Something reassuring to know that, long after I die, long after the sun fizzles out, and long after the universe reaches its final anticlimactic heat death, there'll still be Indie puzzle-platformers being released on a semi-regular basis. Back in the Indie sphere's XBLA heyday, Braid led a whole crowd of these chill, ruminative platformers that sometimes demanded (but not in any insistent way) that you sit back, take in the entire level, and figure out the right course of action before executing on all the necessary hops and dashes. Evergate, from Boston-based Stone Lantern Games, is unapologetically one of those.

Evergate sees a disembodied soul, Ki, emerge in the underworld and make the trek to the titular Evergate which will send them back into the world of the living in a brand new body. However, rather than pass through the gate, Ki finds themselves reliving the memories of an unknown entity. To pass between these memories, the player must navigate Ki around levels using their "Soulflame" ability: a white beam that can destroy certain crystals under certain conditions to produce certain effects. As you might surmise, the many applications of this mechanic is how the game constructs its 70-plus levels. Though there is a timer, the player is encouraged to ponder the layout of the course and experiment until they find the optimal route. There's three bonus objectives, though mercifully you can choose to pursue them separately rather than all at once: one for using every crystal on the stage, one for grabbing all three "essence" collectibles, and one for completing the stage under the par time. You could also just ignore all of them and complete maps at your own pace, though trying to nail all the objectives (again, not simultaneously unless you're a savant) gives you a better appreciation of the level design.

Each set of levels introduces a new crystal, combining those with crystals you've already encountered. The first is just a boost: you'll be projected in the direction opposite to where the crystal was, allowing you to reach new heights. The second creates a platform under your feet, while the third sets the ground aflame, and so on with new effects that combine with those already familiar. Each time a crystal is activated it needs a white surface to "ground" the Soulflame beam, so it's not just a case of accurately aiming this beam but to ensure there's somewhere valid for it to terminate; this might mean moving around a crystal until it's situated directly between you and the correct type of surface. There's some small amount of lock-on, and when aiming the Soulflame the game accommodates you by slowing down the action to give you time to focus, but it can often be a crapshoot in the way these high-accuracy-demanding game mechanics can be. If you've ever hit a wall with a Yoshi game because those darn eggs refused to fire off at the desired tangents you'll probably run into a similar issue here as well, because the game is very demanding between this accuracy, figuring out the right order of crystals to hit (there's usually only one correct course, especially if you're trying to get all the collectibles), and then executing on everything flawlessly to beat the level. Oddly enough, succeeding the time trials is considerably easier than the collectible hunting: once you're no longer beholden to doing a level the "correct way" you'll find there are shortcuts and sequence breaks everywhere you look. That's also helped by another mechanic: Artifacts.

Artifacts are acquired after completing enough of these optional goals in each world and they provide various passive buffs that can really help with specific maps or just general traversal. I've been sticking with one that restores a jump after breaking a boost crystal, allowing me to double-jump in those cases, which means being able to skip a lot of the level when it comes time to speedrun it. Others might include flat percentage boosts to jump height or speed, immunity to level hazards, and other beneficial effects. Usually, artifacts aren't so helpful when hunting for a full collectible set as the game has a very specific route in mind for those, but it can be a real big help with the time trials and is probably why that portion of the game feels much less demanding. That said, there are time trials which have very strict targets; I wasn't sure if it was because the overall difficulty curve of these goal times is a little scattershot or if there were some big obvious shortcuts I was missing. Either way, even if you're intending to play the game casually it might still behoove you to earn a few of these artifacts to make your life easier in the harder, later levels.

Evergate's harsh demands does make it a bit enervating to play in longer sessions, though it should be reiterated again that if you're not some completionist nutcase your progress through the game will no doubt be a lot smoother and less stressful. That's certainly true when you also factor in the game's relaxing presentation: it has a gorgeous Ori and the Blind Forest tier quality to its visuals, albeit perhaps not so much with the animations, and the soundtrack is this enchanting choral affair that reflects the beauty and ephemerality of death and the great beyond. The story, what little there has been so far, is no doubt building towards something heartrending as you get glimpses into the lives of two children living through different time periods: two souls connected on a profound level, one of which almost certainly your own. I'm halfway through the game's content and now that the difficulty and complexity have ramped up I might slow things down and peck away at the remaining content over the course of the month to avoid short-circuiting my gray matter any further.

Rating: 4 out of 5.