Everywhere, from a former GTA producer, looks like a retro throwback to 2022's metaverse craze
Build "anything, everything", but mainly Fortnite
I love creative tools in videogames, from drawing Worms levels in Deluxe Paint to optimising r_speeds in Half-Life maps to using Minecraft worlds to generate 3D renders. That love has only been amplified by having a kid whose first instinct in any game is to create his own character, unit, level - whatever is available.
The best creative games inspire that creativity by having some innate flavour of their own, though. Some personality that inspires you to lean in, or nudge it in some other direction. By comparison, the new trailer for Everywhere, seems like metaversal porridge.
Here's the video, judge it for yourself:
Perhaps it's the grandiose voiceover that's really rankled me. "What if we could build a world? What would we do if we could start again?". Such big questions! Such grand promise! Meanwhile, everything shown in the game suggests the answer is: nothing original or interesting. Fortnite character designs? A city of white plastic and neon lights, like we're living on the surface of a PlayStation 5? An almost immediate admission that the primary verb in any of these spaces is "shoot"?
These are, I admit, impressions based on a trailer. For all I know, Everywhere's creative tools could be robust, flexible, a joy to use. This is not a review and I am not writing anything off - but these are my honest thoughts based on watching the marketing they released to make Everywhere seem enticing.
Everywhere is in development by Build A Rocket Boy, the studio founded by former Rockstar executive Leslie Benzies. That connection to Grand Theft Auto is perhaps more clearly seen in a moment in the trailer above during which two characters seem to be watching a video game on a screen, showing a car skidding around the corner in a realistic-looking city. The game they're watching is called MindsEye, and is a playable, episodic sci-fi game made by Build A Rocket Boy which will be released inside Everywhere. It got a trailer earlier this year.
It's a relief that Everywhere is not a blockchain or NFT game, but it still looks to be chasing an exhausting trend with little to set it apart. I hope I'm wrong! Perhaps we'll find out when the closed alpha launches, which you can sign-up for via the official site.