Everdeep Aurora review: A gorgeous, cozy, dark fantasy adventure

The surface is no longer safe. Instead, the world has moved underground. This is the most bare-bones premise of Everdeep Aurora, the debut title from Nautilus Games, a trio of developers based in Spain. It sounds dark, but this is a very forgiving and almost cozy game. You play as a small kitten looking for your mother. Your friend Ribbert the Frog gives you a drill with which you can explore this underground world made up of squares of rock. It’s like a 2D platformer, but in many ways, you create the challenges for yourself. But don’t worry, if you ever get stuck, you can always call on Ribbert to pull you back to camp.

Everdeep Aurora has some of the most beautiful pixel art and color work of a game I’ve seen lately. The entire palette changes when you enter a new area. Sometimes it can even be a clue that you’ve discovered something new. The pixel art NPCs are stunning, making many of them some of the most memorable character designs of any game.

During my early week with Everdeep Aurora, I had a great time. There were certainly moments where I felt lost or unsure of what to do next, but I wouldn’t say they take away from the experience too much. This is a great game to sit back, put on some headphones, and play through in just a handful of hours. But let’s talk more in-depth about Everdeep Aurora.

Delightful Designs

One of the first details that caught my eye about Everdeep Aurora was the character designs. All the NPCs are various animals, and their designs range from delightfully simple, such as Ribbert and the group of kids known as the Lost Ones, to incredibly complex, including a storytelling owl, an intimidating bat, and a cobra shopkeeper. Between the visuals and the dialogue, which will often use color and animations to add emphasis and tone, I looked forward to meeting every new character in this game. But the excellent artwork doesn’t stop there.

The Everdeep is a fascinating world. It’s full of locations you might find on the surface, such as a garden, a waterfall, and a tavern. There are various dungeon doorways hidden throughout the map. Each location is immediately distinct. The music and color palette change whenever the player is nearby, but even without those cues, each location manages to stand out.

Finally, while it’s a slightly different type of design, I have to shout out Everdeep Aurora’s use of the screen. Most games are okay with using the entire screen for a single purpose. Everdeep Aurora has margins on either side of the screen. This gives the hub a unique look, but also narrows the game's vertical scope, which helps support the feeling of digging. You can’t always see that far to your left or right, just as if you were actually digging. The margins are not left blank. The right side fills with a useful mini-map, and the left is used as an inventory screen. You rarely need to open menus; everything you need is displayed on the screen all at once.

Precarious Platforming

One of the best realizations of Everdeep Aurora is when you need to go back up. At first, it’s easy to think that this is a game all about digging ever deeper, but there are several checkpoints that you won’t be able to pass until you upgrade your drill. The goat blacksmith is found near the surface, so you’ll have to travel back at least once. This is when you realize that you’ll need to figure out how to platform your way back up your own convoluted, wandering path through the stone. From that point onward, every time you delve deeper, you also begin thinking about how to set yourself up for an easier climb later. Of course, there’s no real pressure. If you get stuck, you have a way out through Ribbert, so all you can really lose is time.

Your drill has a certain amount of charge. This amount can be improved throughout the game. This is usually why it’s worth exploring any dungeon you come across. But even if it runs out of charge, you can still use it to dig; it’s just a little slower. As you progress, you’ll also unlock better jumping skills. Early on, you’ll get an item that allows you to wall jump, and later in the game, you’ll find even better traversal tools. This adds some Metroidvania-like elements, where you’ll want to return to previous dungeons and access areas you couldn’t reach before.

There are also a few great mini-games to discover. One is part of the story; you’ll need to beat the cobra shopkeeper in a game of dice that has an unexpected trick to it that took me more than a few tries to figure out. Also in that shop is a claw machine with various cosmetics and valuables. Thankfully, this one wasn’t as challenging. There’s no shortage of things to do as you explore the Everdeep.

Getting Lost

There isn’t much that I have to say negatively about Everdeep Aurora. Overall, I would say it’s a wonderful experience. However, I also wouldn’t say it’s perfect. It’s not a long game. You can reach the end in four hours if you’re moving quickly, or six if you take your time. In that time, I probably encountered three or four moments where I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Eventually, these obstacles were overcome, but for a time, it did make me put the Switch down and take a break.

I can see these moments having a significant impact on certain players. Despite the usual rush to complete a game ahead of the review period, I like to think I can be a patient gamer, allowing the story and mechanics time and space to unfold. But certain elements can test those limits. Aside from the occasional getting lost and misunderstanding of future abilities, I often find myself desperately retracing my steps to find a previous location. Some areas are marked on the mini map, but not everything. If you’re someone who can get frustrated easily, I recommend taking screenshots to refer back to or at least having a notepad nearby to keep track of locations and other story details.

Final Thoughts

Everdeep Aurora is an excellent game. Browsing through my screenshots while working on this review proved that to me immediately. There are so many moments that I couldn’t help but take a screenshot, just thinking to myself, “This scene is beautiful,” or “This NPC is incredible.” The varying hues made my Switch’s album page look like a colorful tapestry. I’ll never forget the blacksmith goat, the shopkeeper cobra, the storytelling owl, and so many other characters. But I’ll also always remember the yellow-pink mansion gate, the vibrant tavern with music notes flying around, a dark, foreboding bat lair, and the soft blue abode of a fisherman otter named Otto.

While I do have my qualms with some elements of the gameplay, I still can’t get over how fun it is to create and then navigate your own path through the Everdeep. Maybe some of those frustrating moments when I got lost are at least partly my fault. The unlockable abilities give a great sense of progression, and discovering a new dungeon door is always exciting. Additionally, although I didn’t have time to explore them all, I have learned from the team that Everdeep Aurora has multiple endings.

My time with Everdeep Aurora is an unforgettable experience. This is a fun story full of memorable characters and stunning set pieces. The gameplay can be challenging, but it is almost always forgiving, providing you with an escape rope at nearly all times. Aside from a few minor complaints, this is undoubtedly one of my favorite indie games of the year.