History VideoGame / Everhood

* {{Reconstruction}}: ''Everhood'' wears its ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' influence on its sleeve, but where the influence shines most is in how it re-examines the same video game tropes ''Undertale'' criticized, and redefines them to make them work. To wit:
** ''Undertale'' criticizes the player for [[WhatMeasureIsAMook treating monsters as disposable enemies]], and attempting a [[EveryoneDiesEnding Genocide Run]] is a boring and frustrating slog that [[EarnYourBadEnding locks the player into the bad ending]]. Sparing all enemies you encounter, however, is necessary to achieve the GoldenEnding. ''Everhood'' responds to this by [[spoiler: flipping the entire route dynamic on its head.]] ''Everhood'' expects you to sympathize with all the named characters and view them as more than disposable enemies, yet [[spoiler: killing them is still a heroic act, as all of the characters are trapped in immortality and prevented from entering the cycle of reincarnation, going slowly insane from the ''millions'' of years they've spent trapped in the Everhood. And unlike in ''Undertale'', you don't have to kill ''every'' character or spend hours seeking random encounters, meaning the experience is not deliberately made unfun for the player. Conversely, going for the PacifistRun described above gives the player the bad ending.]]
** ''Undertale'' criticizes players' tendency to project themselves onto SilentProtagonist characters, as the character you name and the character you play as are shown through various means to have an identity and life separate from the player's actions. ''Everhood'' does the same, but towards the end of the game [[spoiler: Pink ''asks'' the player to project themselves onto them, as Pink does not have the courage or the strength to see their task through without the player's guidance. The player is not a wholly external influence on the world as they are in ''Undertale'', as their influence is both acknowledged and encouraged.]]
** ''Undertale'' discourages completionism for the sake of seeing all the endings, as it's pointed out that resetting after attaining the GoldenEnding will rip all the characters away from their happy ending and set them back to the beginning. ''Everhood'' likewise subtly acknowledges that starting a NewGamePlus will send all the characters back to the beginning and tear them away from the ending, but portrays this as a ''good'' thing. [[spoiler: Once every character has died, they are sent to a chamber resembling a [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Buddhist]] mandala attended by a Bodhisattva-like sage, implying that they will reincarnate after the game ends. The characters in NewGamePlus are implied to be their own reincarnated selves, meaning starting a new game is simply a natural part of cycle of life and death.]]

* AnAesop: [[spoiler:Life is short, so make the most of it. No matter what though, the end will still come regardless, so make peace.]]

* GainaxEnding: The Normal ending gets ''very'' confusing [[spoiler: due to introducing Pink at the end of the game, questioning their relationship to Red and the Player, and then the player making Pink drown themself and fighting [[TrueFinalBoss the Cube]] that represents the Everhood itself, or mortality, or the concept of enlightenment? Even Pink themself is confused when they reach the [[AfterlifeAntechamber Waiting Room]]. Afterwards, they have one last rhythm battle with everyone from Everhood before everyone leaves, with Pink thanking the player for helping them. It ends with one last message from the Voice giving them AnAesop before The Cat God invites the player [[NewGamePlus to come back sometime]].]]

* EarnYourBadEnding: The [[spoiler:"Alone" ending requires you to first kill Professor Orange and their assistant, then fight the {{Bonus Boss}}es Cat God and Sam, which will unlock a new area including a doorway. Said doorway leads to the second Incinerator, and this one is a truly HopelessBossFight. Dying to it will result in an ending where Pink refuses to be controlled by the player to kill others anymore, and decides to remain alone in there for the rest of eternity.]]

* NewGamePlus: The game offers you a chance to start a new save file at the end, allowing you to fight one of the game's {{Bonus Boss}}es, Cat God. While not directly stated, it's implied that the New Game+ run [[spoiler: takes place in a new iteration of the Everhood, after everyone has been reincarnated to start their lives anew.]]

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: The [[spoiler:[[HopelssBossFight second incinerator]], accessible only in the NewGamePlus after beating the [[BonusBoss Cat God]], will repeatedly spam one in its second pattern. There's no way to avoid the walls of flame closing in, and you ''will'' die to it, which is needed to access the "Yellow Doll" and "Alone" endings.]]

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If you aren't able to defeat the [[BonusBoss Spirit of Light]] before the song ends (or face it before [[spoiler:you get your arm back]], it will warp away but can be found in the movie theater to be faced again.

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Frog after their BonusBoss fight, either by being beaten or giving up outright, realizes they can't convince Red to kill and decides to leave Everhood when given the chance, even if they can never return and save the rest of their friends.]]

** If you keep your game window open on the title screen for a bit, you'll see the [[SinisterSilhouettes silhouette]] of [[BonusBoss Cat God]] peering at you from behind the game's logo.

* LongSongShortScene: Subverted with the music that plays during the battle with The Masterpiece. While the Masterpiece [[spoiler:expires within 12 seconds (and cuts the music with a LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand sound effect), this music is reused with the [[BonusBoss Cat God]], where it plays out in full]].

** Maker/Meet your Makers: [[spoiler:Gather all three stones from the Brown Slim Mushroom, Light Being, and Jump Rope, and then place them on the Cat God statue summons the Makers, the [[BonusBoss Dev Gnomes]], for another fight. Killing them ends with R.I.P. on top of the game developers Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca.]]
** Yellow Doll: [[spoiler:Only achievable on NewGamePlus after beating both [[BonusBoss Cat God and Sam]], and falling into [[HopelessBossFight the second incinerator]], which ends with Red being destroyed and Pink refusing to be controlled by the player to kill anyone. Just then, Professor Orange shows up and offers Pink a new body to inhabit, which Pink accepts.]]

* NotSoHarmless: Many residents of Everhood are capable of defending themselves, and some are surprisingly good at it, [[spoiler:especially when their lives are on the line]]. Special mention goes to [[spoiler:the Shopkeeper, whose battle utilizes a highly irregular beat and InterfaceScrew, and Rasta Beast, who is easily beatable in the first half of the game but later attacks with a furious heavy-metal track that can kill the player in seconds. And then there's BonusBoss [[BewareTheNiceOnes Frog...]]]]

* OminousTelevision: The only thing anywone seems to watch on TV - or in the ''movie theater'' - is static - a clue to the fact that something is seriously wrong in the Everhood.

* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler: The Everhood seen in the game is implied to only be the last remnant of something that was once much larger and grander. There were once millions of residents in Everhood, but after uncountable eons of people escaping via the furnace or otherwise having run-ins with any of a succession of red puppets, there are fewer than 30 people left at the start of the game.]]

** The end of the game's first stage, where Red is dropped into a furnace by Gold Pig. Up until now the game has been weird, but then it enters DisneyAcidSequence territory, with a lengthy battle against a skeleton man with a dragon for an arm, a strange pink spirit, mysterious gnomes who use their own heads as projectiles followed by a conversation with what may or may not be God.

* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler: The Everhood seen in the game is implied to only be the last remnant of something that was once much larger and grander. There were once millions of residents in Everhood, but after uncountable eons of eternity picking each other off, there are fewer than 30 people left at the start of the game.]]

** The tabletop RPG that Green Mage plays, Medallion, is one to the tabletop RPG/board game {{TabletopGame/Talisman}}; the board is a dead giveaway, with its three concentric, incresingly forbidding regions.

* BigBad: [[KingKoopaCopy Gold Pig]], the leader of the Mages who rule Everhood, steals Red's arm and Blue Thief's legs, sparking their quest to get them back. Gold Pig is also responsible for a lot of the suffering of the citizens, and [[spoiler:does everything in their power to stop Red from [[MercyKill releasing them]] from being their [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortal slaves]] once Red gets their arm back]].

''Everhood: An Ineffable Tale of the Inexpressible Divine Moments of Truth'' is a surreal RPG with [[MusicalGameplay Music Game]] elements by Foreign Gnomes, a two person team of Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca.

** ''Undertale'' criticizes the player for [[WhatMeasureIsAMook treating monsters as disposable enemies]], and attempting a [[EveryoneDiesEnding Genocide Run]] is a boring and frustrating slog that [[EarnYourBadEnding locks the player into the bad ending]]. Sparing all enemies you encounter, however, is necessary to achieve the GoldenEnding. ''Everhood'' responds to this by [[spoiler: flipping the entire route dynamic on its head.]] ''Everhood'' expects you to sympathize with all the named characters and view them as more then disposable enemies, yet [[spoiler: killing them is still a heroic act, as all of the characters are trapped in immortality and prevented from entering the cycle of reincarnation, going slowly insane from the ''millions'' of years they've spent trapped in the Everhood. And unlike in ''Undertale'', you don't have to kill ''every'' character or spend hours seeking random encounters, meaning the experience is not deliberately made unfun for the player. Conversely, going for the PacifistRun described above gives the player the bad ending.]]

* GenderInclusiveWriting: The characters are all referred to with they/them and/or it/its in both in conversation and in materials outside of the game. Averted early in the game's development, which mentions some characters with he/him pronouns.

* ArcWords: "''There will be reconciliation''"

* GenderNeutralWriting: The characters are all referred to with they/them and/or it/its in both in conversation and in materials outside of the game. Averted early in the game's development, which mentions some characters with he/him pronouns.

*** During Medallion you gain the use of a sword that can [[CatchAndReturn deflect attacks]], [[spoiler: a combat mechanic that is a crucial part of the game's [[KillEmAll second half]].]]

** The moment where [[spoiler:Red reclaims their arm and the game's second act and [[KillEmAll true objective]] begins.]]

-->'''Frog:''' [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll To end this world]].]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The best interpretation from the game's GainaxEnding is that Pink, though the player, frees everyone in Everhood by killing them, and then destroys the Cube that represents Everhood itself, before finding themselves in [[AfterlifeAntechamber the Waiting Room]] and has one last rhythm battle to allow everyone to depart and begin a new life, with Pink thanking the player for everything.]]

* EveryoneDiesEnding: [[spoiler:The main point of the second part of the game involves Red killing every''thing''. Even things like save points, doors to the different areas, and your hand cursor are not spared, either. Unlike ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', whose genocide route was considered evil, it's actually a good thing, as everyone is trapped by their immortality.]]

** Frog, with their musical inclinations and affable personality, is an obvious shout-out to [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit]], particularly from the opening of Film/TheMuppetMovie. Otherwise, they play the part of [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} Sans]], as the ''brutally difficult'' FinalBoss for the bad ending path. Unlike Sans, Frog fights only if you choose the path of pacifism instead of genocide.]]

* {{Reconstruction}}: Everhood wears its ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' influence on its sleeve, but where the influence shines most is in how it re-examines the same video game tropes Undertale criticized, and redefines them to make them work. To wit:
** Undertale criticizes the player for [[WhatMeasureIsAMook treating monsters as disposable enemies]], and attempting a [[EveryoneDiesEnding Genocide Run]] is a boring and frustrating slog that [[EarnYourBadEnding locks the player into the bad ending]]. Sparing all enemies you encounter, however, is necessary to achieve the GoldenEnding. Everhood responds to this by [[spoiler: flipping the entire route dynamic on its head.]] Everhood expects you to sympathize with all the named characters and view them as more then disposable enemies, yet [[spoiler: killing them is still a heroic act, as all of the characters are trapped in immortality and prevented from entering the cycle of reincarnation, going slowly insane from the ''millions'' of years they've spent trapped in the Everhood. And unlike in Undertale, you don't have to kill ''every'' character or spend hours seeking random encounters, meaning the experience is not deliberately made unfun for the player. Conversely, going for the PacifistRun described above gives the player bad ending.]]
** Undertale criticizes players' tendency to project themselves onto SilentProtagonist characters, as the character you name and the character you play as are shown through various means to have an identity and life separate from the player's actions. Everhood does the same, but towards the end of the game [[spoiler: Pink ''asks'' the player to project themselves onto them, as Pink does not have the courage or the strength to see their task through without the player's guidance. The player is not a wholly external influence on the world as they are in Undertale, as their influence is both acknowledged and encouraged.]]
** Undertale discourages completionism for the sake of seeing all the endings, as it's pointed out that resetting after attaining the GoldenEnding will rip all the characters away from their happy ending and set them back to the beginning. Everhood likewise subtly acknowledges that starting a NewGamePlus will send all the characters back to the beginning and tear them away from the ending, but portrays this as a ''good'' thing. [[spoiler: Once every character has died, they are sent to a chamber resembling a [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Buddhist]] mandala attended by a Bodhisattva-like sage, implying that they will reincarnate after the game ends. The characters in NewGamePlus are implied to be their own reincarnated selves, meaning starting a new game is simply a natural part of cycle of life and death.]]

** The game's HubLevel is a dark space containing colorful doors that lead to other areas of the world, in reference to the nexus in VideoGame/YumeNikki.

* TokenHuman: Reese, Professor Orange, and Harrowed Haley are the only characters in Everhood who appear human. Sir Lost-A-Lot ''might'' be one, as they have a human body, but their face never being revealed from under their helmet leaves this unconfirmed.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The main point of the second part of the game. Even things like save points, doors to the different areas, and your hand cursor are not spared, either. Unlike ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', whose genocide route was considered evil, it's actually a good thing, as everyone is trapped by their immortality.]]

** Undertale criticizes the player for [[WhatMeasureIsAMook treating monsters as disposable enemies]], and attempting to KillEmAll is a boring and frustrating slog that [[EarnYourBadEnding locks the player into the bad ending.]] Sparing all enemies you encounter, however, is necessary to achieve the GoldenEnding. Everhood responds to this by [[spoiler: flipping the entire route dynamic on its head.]] Everhood expects you to sympathize with all the named characters and view them as more then disposable enemies, yet [[spoiler: killing them is still a heroic act, as all of the characters are trapped in immortality and prevented from entering the cycle of reincarnation, going slowly insane from the ''millions'' of years they've spent trapped in the Everhood. And unlike in Undertale, you don't have to kill ''every'' character on the KillEmAll route or spend hours seeking random encounters, meaning the experienece is not deliberately made unfun for the player. Conversely, going for the PacifistRun described above gives the player bad ending.]]