Eternal Hope tells a tale as old as time. You are a little lonely boy, living in a world of darkness and shadows. One day, you meet a little girl, and the two of you bond, meeting every day. Suddenly, the world snatches her away. With only her scarf, the ability to see a shadow world of monsters, and a suspicious guide, you descend into a world of shadows to try and bring her back.
Eternal Hope has a great setup and an even greater visual style. Everything is creepy silhouettes with only eyes and the dead’s scary deathmasks in white. The comparisons to Limbo might be easy, but EH stands out thanks to Its chunky, soft art. Big hairy shadow monsters sit there scratching themselves, offering a hand from above or gliding through deep waters. Immense, but of no threat, huge kind leviathans.
Gameplay is simple, at times tough, but that’s to be expected from a modern 2D puzzle platformer. The boy can move left to right, jump, climb up and down, float with his scarf, push and pull objects, and, most importantly, briefly look into the shadow world. Often, the puzzle simply involves using your shadow world visions; perhaps there’s a platform or tunnel that only appears while looking or a monster that will pick you up or carry you.
Other times, it gets complex; maybe you need to drag out a hidden crossbow on a trolley, activate it to take out a tripwire puzzle and then fire it while in the shadow world, so it’ll hit and aggravate a monster, so you can now jump off its standing form, your fall breaking vulnerable stones beneath. Yeah, it’s clever stuff, but maybe these little tricks could be introduced better; I remember struggling with the jump-destructible platforms and objects, not knowing it could even be done.
By the end of the game, you’re not just climbing platforms (Hint; always climb down objects and edges when you can, as falls will kill), but dodging enemies you have zero defences against. From an epic and heartbreaking chase away from a troll to charging goats, chasing little light-wary goblins, and the final encounter with an enormous, monstrous shadowy shape. Here, timing and being aware of your surroundings are key; sometimes the window of opportunity is less than a second.
Whether you’re tricking a goat into charging a tree to loosen a platform or hanging off a ledge to make that goblin jump into a pit and die, all these moments involve having to perform an action while being chased by monsters quicker than you. I found these moments pleasingly tense, but fail enough times and it becomes tedious; though, thankfully, there are regular checkpoints.
The story is solid, though I find it a little muddled at times. The villain challenges you to come and retrieve your girlfriend’s soul, which kinda undermines the emotional journey the setup should have; arent you doing this because of love, not because of her soul being something super special? Along the way, you find out about an ancient civilization and its war with the shadow creatures, though every shadow creature you meet is lovely and cute. As such, I don’t quite get the villain’s threat? He has a gigantic monster, and wants your girlfriend’s soul, but the only thing he has any antagony with, in this world, is you… the guy he lured to him?
It’s obviously going for an Orpheus and Eurydice thing, but it just doesn’t quite work for me, which is a shame, cause its certainly a promising scenario, especially coupled with the soft, moody, contrasting visuals. There’s a surprising prologue, but mine cut out just as something everything is happening; I suspect finding all the game’s hidden soul seeds will add more to that final cutscene, which is very Mischief Makers on the N64, and a great incentive to replay.
The whole adventure is only an hour-long if you make no mistakes; I did it in two sittings, a total of three hours. All in all, Eternal Hope is a charming, emotional little adventure, that rewards completionists. While I think the story is awkward in places, that’s because I’m a snob who writes RPGs in his spare time.
Eternal Hope is great, and hopefully, its brief but bright light in your gaming experience will cast some long shadows of enjoyable moments.
Cause it’s about shadows, you see.
