When Spore launched in 2008, there wasn’t much in gaming quite like it. This life-simulation title saw you build a species from an amoeba-like state all the way to space travel. Experiencing these different stages of evolution saw differing levels of satisfaction from players, but the stage where you begin to build a fleshy, crazy creature was a blast and what most people recall from the game. With 2021’s The Eternal Cylinder, picture that phase of Spore except it’s the entire game. This thought was a thrill to me, so I opted into the new next-gen version released this year. So, how does it hold up?

The Eternal Cylinder comes out of the gate guns-blazing, as you are faced against the eponymous, gargantuan cylinder rolling towards you at an alarmingly-fast pace. This cylinder stretches as far as the eye can see, becoming one of the most truly-horrifying inanimate objects one could fathom, almost nightmarish in nature. Thankfully, as the game progresses, it will not approach you until you pass a certain boundary, and can be stopped by approaching a tower before you’re crushed.

As a struggling species in The Eternal Cylinder, you’re stacked against the odds as you must ingest copious amounts of food and water to make it out of the vicious cycle in one piece. Eating certain plants or species will grant you unique abilities, such as making a noise to fend off predators or having the capability to jump 3 times as high as before. All of these quirky bonuses reflect on the body of your “Trebhum” whether it be making your body square-shaped, enlarging the trunk, or turning your skin translucent.

The “weird” factor in The Eternal Cylinder is always cranked up to 11. Without spoiling anything, the first time you encounter the antagonist characters, I’m fairly confident your jaw will drop to the floor. Not only due to their sheer size, but the inventive design choices ACE Team made. These trippy visuals hearken back to games as obtuse as LSD: Dream Simulator or Cruelty Squad. It is certain that what you’ll see in this game is something your brain is going to have to wrap its head around. Plus, the sound design for jumping, rolling, and getting scared is charming enough to get a laugh out of just about anybody.

My gripes with The Eternal Cylinder are somewhat nitpicky but may come up in your playthrough as well. I got stuck more than a few times, feeling as though I’d exhausted my way through, but did feel rewarded when I finally was able to progress. I was already tired of constant narration after playing Biomutant, but Eternal Cylinder‘s talking felt a bit less forced and more natural, albeit a little too frequent.

Overall, The Eternal Cylinder is a must-play for Spore fans that have always wanted some kind of sequel. That game is a bit of a cult classic and on the niche side without millions of potential players, but that’s not to say the game wouldn’t be fun to jump into for fans of survival/adventure that’s certainly on the oblique side. At its $29.99 price point with a rough ~15-hour runtime, it may be worth jumping into on a sale.

A PS5 Review Copy of The Eternal Cylinder was provided by Good Shepherd Entertainment for this review.

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The Eternal Cylinder

29.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Fascinating Visuals
• Spore, But Great
• Hilarious Sound Design

Cons

• Easy to Get Lost
• Cheap Companion Deaths
• Too Much Narration