pretty much identical in terms of their presentation. As previously mentioned, both feature excellent musical setpieces, so there’s no need to explain this further. Graphically-wise, Everhood 2 still retains that intentional crappy-looking art style, with just the right amount of polygonal assets and trippy imagery to make you realize that yes, effort has actually been put into the visuals. I just noticed that there are way more seizure-inducing flashing lights and image blasts in Everhood 2 when compared to its predecessor, so here’s your warning.

So, as expected, it’s still pretty freaking weird (you even meet Carl Jung at a point, which left me questioning why), the dialogue is actually well-written this time around, but there’s something about the odd references and overall weirdness in Everhood 2 that made it less, well, “weird” than the first game. Maybe it’s the fact that I had no idea what to expect from Everhood back in 2001, so every weird crap thrown at me caught me off guard every single time. In 2025, I don’t know what kinds of weird things an Everhood sequel would feature, but, at the very least, I know that they will appear, so the surprise factor is diminished ever so slightly.

I have to commend the development team at Foreign Gnomes for coming up with a sequel to such a unique game like Everhood, without making it feel like more of the same. In some regards, sure, Everhood 2 retains what made the original so fun and weird, whilst trying to be a bit more action-focused and a bit more combat-oriented. It’s not as good as the original Everhood, nor is its story as impactful, but hey, it’s still vastly more creative than the sheer majority of games coming out nowadays. And with decent grammar this time around.

Graphics: 7.0 It basically retains the same art style seen in the first Everhood, with just a bit more polygonal elements every now and then, and some stupidly strong flashing imagery that will be considered a threat to people who suffer from epilepsy.	Gameplay: 8.5 Everhood 2 features the same rhythm-based take on JRPG gameplay, but it’s a bit more focused on combat, in a way that basically ditches actual rhythmical behavior altogether. If you’ve played the original, the new combat feels a bit off-putting due to that game’s lore. It’s not bad at all, though, just different in mentality.
Sound: 9.0 Combat sections feature varied music styles and catchy tunes. Yet another element that hasn’t changed from the original.	Fun Factor: 7.5 Whilst still an incredibly entertaining (and very weird) experience, I feel like a good chunk of the novelty seen in the original Everhood is missing in this sequel, since you already know what to expect from these games.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Everhood 2 is available now on PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Everhood 2 was provided by the publisher.