Effie

About

Effie is a single player open world platformer game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Inverge Studios and was released on January 28, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Effieis a 3D action-adventure game that combines classic elements from the genre, such as combat, platforming, and puzzles, with the exploration of an expanded world. Live a unique fantasy adventure, free the cities from a powerful and dark evil, and relive the look and feel of old-school video-games! Experience a unique adventureDelve into the adventure of Galand, a young man in his quest to reco…

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67%

Audience ScoreBased on 264 reviews

story28 positive mentions

grinding9 negative mentions

Solid platforming with well-designed and varied levels that provide satisfying gameplay and light puzzles.
Beautiful, colorful, and vibrant art style with good environmental design and a fitting soundtrack enhancing the fairy-tale atmosphere.
Fun and relaxing experience suitable for casual players and younger audiences, featuring enjoyable shield surfing mechanics and a charming, humorous narration style.

Combat is simplistic, repetitive, and lacks depth, becoming unchallenging and sometimes tedious over time.
Level design includes frustrating elements like locked doors preventing backtracking and missable collectibles requiring a full restart to achieve 100%.
Short game length with a basic story, occasional bugs, and some clunky animations and controls that detract from overall polish.

story
148 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
76%
5%
The story is simple, straightforward, and often described as basic or bland, revolving around Galand’s quest to regain his youth and defeat an evil witch. It is presented as a narrated fairy tale told to a child, which adds charm but limits depth and complexity, resulting in a short and light-hearted narrative that is suitable for a casual, younger audience. While the storytelling style and voice acting are appreciated, many find the plot unoriginal, underdeveloped, and forgettable.
- “You play as Galand, a young man cursed with old age by a wicked witch, who must set out on a quest to regain his youth and save the region from the encroaching darkness.”
- “Engaging story: while simple, the story of Galand's quest is heartwarming and keeps you invested in his journey.”
- “Amazingly, Effie manages to tell a pretty competent fairytale-like story with only three actual characters.”
- “The story is so shallow it might as well not exist; wouldn't surprise me if they made the game first and just stamped the story on top via voice overs, as that is the entire story, just a long voice over.”
- “The world is bland, the characters are completely flat, the story feels like a placeholder plot that they forgot to replace.”
- “The game could be vastly improved by having less in it, just remove the whole narration and asspulled story, just making it about a dude that has to collect some important stuff to save the world and don't try to make it into this epic narrative tale we are forced to listen to, jesus.”
gameplay
88 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
61%
5%
The gameplay features a nostalgic blend of platforming, combat, puzzles, and open-world exploration centered around a fun shield-surfing mechanic, though this is limited mainly to overworld sections. While the mechanics are generally solid and progression introduces new abilities, many find the gameplay basic, repetitive, and lacking depth or challenge, with some frustration over save systems and limited combat options. Overall, it offers a visually appealing, casual, and accessible experience that is enjoyable but may feel unfinished or overly simplistic to players seeking more complexity.
- “While it may be short and have a few minor flaws, its beautiful world, engaging gameplay, and nostalgic charm make it a journey worth taking.”
- “The gameplay features the classic mix between platforming, simple puzzles and combat, and mixes it with the novelty of non-linear exploration with the awesome shield-surfing.”
- “Gameplay was solid, nice progression of skills and abilities, locations were varied and unique.”
- “It's not a terrible game, but it feels really basic and unfinished in its gameplay, graphics, and storytelling to the point where it's really just not that fun to play.”
- “4 hours of lame, boring gameplay isn’t something I can recommend spending your money on.”
- “Another weird save mechanic: in the small open world area these autosaves are even timed, so if you collect some runes there, and die before this timed autosave happens, you’ll have to collect everything again (you can be lucky if you recall where they exactly were).”
graphics
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
55%
4%
The graphics are generally described as bright, colorful, and cartoon-like with a charming, fairy-tale or neo-retro aesthetic that appeals to fans of classic 3D platformers. While some find the visuals simplistic or occasionally bland, many praise the art style as unique, well-crafted, and nostalgic, drawing favorable comparisons to PS2-era games and titles like Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie. Minor technical issues are noted but do not significantly detract from the overall pleasing and vibrant graphical presentation.
- “I have always loved puzzling platformers from my old days like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro; this game reminds me of those kinds of games but with much better graphics.”
- “Short, enjoyable 3D indie platformer with nice visuals (low polygon count + simple texturing + fancy UE4 lighting is a combination more games should use) and solid level design.”
- “[spoiler][i]Effie[/i] brings back the feel of PlayStation® 2 era action-adventures, 3D platformers and collectathons like [i]Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro[/i] and [i]Ratchet and Clank[/i] and packages it in modern-day graphics.”
- “It's not a terrible game, but it feels really basic and unfinished in its gameplay, graphics, and storytelling to the point where it's really just not that fun to play.”
- “The visuals look bland and boring, nothing really sticks with you while playing it.”
- “No save files, lack of ability to skip cut scenes that drag on and on, ambiguous ending, headache-inducing graphics, and so much more make this game more of a chore to complete.”
music
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
45%
10%
The game's music is generally praised for its fitting, charming soundtrack that complements the fantasy and adventurous tone, enhancing the overall atmosphere. While the music is regarded as enjoyable and well-matched to the visuals, some users noted occasional imbalance in volume mixing and limited variety, with a few minor issues in sound effects and voice acting. Overall, the soundtrack contributes positively to the immersive experience.
- “The songs featured in this game brilliantly work in tandem with the visuals, both supporting and influencing the atmosphere with tranquil and innocent but also epic and heroic tracks and, at times, even tunes that sound like something out of Kingdom Hearts or a Tim Burton movie.”
- “Great voice acting and music: the characters are brought to life with charming voice acting, and the soundtrack perfectly complements the game's adventurous tone.”
- “The music is great and the feel of surfing around the open world is freeing.”
- “Also, at random points in the game, the volume mixing becomes imbalanced (music and sounds too loud or too quiet).”
- “Music: the music really eats your brain with repeatable tunes.”
- “Whenever you open a chest you hear a fanfare that is out of time and key with the rest of the music that continues playing.”
grinding
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
9%
82%
Grinding in the game is frequently described as tedious, repetitive, and sometimes underwhelming, with players feeling that it often lacks meaningful rewards. Repetition of tasks, such as collecting items after deaths and repetitive puzzles, contributes to the sense of unnecessary grinding that can detract from the overall experience.
- “A lot of grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “I feel like the grinding is kind of useless.”
- “Speaking of collecting again, if you accidentally die in a room, like when falling in water (instant kill), you'll have to gather all runes again, and all enemies respawn, which can get kind of tedious in levels with a lot of water.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
90%
Stability in the game is mixed, with some players experiencing significant bugs and glitches that occasionally require reloading, while others report smooth gameplay with only minor, rare graphical issues. Despite occasional frustrating moments, the majority find these problems manageable and not severely disruptive.
- “Runs great on the Steam Deck; no adjustments required.”
- “Buggy to the point of unplayable.”
- “The story is bland and childish, and the game is quite buggy.”
- “[*] and just a cherry on this cake - the game is buggy.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by a witty, often sarcastic narrator who humorously comments on the player's actions, adding charm and lightheartedness throughout the adventure. This comedic tone extends beyond dialogue to the world design and animations, contributing to an engaging and playful atmosphere. Overall, the humor is praised for enhancing the game's magical and whimsical experience.
- “Like the 'funny' narrator that is anything but.”
- “But hey, the big world is great, the playful cartoonishness is great, the surfboard shield is fun, the responsiveness of the controller is good, the humor that comes back in everything from the narrator to the world design to the pause animation is just worth it.”
- “During the game, Galand - as the narrator - comments on what the player makes Galand - as the tale's protagonist - do in a humorous way and in third person (like Effie doesn't know it's supposed to be him).”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
57%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its detailed environment, appealing visuals, and well-crafted soundtracks that enhance the mood with a blend of tranquil, heroic, and whimsical tones. While the voice acting adds to the ambiance, some performances received mixed feedback. Overall, the combination of audio and visuals creates an immersive and enjoyable experience.
- “I really like the atmosphere that the game has, and the environment has so many details for something that gives off vibes of a free mobile game.”
- “Additionally, the game also has some cool voice acting and neat soundtracks, so the overall atmosphere of the game is well-made!”
- “The songs featured in this game brilliantly work in tandem with the visuals, both supporting and influencing the atmosphere with tranquil and innocent but also epic and heroic tracks and, at times, even tunes that sound like something out of Kingdom Hearts or a Tim Burton movie.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed: some players find the story heartwarming and engaging, keeping them invested in Galand's journey, while others feel detached due to a bland narrative, poor presentation, and repetitive sound design that undermine emotional connection. Overall, the emotional impact varies widely depending on the player's reception of the storytelling and game execution.
- “While simple, the story of Galand's quest is heartwarming and keeps you invested in his journey.”
- “It's a fun puzzle platformer with a touching story.”
- “The story attempts to be heartfelt and epic, providing an emotional backdrop despite some flaws in other game aspects.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game is well optimized, providing smooth performance with an unlimited framerate. Users appreciate the solid gameplay and appealing visuals across unique locations.
- “Enjoyable simple platformer, well optimized; the gameplay was solid, and each location was unique with appealing visuals.”
- “It's well optimized and you have unlimited framerate.”
- “Performance: 8/10.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game currently offers limited replayability, but players express interest in enhanced or expanded features such as the colosseum and quick imp areas to increase the incentive for multiple playthroughs.
- “Infinitely replayable, especially in multiplayer mode.”
- “I would enjoy it if the Colosseum and quick imp areas were expanded or made to be replayable.”
- “Little to no replayability.”
- “I would enjoy it if the colosseum and quick imp areas were expanded or made to be replayable.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is widely criticized for its amateurish execution, with users highlighting poorly designed characters, subpar voice acting, and awkward story cutscenes.