This game is like a Studio Ghibli film but in game form.
Europa is an action adventure game where you explore the moon Europa on a quest to get answers about humanity’s downfall.
In this article, we’ll be giving a full review of the game and ranking it from decaf to fully caffeinated.
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Story
The story of Europa is hauntingly beautiful. Told through a narrated notebook, you’ll be immediately immersed in the world and full of questions as to what happened.
Set on the moon Europa, the story follows humanity’s arrival at the stunningly beautiful moon. You’ll uncover how Europa was settled, and then what led to the downfall of the new civilization.
Your dad is the one narrating the story, and as you navigate the world you’ll collect pages of the notebook. Each page gives you some new insights into what happened to cause humanity’s downfall, and often leave you with even more questions than answers.
The story is one that is achingly familiar, a tale of humanity taking something and twisting into something else, and depleting the natural beauty and function of the moon. It does a great job of tapping into the emotions of the people living through those moments, and the notebook pages written as the events occurring really brings an interesting insight into how things unfolded.
I loved that the story was told periodically as you navigate the different chapters, and gives you just enough information to keep you hooked. It’s definitely a story that sets the scene of the game, and drives the gameplay, as you want to keep exploring to find the next page.
The story itself is both wholesome and heartbreaking, touching on some themes relevant today, and is one that leaves a lasting imprint.
So for story, I’m rating Europa as Fully Caffeinated.
GAMEPLAY
If I could sum up the game play of Europa in a word, it would be satisfying.
The game has an open world feel, but there are some pretty clear distinctions as to where you need to go. The main gameplay functions as a larger scale 3d platformer, requiring you to jump, glide, and zip your way through each landscape.
The movement in the game feels so satisfying to play. I absolutely loved being able to glide down into the valley’s, and boost your way out the other side, and the sliding down hills, and skimming across the water, just has a great feel to it.
You navigate through consecutive chapters of the game, each with a slightly different setting, and with progressively harder challenges. Jumping and gliding will make up most of your movement as you navigate the different landscapes, but as you progress you’ll find different challenges that you need to complete to be able to pass through to the next chapter.
The challenges range from manipulating magical cubes, with different types in different levels, maneuvering a ball into a specific place, or collecting a number of magical whisps, amongst other things. In addition to this there’s also some emeralds spread throughout the world to collect, with a lot of them requiring some strategy, and often multiple attempts to reach.
There’s some dangers as you progress, like laser towers that will shoot you out of the sky, and bombardier like animals that will fire at you if you’re in their range, but these don’t feel overly difficult to manage. If you are looking for a more peaceful experience, there is also the Zen mode, which will remove these so you can truly relax while you experience the game.
I think one of my favourite mechanics was the fast air tubes, which see you get a boost while gliding, and being able to jump from hover cloud to hover cloud without touching the ground was really fun.
Woven in-between some of the chapters is some mediation style levels, that infuse affirmations from the story in a meditative like way, which was super interesting, and felt really immersive.
Overall Europa has some seriously fun mechanics in there that really feel balanced and satisfying. It’s not overly challenging, however it’s not boring either, striking a good mix of engaging but peaceful.
This is a game that just feels nice to play, so for gameplay, I’m rating Europa as Fully Caffeinated.
DESIGN
If there is one place Europa absolutely knocks it out of the park, it’s definitely the design.
The game has a Studio Ghibli inspired art style, that really captures the peaceful feel. The world design is absolutely stunning, and I love that the game shows it off with the cut scenes at the beginning of each section, really highlighting just how incredible this world is.
Each of the creatures and elements in the game feels well thought out, and fits with the story, creating this great hybrid robot feel, that still has roots in nature and animals that we know.
The soundscape is peaceful and immersive, really adding to the relaxing environment, and you can definitely feel the mediation influence in the game, as it just feels nice to play, especially when combined with the movement in the game.
This is a game that has such an immersive and absolutely stunning game environment, so for design, I’m rating Europa as Fully Caffeinated.
ORIGINALITY
I don’t think the concept of Europa as a second earth is an original one, but the way it’s been interpreted in this game definitely is. The hybrid robot/human theme, when paired with the immersive story, and the peaceful atmosphere all feel like unique elements that have been combined to create something really special.
Some of the mechanics definitely feel familiar, and nod to other 3d platformers, but the way they’ve been implemented in this game feel unique.
This is a game that takes a few familiar things that you wouldn’t think would go well together, and creates a masterpiece, so for originality I’m rating Europa as Fully Caffeinated.
THE FINAL BREW
Europa is one of those games that will leave a lasting impression, not necessarily because of the story, or the gameplay, but because of the way it makes you feel when you play.
It’s a game that truly creates an immersive and relaxing environment, with some seriously satisfying gameplay, that is both fun and relaxing.
We’ve ground the beans, we’ve carefully weighed and pressed the grinds, and brewed this game down. Now it’s time for a taste test…. Europa is Fully Caffeinated.
Europa is available on Steam, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox now! You can find more info here
Until next time, stay caffeinated!
