Love Eternal Reviews
The platforming elements of Love Eternal are delightfully frustrating fun with a limited set of mechanics put to creative and clean use. Multiple levels had me holding my breath, gritting my teeth, and cursing the wayward god who founded the whole endeavour.The hand-drawn levels are as beautiful as their challenges are frustrating. Unfortunately, an overly ambitious narrative coupled with a strange mid-game shift mars the game's myriad charms.
As a platformer, it's easy to understand, though the unpredictable momentum of movement unfortunately keeps it from feeling as precise as genre enthusiasts will surely prefer. Still, it's one of those "play in one sitting" type of games that you won't want to miss if anything about the premise speaks to you.
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Two separate cores of equally engaging but shallow gameplay, and a fascinating but frugal narrative, competing to see which wears the player down first.
LOVE ETERNAL juggles the task of delivering a harrowing, razor-sharp platformer with a moody, haunting narrative. Its bite-sized length constantly makes an impact, striving to be one of the most unique games you will play.
This will not land for everyone. Its cryptic nature may frustrate you. Some rooms may push your patience to the edge. But if you are open to experimental design and willing to embrace discomfort, there is nothing else quite like it. It surprised me, unsettled me, and stayed with me long after the credits rolled. Love Eternal feels like the kind of game that reminds you what this medium can do when it steps into strange territory. It may not be comfortable, and honestly, it probably should not be. But it is absolutely worth experiencing. It's a title worthy of praise and worthy of love.
The biggest challenge in talking about Love Eternal is in trying to make sense of its failings. It isn’t awful, but worse: it’s just boring. It doesn’t offer much to chew on in terms of mechanics or story. At its best there’s a sense that Love Eternal has something it desperately wants to say, but it grasps at straws to say it and perpetually comes up short. So what else is there to say about a game as shallow as Love Eternal? Only that it’s like Celeste meets Silent Hill—Gris, but grimdark.
Challenging 2D horror platformer that will have you exploring a castle built of bitter memories
Mastering each carefully-designed room within the eerie campaign of LOVE ETERNAL will keep you on edge and it's one very rewarding game. 🏚️
Love Eternal is a game that will hit with certain people who enjoy these types of games where they can get through the levels the fastest or go through the entire game without dying. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. I wanted to catch chunks of the story but it didn't give me enough to keep a steady pace to keep my interest.
Love Eternal is a remarkably tight precision platformer with exhilaratingly joyful movement mechanics. It also has a fascinating and disturbing story to tell about loneliness and our desperate need for love. The unconventional telling of this tale – the subverting of genre expectations and the liberal use of surreal symbolism – is surprising and original and helps to create meaning amidst the apparent chaos of complicated lives. The platforming is tough, and the experimental narrative requires a little patience, but this is an astonishing piece of work that fully rewards the effort.
LOVE ETERNAL wasn't the varied platformer I was looking for, as expected. The story also forms a thin thread through the somewhat generic and standard gameplay, which can become a bit monotonous after a while. This game is for the true die-hards, who can't get enough of dying and trying again. It works reasonably well, but it could definitely have been more. Especially if they had perhaps added a few more gameplay elements and allowed the story and atmosphere to shine a little more prominently.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Love Eternal is a punishing psychological horror platformer built around a single gravity reversal mechanic that pushes precision to its limits. Brika crafts a stark, unsettling world where every room feels like a trial of patience and mastery, rewarding persistence with genuine satisfaction. While its minimalist design and focused mechanics create intense, memorable platforming highs, limited quality of life features, occasional technical issues, and a steep difficulty curve may test even seasoned players.
LOVE ETERNAL is one of a kind. It accomplishes snappy, satisfying platforming while delivering a fresh take on psychological experimental horror. Sure, they may have somehow made this already bald man even more bald with that final screen, but brlka has become one to watch in the scene with their impressive debut.
Love Eternal is a solid platformer filled with puzzles and some psychological horror elements that make it feel like its own Greek myth. However, it isn't able to set itself apart from other games in the genre to make it a breakout game.
LOVE ETERNAL is a truly unique platformer that perfects its core mechanics and building upon them creates a very special horror atmosphere. Players will find themselves in repeatedly jaw-dropping situations at the constant barrage of twists and turns. Toby Alden has crafted not only a sometimes incredibly difficult and challenging game but above all a truly special experience. The only minor flaw for me was the screen's brief blackout each time I die which can be a bit tiring on the eyes after a while. If you have a high frustration tolerance for the tough parts you should definitely give it a go.
Review in German | Read full review
It's not every day a game has such a profound emotional effect on me, and even less so with pixel art platformers. But Love Eternal is one of the weirdest games I've ever played, and in all the most complimentary ways.
LOVE ETERNAL surprises with its simplicity: two buttons, one core mechanic, tight and responsive precision platforming, a challenging but fair difficulty curve, and a strong, stylish presentation with a surreal, melancholic tone—no classic horror scares, but an eerie, artsy experience that’s a clear recommendation for fans of demanding platformers, though not for everyone.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
While the narrative didn’t grab us, the brilliant presentation and moreish challenge did. It may make us curse more than a few times as we die yet again, but the challenge was ultimately enjoyable enough to want to continue on regardless.