Europa is a puzzle-platformer that’s light on puzzles and platforming, set on (and named after) Jupiter’s moon. This indie title from Novadust Entertainment and Future Friends Games combines beautiful expanses of green with futuristic elements. Its gameplay and story are meant to awaken your inner child and give you philosophical food for thought. In general, all these things can make for a good game. But although no one fails here, no one stands out.
As the game starts, you hear your father’s voice inviting you to Europe “if you ever get lonely.” You take control of Zee, a boyish android who stumbles past Adam’s (the father in question) tombstone to explore the land. You get a jetpack that you use to float and glide through each area.
Europe is very simple, without much tutorial, tape instructions for the controls. That can be good, but here it means that there is no clear goal. The game mainly focuses on upgrading your jetpack as you move through each section to an undisclosed end goal. You collect Crystal Stars to increase the Zephyr’s jetpack capacity – indicated by the glowing bars on the device itself. If you run out, you can refill it with sparkling blue orbs around the space.
The actual gameplay won’t wear you out. Puzzles include collecting strands, pushing objects and lighting lanterns. They are intriguing and satisfying to solve – even if they are sometimes too simple. If you’re looking for a challenge, there are optional collectibles to expand your abilities. The platforming itself is light and has wide margins for error, though the clunky controls can prove to be a hindrance (more on that later).
The idyllic landscape of Europe emits a soothing vibe that gives you plenty of room to breathe. It’s both relaxing and rewarding to move through each section, gliding through the air or gliding across water or grass. Defying gravity with a jetpack is also fun; zipping around elicited a ‘weeeee’ from us. The game seems to want you to be relaxed: no health bar, no combat, no fall damage. Recharge spheres for your jetpack are so common that you never have to worry about running out of energy – even in areas that prevent you from fully taking off.
We enjoyed these peaceful moments, but it is unclear how long this peace should be maintained. Gardeners (machines that look, act, and are even named similar to Breath of the Wild Guardians) knock you down, and flying creatures knock you out of the air or drain your Zephyr. Even though you don’t die, the thunder, the ominous rumble sharply disturbs the assumed peace. Combined with Zee’s slow bounce – he can barely stand before he’s hit again – these attacks disrupt what we thought was a peaceful experience.
The story could have been an emotional father-son story with powerful and thought-provoking questions about the environment. Unfortunately, every question Europe asks has left us confused, and the overall story seems lost in orb it. It is told through the letters that Zee’s father left for him. As you collect them and save them in your scrapbook, you can play them out loud as you run and fly, which we enjoyed – it reminded us of a bedtime story. Adam was an engineer on this moon who studied and experimented with the local creatures. His letters describe Zee’s curiosity and ability to connect with these creatures in a way that other people could not. The letters reflect on the imprint of mankind on natural life, although it is contradictory to hear this while being attacked by that same natural life. Any potential environmental message was never fully realized.
We couldn’t spoil the ending even if we wanted to because it went over our heads. To be clear, we’re not opposed to open-ended stories or, indeed, games that prompt players to fill in the blanks. But in this case, the gaps are so large that our attempts to fill them have failed. Maybe we’re missing the point. Maybe monsters should confront the player, the same way nature does with humans on Earth. But the plot is too inconsistent for that message to get across.
Now let’s go back to those controls we mentioned earlier. On the Switch, at least, movement is awkward, with Zee sometimes turning or walking further than we wanted, or moving so slowly that the gardeners condemn him. Novadust has assigned three types of ‘B’ jumps that you sometimes need to use right after each other. It’s fine, until ‘B’ also makes the platforms appear and disappear as you try to land on them. The camera also occasionally zooms in or out too much.
Europa’s best feature is its Ghibli-esque art style. The setting is beautiful: a sprawling lawn, with steampunk-influenced artifacts. You can practically see the mood board: wide shots of BOTW’s Hyrule Field complete with Guardians, as well as movie sequences like Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s a shame that once things get going, they break the magic. The animation is clumsy and the movement inconsistent.
When music is present, it enhances the calm, with slow-tempo piano and brass sounds that swell nicely when you get your reward. But there are parts without any music – just the occasional whistle of the wind or rustling of leaves. It gave the game a foreboding, lonely feeling, which, again, might be the point, but, again, seems at odds with the meditative mood in other areas.
Conclusion
Europe doesn’t ask much of you, but it left us asking a lot of questions. The story seems half-baked, the controls are clunky, and we still don’t have a clear goal. The beautiful background is its best feature and it is very relaxing to play in parts. It’s hard to recommend this game because it doesn’t do anything terriblybut there is nothing that works very well. Every element present here can be found elsewhere, and even better – without the need to travel to Jupiter’s moon.
