Evil Genome – Review

“A beautiful metroidvania adventure”

Name: Evil Genome
Developer & Publisher: Crystal Depths Studio
Platform: PC
Released: 7th of August 2017

Evil Genome is the first videogame from an all new chinese indie studio called Crystal Depths Studio. Does their metroidvania adventure platform game live up to the competition?

What is Evil Genome?

I feel like I have to explain first what metroidvania is, because Evil Genome falls under this category. Metroidvania is a 3D horizontal (or platformer as you might say) wasteland adventure game. This genre is an subgenre of the action-adventure games similar to Castlevania and Metroid.

So with that in mind, what is the story in Evil Genome?

We’re in the 23rd century and we’re under the order of TLS organization. Our mission; investigate and eliminate various enemies within the colonies which declared their independence.

I won’t go into a lot of detail or depth regarding the story, and the reason for that is quite simple; I didn’t understand much.

It might just be me that has a hard time to track and follow the narrative, maybe it might be easier to follow for someone who love asian anime series. (General problem for Anime noobs?) It is a big deal for me personally that I actually have to take a break from the game to look up the backstories etc to understands my protagonist’s motivation and so on.

Another funny thing that I always find funny with asian anime translated to english is the translation and the voice acting, Evil Genome is no different. Obviously there will be some mistakes on the translations, but some of it is hilariously bad. But then again, the dialogue between the two main characters Alfa and Lachesis is very entertaining. Even though some of the dialogue is meant to be funny, it also functions as a memory bank for our hero.

Graphics & Gameplay

It is pretty clear where Crystal Depth Studio have been focusing on Evil Genome, and that is in the game design and art style. Evil Genome looks pretty darn beautiful and polished. The character design has gone through a process with a special touch as well.

I will say they have succeeded in bringing you the sense of feeling of being in a post apocalyptic wasteland.

One thing that could be an issue for some people, while others might see it as a challenge (like Dark Souls). I found the normal difficulty a little hard, and there is also a “Nightmare” mode available that I didn’t touch at all unfortunately.

Besides that controls and the combat system is quite basic and easy to learn. The combat system is a mix up with hack and slash with the ability to use guns for long range combat as well. You also have access to a detailed skill tree which offers a lot of benefits for you as you go. But I think you should spend some time to learn the skill tree system, as it took me some time myself to get my head around on it.

It might take some time to get your head around this skill tree and character building, but when you do get the hang of it you might spend hours in here.