Irish film maker David OReilly is best known for his work on Adventure Time and Her, but he made an immediate impact on the gaming world in 2014 when he released Mountain for PC. The game was advertised with no controls, as players just watched the life of a mountain go by. The release was filled with surprises, and found success with its $1 price point. Three years later, OReilly has followed up Mountain with Everything, a highly ambitious sandbox title that allows players to control everything from single cell organisms to the universe itself.
It’s important to define what Everything is and isn’t. In no way has David OReilly and company created a simulation. Most animals move by rolling around as if they were a box, ecosystems aren’t accurately reproduced (don’t be shocked if you somehow see a cow in a desert), and realism is clearly not the goal here. Instead the game offers up an incredible procedurally generated world filled with different creatures, objects, and ways to make sure the player experiences a new perspective. While some will most likely be disappointed by the lack of direction in Everything (there’s little instruction aside from some early tutorials that teach players the basics), it also manages to offer up an amazing amount of freedom. From zooming in on some grass to see what the bugs are doing to swimming in the ocean as a shark, there’s always something fascinating to do inside the world. The player just has t...