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Writer's pictureBarely Magic Mike

Europa Review - A Stunning Journey through a Magical World






They say not to judge a book by its cover, but in the case of Europa, I’d honestly encourage it.  What appears on the surface to be an exploration of a vividly realized, brightly colored, Studio Ghibli-esque world is, in fact, exactly that.  One might realistically call this a “cozy” game for its lack of true stakes and minimalistic gameplay, but – let’s be real – that word has become so overused in the indie gaming lexicon that its broadness fails to tell you much about a game at all.  So, let’s talk about what exactly Europa is and why you should definitely play it, albeit with expectations reasonably kept in check.


Europa takes place in an indefinitely distant future where a self-evolving AI has terraformed Jupiter’s titular moon into a lush, vibrant paradise.  You play as Zee, an android setting out to learn more about Europa’s development and, ultimately, where all the humans have gone.  The story of Europa unfolds less through its gameplay and mechanics, and more through journal entries you’ll collect as you follow bright yellow beacons throughout each level.  It’s one of a few collectibles the game has you chasing, but easily its most compelling ones – because perhaps I set my expectations of Europa’s story a bit low for some reason, but what’s here is a remarkably well-written and expertly-voiced memoir of a father looking to impart knowledge of this world upon his son.  


Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that while the father-son relationship at its core doesn’t carry much emotional weight, its existence as a parable for mankind’s place in nature does a great job of being poignant without ever becoming heavy-handed.  While the opening pages of the journal didn’t exactly grab me, the more I listened to its impassioned narration and learned about the world I was exploring and my role in it, the more eager I became to discover what became of Europa’s inhabitants and why I’m seemingly on my own.  Ultimately, the answers deliver on the game’s premise without ever chipping away at its wholesome core, and I think a lot of people are going to be moderately impressed by it.  While I wouldn’t call it the core reason to play the game, Europa’s story is better than I expected and is likely to catch some folks positively off-guard.



The broader reason to play Europa isn’t necessarily the gameplay either, as what’s here is perfectly serviceable as a 3D puzzle platformer, but arguably so simplistic in both its mechanics and difficulty that fans of either genre are unlikely to be satisfied by that alone.  Zee comes with an unusual jumping mechanic that requires holding down the A button to charge your jump and then releasing it, at which point you can hold it again in midair to gently float downward.  He also has a jetpack which can be charged by various collections of floating blue sparks around the landscape and gives a few second burst of free flight before running out of juice.  One of the game’s collectibles is upgraded capacity for the jetpack, and while I never collected enough to make flight feel truly unrestricted, mastering the art of flying and gliding between fuel pickups was often a joy, with the feel of Zee’s movement satisfying enough to overcome most of the game’s relative simplicity.


While there’s nothing in the way of combat in Europa (nor, in my opinion, should there be), there are traditional puzzles and platforming elements throughout Zee’s journey – you’ll occasionally have to jump in between blocks that flicker in and out of existence, move other blocks in a particular orientation that opens a door, or find collectibles around a semi-open environment to allow access to the next major area.  But as I mentioned, none of this is primed to give your noggin’s logic or reflex capabilities much of a workout.  You can’t die – just be momentarily stunned by environmental hazards or hostile lifeforms – and I won’t say any single puzzle required the slightest bit of pondering between discovery and execution.  This is ok though, as Europa’s purpose isn’t to challenge you, but to keep you visually and emotionally engaged throughout its brief but well-earned 4-hour runtime.



Indeed, Europa’s DNA most closely resembles that of calming exploration games like Journey, Abzu and Omno, with Omno probably being its closest direct analogue.  The free-flowing movement in and of itself makes Europa feel satisfying to play – not only will you jump and glide and fly your way through its stunning landscapes, but also slide down grassy hills and use your jetpack to coast along the ground even after it runs out of fuel.  The feeling of Europa’s movement makes the act of playing it a calming, meditative experience, and one whose purity of purpose transcends other “cozy” titles that mainly give you a lot of busywork to do.  And just enough variety is thrown in on the gameplay front – between the aforementioned switch flipping, block-jumping, and occasional hostile fauna you’ll need to avoid or find the kill-switch for – that its simplicity never becomes a liability.  You’re always being given something different to do and moving on from it before it gets tiresome.


With that said, there are elements of the experience that can occasionally break immersion or butt heads with the calming feeling of it all.  Many of Europa’s environments appear as wide-open plains begging to be thoroughly explored.  And while casual exploration does yield journal pages, jetpack upgrades and green crystals that don’t seem to exist for any reason other than as a collectible, the actual explorable area is often more an illusion than not.  Tread too far from the game’s main path and intense gusts of wind will suddenly force you back onto it.  I don’t think this is necessarily a problem – after all, Journey did literally the exact same thing – but I found myself occasionally disappointed when I was looking around the play area and not finding much reason to stick around.


The comparison to Journey or Abzu is worth hammering home a little more, actually, because there are occasions when the line between inspiration and imitation in Europa becomes a bit blurred.  There are at least a few sequences in the game that feel so near identical to analogous sequences from Journey and Abzu that I started to wonder whether the developer was deliberately giving a nod to the games that inspired them or just borrowing ideas without really building on them.   The line there is thin – to be fair – but when viewed with the rest of the package, only encourages comparison to these games and makes Europa feel more like their little sibling than a qualitative equal.


I think this happens more-so because Europa lacks key moments where these gentle, reflective experiences often transcend into something briefly spectacular.  Journey has astonishing sequences where you’ll glide through glittering sand dunes with a spectacular soundtrack backing your ride, or the incredible feeling of traversing the desert alongside an anonymous human companion.  Abzu has sequences where you’ll swim through a school of hundreds of fish or dive into deep waters with a gigantic blue whale by your side.  And while plenty of Europa’s environments are screenshot bait in the best possible way, the act of playing it never manages to quite reach these same heights.


Let’s call a spade a spade though – Europa’s visuals are absolutely stunning to behold.  Its bright, lively presentation evokes a Studio Ghibli vibe in the same way Mika and the Witch’s Mountain did a couple of months back, and I’d honestly say Europa nails that vibe even more.  It’s impossible to be stressed out while sliding through its sunlit grassy plains or gliding through wind tunnels as the world around you chirps and sways with life.  It’s a testament to the value of a gorgeous art style over technical complexity too, because it runs like a dream on the Steam Deck, even managing to maintain a solid 90 fps on medium settings, at least in the opening areas that I tested.  While I won’t call its soundtrack quite as memorable as its visual presentation, it deserves plenty of credit as well for being a well-constructed compliment to the artistic spectacle at play.



Ultimately, while none of its singular pieces deviate much from the template of easy, cozy puzzle platformers, Europa manages to feel more than the sum of its parts due to a compelling narrative, absolutely stunning art design, and tactful pacing that mixes up mechanics enough to prevent them from getting stale.  It’s not a game you’re likely to spend much time with once the credits roll, but it does exactly what it sets out to do with confidence and style.  


GREAT


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