Peace and relaxation: Europa is like a dream

What is it like, flying through a watercolour painting or through a dream? Europa showed me: it’s calming, and somehow liberating. The indie game presents itself as a pleasant escape from everyday life. Unfortunately, it’s over far too quickly. Three to four hours is about one run – a little more if I’m looking for all the collectibles. But during my review, I don’t want to interrupt the flow and only take what comes to me.

Visually, Europa is reminiscent of the groundbreaking The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. For this reason, Europa also arouses my interest. In terms of content, however, it has nothing to do with the Zelda title. Instead of a huge open world, Europa offers a series of mini environments arranged in a row.

What’s Europa about?

I play little android boy Zee, finding myself on the paradisiacal Jupiter moon of Europa. When I first open my eyes in a remote gorge, I hear the voice of an old man in my head, calling me his son. He’s a human born on earth, serving as my guide through the world of Europa.

I step out of the gorge into the open. An idyllic landscape spreads out before me, putting even Breath of the Wild to shame. The art direction is similar, but in Europa the colours and liveliness of the environment are even more enchanting. Grasses and flowers sway in the wind, cloud shadows hurry over the rolling hills, the azure water reflects the slender, partly dilapidated buildings that hint at an earlier civilisation.

There’s movement everywhere, the buzzing of mechanical dragonflies fills the air, flowers float around, deer drink at ponds. The screenshots look boring and static in comparison. Believe me, they don’t reflect the sparkling life that can be felt while playing.

The voice tells me to walk to the floating island in the background so I can «think of him». I have no other destination, so I hop off and follow the path over the next hill. In front of a pretty, abandoned house, I find a page from my «father’s» diary. Through such pages scattered around the world, I slowly uncover the background story of the game, which I don’t want to spoil.

It’s about the journey, not the destination

At first, I don’t know what to expect in Europa. Will I have to fight? Collect equipment? Speak with NPCs? I get used to the controls – running, jumping, jumping higher and soaring through the air – and keep an eye out for actual gameplay. But it never comes. I climb buildings and collect green crystals. I can also improve my jetpack so I can fly longer.

I’m getting impatient. Is this just a tech demo? What’s the point of bouncing through the picturesque landscape for hours on end? However, I notice how over time I become calmer and start to enjoy the journey. There’s no mini-map, no compass and no other interface. There’s also no quest journal and no survival elements. Nobody distracts me, I don’t have to shoot or do magic. The game doesn’t ask me to make any decisions.

Instead, I can take my time to think about how to collect those green crystals. The game only explains what they’re good for much later, and only sporadically then. «Dad’s» diary pages relevant to the story are clearly visible from afar thanks to a golden beam, so I can’t miss them. I feel how beautiful it is to simply play with the landscape. The soundtrack in the background also contributes to the enchanting atmosphere.

There are a few activities after all

The relatively small map areas are connected by portals or large gates. To open them, I have to solve simple puzzles. For example, activating lanterns or finding ghosts in the landscape. Sometimes you have to jump over disintegrating blocks or navigate flying ones over an abyss. It’s never that difficult: if something doesn’t work the first time, I try again. There’s no penalty. And there’s no frustrating searches either: I usually find the items I’m looking for quickly.

On the way, I notice other robotic creatures alongside wild animals and mechanical dragonflies. I can’t interact with them at first. I record the many creatures in my sketchbook as another type of collector’s item.

After a few peaceful environments, the world around me becomes more hostile. For example, I’m targeted with laser beams – a very obvious copy from Breath of the Wild. I simply switch off the laser towers with a button marked by a cable.

Mechanical bomb throwers attacking me are a bit more annoying. But I find an efficient way to deal with them. Even if I get hit by a laser or a bomb, my little Zee sees stars for a moment, then picks himself up again. Seems like I can’t die.

Could it be any better?

I have little to criticise about Europa. The world is so beautiful that I want to spend more time in it. The game’s just (too) short. I also think it’s a shame that many of the robots have no function. I can immortalise them in my sketchbook, but even there they have no name and no description of what they are or were for. But of course: my little Zee only draws what he sees, so that makes sense.

Sometimes I have problems with the camera settings. I control the camera as usual with the mouse, but at some points the game takes over the camera for me and zooms out to show a panorama. This makes controlling my character more difficult. Some diary pages contain only blurred scribbles instead of legible writing. Perhaps this’ll be delivered in future, but in the end it’s still only details.

Europa will be released on Steam and Nintendo Switch on 11 October 2024. The game was provided to me by Future Friends Games for testing purposes.