Despite its far from fully-formed narrative – on top of a questionable weird for weird's sake interjection at points – Love Eternal's visual, audible and (unexpected) mechanical twists, grant this precision-platformer effort, enough mystery and break from convention, to entice.
One of the more niche (and by niche, I refer to perhaps a handful of others sharing such interest) discussions I enjoy articulating and divulging many a thought over, is the quintessential make-up of that most unusual of game releases/scores. The not-so-fabled but still alluring: 7/10-type game. One that, if we're to go by its mere numeric implications, at its simplest, wields more "good" and enjoyment in such, than "bad" with which to call out and criticize. To delve a little deeper: a concept with a solid – perhaps interesting – enough base with plenty of stand-alone elements and aspects to highlight.
Ultimately though, failing to reach the level of easy recommendation, due in no short part to some clear or unavoidable flaw in its execution. A game that will certainly find its audience; perhaps said collective will see past the negatives and acknowledge the bright spots, the highlights, just what it is that has made such a release far from a failure. A major distinction from its 5/10 or 6/10 brethren – what helps it push past mediocrity and into above-average/commendable-tier quality – is in its ability to intrigue or engage just enough for the drawbacks to feel anything but epidemic. Shackled to them, by them perhaps, but certainly not subservient to them.
For as notable one's issues (big and small alike) are with a game like Love Eternal – despite its bite-size length of roughly three hours to reach end credits – I would be lying if I said what developer brlka offers, hasn't been a net positive experience. Positive, albeit with one or two caveats to acknowledge when it comes to this game's themes, progression and at times, bouts of devolving into unnecessary internet culture callbacks.
First and foremost – and perhaps one of the many pluses working in this game's favor – Love Eternal should absolutely be experienced going in blind with little-to-no understanding of what's lying in wait, other than its initial portrayal as that of a gravity-inverting, precision-platformer. That I feel compelled not to spoil anything pertaining to this game's true nature, already sets Love Eternal apart from the vast crop of similarly-scaled genre efforts. Yet even if that weren't the case, taking the game on its [false] surface-level appearance, Love Eternal still manages to provide a decent-enough incline of difficulty and frustratingly-satisfying series of platforming ordeals.
The main gist of this section of the game, having you – taking on the role of – invert gravity with the simple tap of a button, shifting from floor to ceiling. The catch being that once activated, one must make contact with either floor or ceiling, for the ability to reset. As you might've guessed, an ample amount of spikes and lasers litter each challenge – the complexity and even very length of such ordeals steadily increasing, the further one progresses. To the point where red crystals – objects that reset your gravity-shifting ability mid-play upon contact – too become numerous.
Add on top that Love Eternal's use of gravity manipulation is also momentum-driven – shifting gravity also carries through any speed you may have built up from one's "fall" – and it isn't long before you find yourself Super Meat Boy-style, rapidly restarting to go again, by the dozen-load. Not least because the additional consideration of momentum can so easily trip you up – not least in spots that require the most astute of threading one's self as if through some eye of a needle.
Frustrating, but manageable is how you may want to best sum up this part of Love Eternal and admittedly, were the game a series of platforming ordeals to bash one's head against and begrudgingly get past, Love Eternal would still land as a relatively commendable effort within this specific platforming niche. Far from some new benchmark, but worthwhile enough not to easily pass on.
But then the second-half of the game kicks in - to one's admittedly unprepared surprise – and without going into too much detail as to what it entails, Love Eternal's presentation, means of interaction and even its tone, shift in ways that are both delightfully uncomfortable...and just straight up off-putting in totality. Or to put it another way: Love Eternal's horror-like leanings at points lean more into social-awkwardness than they do necessarily massive frights or jump-scares.
Yet for the most part, Love Eternal's awkwardness ends up being its best trait. A game flirting with the less-physical and grandiose of horror aspects, but leaving itself concealed just enough for the mystery of its narrative, to remain enticing. And the encroaching tension of what might happen next, never too far away from one's ,ind Music and sound usage too - coming off as if a little too affront or bolstered than what's necessary – adding to the faux-genuine attire of both its setting and indeed its characters. A nice compliment to the game's otherwise brooding, dark ambient soundscapes popping up across the breadth of the game's run-time.
Had the tale capitalized on its enticing tone, Love Eternal might've landed with more positive affection. Instead, the problems begin to pile up the moment you start asking for any sort of conclusion or pay off with Love Eternal's core themes or story-telling in general. Instead, the game spends most of its time – long before the second-half even kicks off – awkwardly dallying between psychological horror one second, adolescent anxiety the next and then what can only be assumed to be some brand of "humor" aimed at instilling even more uncomfortable a tone.
The problem is that it can all feel scatter-shot; Love Eternal drunkenly flying off in a different direction, hoping that the immediate shock at such a tangent, will be enough. Even a late-stage third shift in game delivery – arguably the most bizarre effort but sadly the least conceptually-interesting one – feels like a pivot made only to distract, rather than flesh things out. As best the game attempts to try and wrap all this up around some meaningful conclusion that, at worst, comes off a little too worryingly pretentious for its own good.
Had Love Eternal committed to any one of the themes or ideas it's clearly professing to having an interest in tackling: adolescent anxiety, relationships with family and friends, confronting one's least-pleasant traits, the structure might've heralded better results. So far as stand-alone moments, the proof of concept is most certainly there. Love Eternal's very deliberate shift-up's with visuals and indeed sound as previously noted, clearly point to a developer with a love for the awkward and the off-putting. Better yet: a developer with a skill for presenting matters in less-flattering circumstances.
Not least given the game's intentionally crude aesthetic via its visual detail. Character profiles made as if by forced, apathetic requirement, rather than close, personal admiration a la family ties. Environments too, minimalist, blocky – at times distorted just enough to render the setting, much like its tone, within that confine of "something's not quite right". Even if the main through-line to some satisfying conclusion is lacking, brlka can't be faulted for how much, tonally and thematically, permeates from so little.
On that basis, while it may not stick the landing and wind up with a satisfying conclusion come its finale, Love Eternal's unsettling route forward is interesting enough. Paved along the way by some great use of sound and indeed an all-round befitting audio direction to drive home the game's haunting feeling of unease. Though its darting use of humor in parts doesn't quite land as effectively as its tone, Love Eternal brandishes enough intriguing friction – beyond just the scope of its gravity-manipulating gameplay – to feel like a welcome-though-flawed break from convention.
