Eternal Love Fuses Platforming with Atmospheric Horror

Alright, so here’s me at PAX East 2025, and, well, I’m stumbling across this game, Love Eternal. Probably tumbled into it, honestly. Y’know how it is with endless platformers out there. Every developer’s itching to be the next big thing – a Shovel Knight or, I dunno, Celeste maybe. It ain’t easy to stand out.

Okay, picture this: Love Eternal made by siblings. Yeah, siblings. Move over Oregon Trail (not really, but you get it), they shifted from Oregon to the smoky sprawl of L.A. Those wildfires left marks, burned into their brains or something. Felt a touch of Perfect Blue to it, that anime (which I kinda love, TBH) – especially its rattling-story vibes.

You kick things off as Maya. One minute she’s chilling with her fam in suburbia, next thing, a phone rings. She answers, and poof, family gone. Poof again – her world’s now some ancient puzzle. Disorienting, like waking up from a nap in a different decade, if that’s even a thing?

Ah, there’s Maya again, grappling with this shifting reality. And these platforming bits? They go hard. She’s got this gravity-upside-down thing happening. Reminds me of being on teeter-totters as a kid. She can’t just float mid-air forever though. Needs to land, touch ground, and then – boom – flip again. Gotta nab some red stones while airborne for an extra spin; tricky bits they are. Looks challenging in a way that makes you feel smart. Or mad. Or both. There’s a sprinkle of Celeste and VVVVVV in its DNA. Think about save points scattered around – a mercy for the rage-filled among us.

The devs are on a mission, seems like. Want us to puzzle out their maze without losing our minds completely. The blurb warns of some ominous castle of memories and a kidnapped child kinda situation involving a god? Sounds like a mind-bender, with a sprinkle of trauma for seasoning. Four hours. That’s the journey they’re selling when it drops later in the year on all the gadgets – Xbox, Switch, PlayStation, PC. Sorta bracing myself already.