Free rhythm RPG demo in a pixel-pretty world

Everhood is a free cool adventure role-playing video game that uses musical gameplay elements for a challenging but fun experience. Developed by Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca—working together under the name EverhoodDev—Everhood lets you play the story of a wooden doll come to life, who embarks on a quest to rescue its missing arm that a blue gnome thief had stolen while it was asleep. If you love rhythm games in your adventure RPGs, then this is a title you ought to try out.

Dance Night

Music games, especially rhythm games wherein you have to tap buttons on the screen to the beat of the music, are usually in just their own main genre. It’s uncommon to find this genre mixed in with another genre by a large quantity since music games are usually just used as mini-games to break the monotony of repetitive gameplay. However, there are still some titles that have successfully integrated rhythm game mechanics with other major genres. 

The Patapon series has you leading an army of adorable creatures by executing button combos to give out specific commands. Sayonara Wild Hearts is more of a music-based racing game where you have to collect as many hearts as you go. Whichever the case, you can never go wrong with some music—and this is what Everhood’s appeal is all about.

Undertale meets Crypt of the Necrodancer

Everhood starts with you watching a strange little gnome in a blue hat steals an arm from a doll that’s been separated into pieces. This wooden doll that you’re playing will soon wake up and reassemble itself, and now you have to go after that little thief. Right from the start, Everhood’s tutorial blends seamlessly with the background environments, so it’s pretty easy to follow. 

You end up in a gorgeous 16-bit pixelated world filled with interesting characters, either from their design or their dialogues. A helpful battle tutorial soon commences, showing you how to win fights in Everhood. Everhood’s battlefield for rhythm fights is similar to that of Deemo and Guitar Hero. The enemy NPC is in front of you and will do attack animations that come out as energy slices on the screen. 

You can dodge these moving left and right between the five available lanes or jump over them—all helped by the accompanying music that will guide you on when to move. You will also need to survive the whole song. More, you only have three lives that will regenerate, as long as you don’t take damage for a while. Other mechanics will show up in lengthy battles, too, so the simple controls will never be boring.

Refreshing rhythm RPG

The great thing about Everhood is that, while the battles are really challenging and carry some nice soundtrack, you don’t have to feel limited to the rhythm game aspect at all. Half of Everhood is about RPG-adventuring that may remind you of Undertale’s charm and the whole design of the in-game world—from its environments to its NPCs—will really draw you and make you want to explore even further. The game has just the right amount of challenge and mystery to keep you engaged. Take care if you’re sensitive to flashing lights, though, as Everhood has lots of this.