Everything Reviews
Playing Everything left me kind of empty feeling, which is almost definitely not the intention. I feel as though it is meant to leave you feeling in awe of how connected everything is. The trouble is, I’m already a hippie vegan with an interest in quantum mechanics. I already know everything is connected.
Everything is a philosophy lecture turned into a game, and if you're looking for some new insight on life and a sandbox to play in while you listen, it'll provide. While the game offers up hundreds of choices of objects to become, it comes at the sacrifice of everything feeling the same.
GOOD - Everything is an interpretive experience game, and one that’s quite hard to score, as so much of it will come down to personal engagement. The collection and exploration mechanics are well defined, and getting to hear some of Alan Watt’s speeches is a treat and further adds to the gravity of the game. For many, this will be too random of an experience, but I implore giving it a go as it’s a relaxing game to enjoy.
If this sounds fascinating, that’s great, and there’s a certain degree of entertainment in controlling a tree, a segmented fence that behaves a bit like a snake, or even planets. I find philosophy to be interesting and this visual exploration of some concepts is novel at a minimum, but just understand that it’s more of an exercise than a game. It does track what you’ve managed to take control of, and perhaps you’ll want to be sure you be every form of plant in the game but aside from that or simply tracking down all of the different info tidbits or audio clips there’s not much more that it has to offer. If none of the above has scared you off I’d think you’ll find Everything to be enjoyable, it’s just such an unusual experience that I can’t ignore the fact that it won’t be for everyone.
As a whole, “Everything” is marvelous. You’ll find yourself entranced, however briefly, in the game’s faux-universe. For such minimalistic gameplay, it’s actually quite mesmerising. I played it for much longer than I anticipated before starting it up for the first time, and looked forward to it later; for that, it gets big points from me. But I am legitimately saddened by the shortcomings of autoplay, and hope it sees an update. I also can’t ignore the myriad crashes I encountered.
Everything really does deliver on its abstract concept, but only if you're willing to boot it up with an open mind. There's no action, or even a cohesive plot. There are no XP bars to fill or loot to collect – just a universe and you, and a desire to determine just who ‘you' really are. The basic textures and colours (and the hilarious way creatures just roll about like possessed statues) might stifle some, but Everything's worth is more than skin deep. It's a risky game – some will love it and some just won't get it at all – but it's an experience well worth undertaking, regardless of where you end up.
"A game, an art performance or just philosophical rambling? Hard to say."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
After discussing it for a few minutes, I feel like I want to thank you all for coming to my TED talk. That’s because it’s so impressionistic, existential, philosophical … all the things people invoke when they want to convince you that video games can be art. But Everything has a leg up on a lot of those art-installation-as-games. Everything is also a lot of fun!
Despite its almost complete lack of traditional gameplay concepts, Everything still manages to offer enough of a hook that it should avoid the more pedantic corners of the gaming community concerned about what is truly a game.
Alan Watts' philosophy lectures are intriguing, but it's not very interesting getting from one lecture to the next. I was never able to be engaged or immersed in the world. Despite being a game about how all things are related, I found the silly, empty experience of Everything very unrelatable.