Earthworms

About

Earthworms is a single player casual puzzle game with a horror theme. It was developed by All Those Moments and was released on February 23, 2018. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Earthworms" is a single-player Horror Point and Click game with a good plot and stellar visuals. As private detective Daniel White, players investigate a missing teenager's case, leading to a mind-blowing global conspiracy. With hand-painted locations, outstanding music, and a dense atmosphere, this artistic science-fiction game promises an epic adventure.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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69%

Audience ScoreBased on 109 reviews

story25 positive mentions

stability8 negative mentions

The game features a unique and beautiful hand-drawn art style that enhances its surreal atmosphere.
The soundtrack is chilling and well-composed, adding to the overall immersive experience.
The story is intriguing with multiple endings, providing some replayability and engaging plot twists.

The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including bugs that can disrupt gameplay and lead to frustrating experiences.
The English translation is often poor, leading to awkward dialogue and confusion about the plot and puzzles.
Many puzzles lack clear logic or guidance, making it easy to get stuck and requiring players to rely on walkthroughs.

story
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
59%
7%
The story of the game is a surreal and intriguing blend of mystery, magic, and sci-fi elements, featuring a detective with psychic abilities navigating a bizarre narrative filled with unexpected twists. While the original ideas and atmospheric visuals are praised, many players find the plot disjointed and confusing, often exacerbated by poor translation and a lack of character development. Overall, it appeals to fans of unconventional storytelling, though it may leave some feeling unsatisfied due to its abrupt conclusions and unclear narrative threads.
- “It's a point-and-click adventure with a surrealist kind of plot that has you take on the role of a detective who can see glimpses of the future.”
- “The story is bizarre and engaging.”
- “Beautiful art style, very original story idea, and atmospheric music: there was a sense of something sinister just under the surface in every scene.”
- “The story didn't make much sense to me, but that didn't really bother me.”
- “Characters drop off the map without a second thought, certain quest lines don't need to be finished, and the story amounts to so little you'll be left wondering why you even bothered in the first place.”
- “Due to the surreal nature of the story, it made it even harder to decipher what was going on, especially as there is minimal explanation to begin with.”
music
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
21%
8%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim for its ability to enhance the atmosphere, with many reviewers highlighting its chilling, eerie quality that complements the art style beautifully. Players appreciate the soundtrack as a standout feature, often describing it as haunting, atmospheric, and integral to the game's overall experience. While some critiques exist regarding other gameplay elements, the music consistently emerges as a strong point, with many expressing a desire to purchase the soundtrack separately.
- “The visuals and soundtrack are the strengths of this game.”
- “Beautiful art style, very original story idea and atmospheric music: there was a sense of something sinister just under the surface in every scene.”
- “I loved the art style and the soundtrack, they fit the story perfectly.”
- “It's a great achievement for the person who made this game, but the save system doesn't work and I just didn't like the vibe, the progression, and the music of the game in general.”
- “The music is okay.”
- “Stylistically bleak, muted colors and an eerie soundtrack set the mood.”
graphics
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
38%
8%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the unique and beautiful hand-drawn art style that enhances the atmosphere, while others criticize the overall visual quality as amateurish and lacking polish. Despite the appealing aesthetic, many players note that the simplistic 2D visuals and graphical bugs detract from the experience, leading to frustration rather than immersion. Overall, while the artwork is often highlighted as a strength, it is overshadowed by issues related to execution and game design.
- “The nicest thing to say about this game is that it has a really distinct, beautifully rendered art style, and an interesting world.”
- “Beautiful artwork, creepy score, interesting sci-fi tale.”
- “The art style is beautiful and fascinating, like a moving paint, with an interesting palette of colors.”
- “The artwork here is terrible; it's all just amateurish 'my first Wacom tablet' style drawings used instead of professional-looking game assets.”
- “It's unclear if this is due to a lack of budget to hire someone who can create graphical assets properly, or a lack of talent. Regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low, enough on its own to deter gamers.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
atmosphere
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
30%
12%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beautiful art style, chilling soundtrack, and a mix of mysterious, eerie, and sometimes disturbing elements. Many players appreciate the unique blend of humor and darkness, as well as the sense of exploration and intrigue it fosters. However, some critiques mention that while the atmosphere is compelling, it can be undermined by gameplay issues and a disjointed narrative.
- “Beautiful art style, very original story idea and atmospheric music: there was a sense of something sinister just under the surface in every scene.”
- “Earthworms is an atmospheric point-and-click story with unique art and chilling music.”
- “The atmosphere is interesting, a sort of noir detective history that meets Lovecraftian themes.”
- “The atmosphere in the game is okay, not scary, but it is disturbing in a lot of sections.”
- “I admit the atmosphere is peculiar, but I found it overall boring, disconnected, with either too easy or too repetitive puzzles.”
- “All right then, Earthworms is a strange, but kind of interesting point-and-click adventure game. It has a good hand-drawn art style, a good but can be very confusing story, and an okay atmosphere, while not scary but it's disturbing.”
gameplay
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The gameplay of Earthworms is characterized as a classic point-and-click adventure, but it suffers from rigid mechanics and a lack of integration with its unique story elements. While there are interesting ideas and a distinctive visual style, players find the gameplay to be somewhat boring and marred by bugs, mediocre puzzles, and poor writing. Overall, the experience is stable but lacks the depth and engagement expected from the genre.
- “Stable gameplay (mostly).”
- “Gameplay is around 4-6 hours.”
- “A point and click adventure, with very classic gameplay.”
- “Starting from the worst: well... gameplay is quite boring, the story is pretty shallow and nothing unexpected happens at all.”
- “There are some good ideas here -- a detective with visions, a plot that gets otherworldly without becoming totally incoherent, a unique visual style -- but they're marred by bad copyediting, rigid game mechanics, small bugs, occasionally cringe-inducing writing, and mediocre puzzles.”
- “The detective's 'visions' are never integrated well with the overall game design (look to Wadjet Eye's games for better examples of how to expand on classic point and click adventure mechanics).”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting numerous bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay and lead to confusion. While some users note that the issues are not severe enough to ruin the overall experience, others highlight game-breaking glitches that necessitate frequent saving. Overall, the game's stability is a significant concern, impacting enjoyment and playability.
- “The least nice thing to say is that it is buggy, confusing, poorly translated, not that well programmed and not that fun to play because of that.”
- “I wanted to like this game, but just too many glitches.”
- “There are some game breaking glitches that forced me to return to my save file so I suggest save often and don't enter menus and exit them too quickly; take your time to read and look at each screen before moving on.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
50%
The humor in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it dull and out of place, while others appreciate its blend of creepy and funny elements. The English translation is noted for its humor, contributing positively to the overall atmosphere, which balances between depressing and amusing. However, technical issues detract from the enjoyment for some users.
- “Creepy, funny, relaxing point-and-click game with a really good soundtrack to boot.”
- “There is no voiceover work, but it's not necessary anyway, and the English translation is hilarious in some parts.”
- “The atmosphere is a mix of depressing and humorous, which is hard to do well, but I think this story achieves it.”
- “Earthworms has been the subject of a mostly unfunny running joke between my girlfriend and me because this game feels like it's perpetually on sale for pocket change on the Nintendo game store.”
- “The humor in this game falls flat, relying on tired clichés that fail to elicit even a chuckle.”
- “I expected some clever wit, but instead, I was met with jokes that felt forced and uninspired.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The game offers limited replayability, primarily due to its three endings—negative, neutral, and positive—that don't significantly differ from one another. While players can explore each ending to uncover additional details about the plot and setting, the overall experience remains relatively short, with a completion time of around five hours.
- “A good length considering there are multiple endings which opens it to replayability.”
- “There's some replayability for getting each of the three endings (negative, neutral, and positive) and getting each ending reveals a little more detail about the setting and plot.”
- “The game is quite long (~5 hours to finish) and offers some replayability if you want to see the other endings (good, neutral, and bad).”
- “Very minimal replay value; it has 3 endings and they don't differ too much.”
- “The game is quite long (~5 hours to finish) and offers a bit of replayability if you want to see the other endings (good, neutral, and bad).”
- “There's some replayability for getting each of the three endings (negative, neutral, and positive), and each ending reveals a little more detail about the setting and plot.”