Everything. That’s what this game is about! It’s by Irish artist, filmmaker, and developer David OReilly.
It’s an unusual game we can class in the simulation genre and it first launched in 2017. The point is to explore a procedurally generated universe and control all sorts of objects you come across. It’s weird, it’s intriguing, and it’s about everything.
Everything as the Examination of Every Living Thing (plus philosophy 101)
For some reason this one reminds us of Katamari Damacy (2004), the surreal Japanese puzzle game thing. There’s the same kind of “eh?!” type response going on.
All the philosophising you can hear in the trailers are taken from Alan Watts (1915-1973), the English writer and speaker. He styled himself as a philosophical entertainer and taught about Chinese, Indian, and Japanese traditions with Buddhism.
Describing Everything is difficult. It’s best to see it in action.
We’ll still have a go! Basically, you take control of a lifeform and traverse a sparse natural landscape. You soon find you have the ability to take control of many and varied lifeforms and inanimate objects.
As you explore this world down to a sub-atomic level, whilst also being able to expand to the point you can control entire planets. It is about everything! Confusing? Yeah, a little bit. Here’s how it looks in action.
It’s a peculiar game. There’s no denying that. Another example we can think of is Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (2017), which was designed with Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus in mind as a deliberately infuriating and futile experience.
In Everything there’s no real goal, no high score to achieve, and you just meander about the place shapeshifting into stuff you discover.
A loose objective is to complete an encyclopaedia of the things you discover, otherwise you’re left to it to explore the world around you.
All whilst the graceful soundtrack, by composer Ben Lukas Boysen and cellist Sebastian Plano, rams home the sense of poignant wonder around you.
Everything isn’t for everyone. That should be obvious. It’s often a bit confusing and directionless, leaving you to explore the landscape in a kind of nihilistic sense of uncertainty.
This meant the critical reaction to the game was mixed. Its 2017 launch on PS4 and PC was followed by Linux and Nintendo Switch ports. But reviews remain mixed:
- 6.5/10
- 7/10
- 8.5/10
- 5.5/10
- 5/5
- 5/10
The 5/5 was from The Guardian (whose track record with gaming reviews is sketchy at best) who described it as a:
“Joyfully expansive dream of a game.”
We think full marks is completely over the top for Everything. What it certainly represents is an innovative and intriguing take on what gaming can be.
What it isn’t is an accessible or riveting experience.
Full marks to trying something different here, but as Video Gamer pointed out it’s: “Not as clever as it seems to think it is.” We wouldn’t say the game is pretentious, but it’s essentially an interactive philosophical lecture from Alan Watts.
And, boy, does it labour on its message and hang on it with an utmost sense of profundity.
On the plus side, you do get to shapeshift into a lamppost (a long-term personal dream of ours), otherwise it’ll really depend on your frame of mind over whether you enjoy Everything.
Divisive? Indeed. Perhaps that was the point… DUN DUN DUN!
