Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Evets: The Ultimate Adventure delivers a fresh twist on the traditional roguelike formula by placing you in command of an entire party rather than a lone adventurer. At the start, you carefully assemble a squad by choosing from six distinct races, picking one of four core classes (with four additional classes unlockable later), and assigning one of the five alignments—Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic, Good, Evil, or the unique “Amoral.” This depth of customization sets the stage for varied playthroughs, as each decision directly affects your party’s strengths, weaknesses, and how they interact with the world.

Once your party is formed, you dive straight into exploration or can opt to spend your starting gold on higher-grade equipment. Movement and dungeon navigation are handled through a menu-based, text-driven interface that may feel cumbersome at first, but allows for precise command selection. You’ll traverse multi-level dungeons represented in top-down ASCII, encountering traps, hidden shops, and “review boards” that enable class-swapping on the fly—an unusual feature that breathes new life into long adventures by letting characters switch roles and learn new abilities mid-game.

Combat in Evets is turn-based and highly tactical. Rather than facing monsters one at a time, you often clash with groups—say, a band of skeletons alongside gnarled gromes. You choose individual targets from these groups, decide whether to attack, cast a spell, parry, use an item, or flee, and watch the results roll out on the screen. This group-versus-group format, combined with positional tactics in corridors and rooms, demands careful planning: a mistimed spell or misdirected attack can spell disaster for your formation.

Graphics

Evets embraces a classic ASCII aesthetic, rendering its labyrinthine dungeons, characters, and monsters using simple text symbols. While this visual style feels dated by modern standards, it carries a nostalgic charm for fans of early roguelikes. Walls, doors, and traps are all distinguished by different characters, and color coding helps you quickly identify friend from foe. Once you grow accustomed to the iconography, the graphics become less of an obstacle and more of a minimalist delight.

The user interface itself is entirely menu-based, requiring you to navigate nested options to perform actions like equipping items or casting spells. Some menus feel non-standard—spells must be entered by their full names, and even minor typos can force you to retype a loading command. Although this can be frustrating at first, the interface also offers shortcuts once you master the syntax, allowing for surprisingly quick actions in the heat of battle.

Evets’s visual simplicity extends to its character creation screens and inventory lists, which prioritize clarity over flair. Portraits are absent, and equipment is represented by abbreviated text codes, but the layout is logical. Everything you need is only a few keystrokes away. While the game won’t win any awards for high-resolution textures or dynamic lighting, its stripped-down presentation reinforces the old-school challenge and encourages you to focus on strategy over spectacle.

Story

Storytelling in Evets is procedural rather than cinematic. There is no lengthy cutscene or elaborate introduction; instead, your party’s narrative unfolds organically through exploration, random dungeon events, and alignment-based encounters. Depending on whether you chose a Lawful or Chaotic alignment, for example, you might be offered different quests by dungeon denizens or face moral dilemmas when deciding how to dispense gold or whether to free captured prisoners.

Despite the absence of a grand, overarching plot, Evets weaves smaller stories within each playthrough. Finding a misplaced heirloom in a hidden alcove, rescuing a wandering merchant from goblin raiders, or stumbling upon a rival adventuring party in need of aid—all these micro-narratives give a sense of purpose beyond mere monster-slaying. The ability to change classes at the dungeon review board adds another layer of narrative dynamism, as characters can reinvent themselves in response to new threats or personal revelations.

For players seeking a deeply scripted tale, this approach may feel sparse, but for roguelike veterans who enjoy emergent storytelling, Evets offers rich replay value. Every decision—be it alignment-based dialogue choices or the order in which you tackle the dungeon levels—creates a unique story thread, ensuring that no two adventures are exactly alike.

Overall Experience

Evets: The Ultimate Adventure is a niche title that caters to dedicated roguelike enthusiasts and old-school RPG fans. Its unusual party-versus-monster-group combat system and class-switching mechanics set it apart from more mainstream dungeon crawlers. While the ASCII graphics and menu-heavy interface may be off-putting to newcomers, they also deliver a purist experience that rewards patience and strategic thinking.

On the upside, the game’s deep customization, tactical battles, and emergent storytelling create compelling incentives to keep playing and experimenting with different party compositions. On the downside, the non-standard menus and requirement to type full spell names can interrupt immersion, especially during intense dungeon forays. A steeper learning curve is to be expected, but once you acclimate to the quirks, Evets’s unique features shine through.

Ultimately, if you relish the idea of managing an entire adventuring party, love text-based interfaces, and are eager for a roguelike that challenges both your tactical and managerial skills, Evets: The Ultimate Adventure is well worth exploring. Its blend of classic design and unusual mechanics makes for an addictive, replayable journey—provided you’re ready to embrace its old-school demands.

Retro Replay Score

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