Ever Oasis: Review

Ever Oasis is a Nintendo 3DS game that I will continue to love for the rest of my life.

A dungeon-crawler, city-building sim and RPG all mashed into one, Ever Oasis offers a little for everyone who needs them. From the developers of TLOZ: Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time, Grezzo (developer) built Ever Oasis as a more simple game for casual gaming and lesser difficulty. This game particularly reminds me of the Rune Factory series, but without the dating sim.

About the Ever Oasis

Who doesn’t like seeing tiny chibi creatures living a life of adventure and building a village? Especially in a village set in the parched desert. Your mission is to grow your shriveled oasis, invite desert-dwelling folks to find home in your oasis, forge bonds with other settlements/villages, and fight monsters unleashed into the world— all while assuming your role as a chief in your tiny oasis. Action RPG + City-building sim is what defines Ever Oasis’ core game. You can also complete small side quests to invite more townsfolk, who can be found in the world's caves and deserts.

Storyline

You, the Child of the Great Tree, also known as a seedling has the power to create a life-sustaining oasis in the parched, dried desert. After watching the destruction caused by Chaos, a malevolent force, you met a water spirit named Esna. The both of you created an oasis as a beacon of hope to provide safety against the plagues of the desert and Chaos creatures. Transform your oasis by inviting travelers to set up stores and collect the profits to run your tiny oasis, all the while travelling into dangerous places to fight and find the source of Chaos— and one and for all, destroy the Chaos to bring peace

Art style

The characters of Ever Oasis are desert-dwelling folks or creatures, extremely cute and mostly bipedal like humans. They speak their own language and most of the time, the characters are equipped with very cute ornaments. Lizard-like characters are known as Drauk and scorpion-like characters are known as the Serkah explains how different every species looks from one another. The landscape on the other hand, allows you to explore the ruins of desert or a lush green oasis. Every village looks different from one another, making you feel like you’re being transported to different dimensions everytime you explore a new place. The dungeons are made to look like a maze with puzzles. Each dungeon look different— some with broken bones of large creatures or glowing plants which makes it look absolutely beautiful.

Combat system

During your exploration to the ruins or dangerous places, you’ll be accompanied by 2 other team members (who must be residents of your oasis, you may bring along the shopkeepers if their abilities match what you need). Each party member has unique skills in battle. They are either strong or weak against various monsters, and some have special abilities. You will always be in the party as a leader has a special whirlwind ability, which can be used to knock down flyers or lower the defense of sand-based enemies. Your team can be easily equipped with weapons, but you must equip the right weapons before leaving your oasis as once you’re out from the oasis, you cannot change weapons or team members.

There are multiple puzzles and battles with chaos monsters where you need the right combination of team members to navigate properly. The dungeons are not extremely complicated but as the game progresses, you’ll be met with more difficult puzzles.

Characters

The most prominent character in the game is you, Tethu / Tethi (depending on gender). As a village chief, you shoulder the most burden— from requests of your villagers to protecting your oasis from Chaos attacks. Tethu is a kind-hearted, courageous seedling who only wants to honor his late brother’s wishes of protecting the oasis and it’s folks. Over the game, you’ll meet various characters, each looks exceptionally cute with their quirks. 

Some characters can be very nonchalant, or cheeky. Some may be grumpy and start fights with other merchants. Every character has its own quirk and discovering them is one of the things that makes me giggle throughout the game. Your relationship with Esna is warm but sad, as you sit up late at night under the stars and learn about the world that existed before Chaos.

Town building

When a certain character settles in your oasis, they will ask you to provide them a little shop in which they will sell their craft/merchandise in order to lure more desert-dwelling folks to visit. Your mission is to expand your oasis by getting all of the “merchant” characters to open their shop in your oasis. As your town-building progresses, you will have the ability to expand the roads, grow more plants and you’ll have more folks visiting your oasis over the days. You’ll have to go out and get items to restock each shop and collect their profit at night. These profits can be used to expand your oasis, afford better plants and such.

Music

You can expect very pleasant and sweet bgm that doesn’t distract you throughout the game. They hold this ‘arabic nights’-esque feeling to each note, leaving you feeling as it you’re in the game as well.

Ratings: 4/5

Overall, Ever Oasis is a breezy play for those who enjoy a more simple, less challenging game on a cozy day. I wouldn’t spoil the ending, but I can tell you it’s worth it to play towards the end. The game still goes on after the big plot as you can still manage your little oasis!

Wishes,

Melody