Jia Lissa
Developer: ACE Team
Publisher: Good Shepherd Entertainment
Platform: PC (Reviewed), PS4, Xbox One
Price: £21.99
In an industry often dominated by predictable sequels and established genres, The Eternal Cylinder arrives as a startling, hallucinogenic breath of fresh air. Developed by ACE Team and published by Good Shepherd Entertainment, this title represents one of the most bizarre and evocative gaming experiences of the current generation. It is a game that defies easy categorization, blending survival mechanics, surrealist art, and a profound sense of ecological dread into a package that is as captivating as it is occasionally frustrating.
The Core Premise: A World Under the Weight of Oblivion
At its heart, The Eternal Cylinder is a tale of survival against an insurmountable, encroaching force. Players assume control of a "trebhum," a squat, sentient, trunk-nosed alien creature navigating a world that is being systematically pulverized by the titular Cylinder. This gargantuan, planet-spanning structure rolls relentlessly across the horizon, crushing flora, fauna, and geography alike.
The game posits a fascinating, if geometrically dubious, premise: a world that exists in a constant state of transition, forced forward by the mechanical maw of an unstoppable catastrophe. The trebhum, vulnerable and small, must navigate this dying landscape, scavenging for resources and evolving in real-time to survive the shifting environments. It is a game that balances the charming with the terrifying, exploring themes of resilience and the inevitability of ecological collapse through a lens of high-concept, surrealist fiction.
Chronology of the Journey: From Hatchling to Survivor
The experience of playing The Eternal Cylinder is a rhythmic cycle of tension and reprieve. The game’s structure is inherently linear, dictated by the constant pressure of the Cylinder. As the player traverses the alien landscape, the Cylinder acts as a persistent ticking clock, its low-frequency roar serving as a constant reminder of the encroaching end.
The Cycle of Sanctuary
The only respites available in this hostile world are the "Towers." These structures emit blue-tinted spheres of influence that temporarily halt the Cylinder’s progress. Within these bubbles, the player can pause their frantic flight to explore, scavenge, and evolve. This is where the game’s core loop truly resides: the desperate scramble for safety followed by the strategic use of sanctuary time to prepare for the next leg of the journey.
Evolution and Adaptation
The trebhum are remarkably adaptable. By consuming various organic objects found in the environment, they can trigger mutations. These aren’t merely aesthetic; they are vital for survival. Consuming specific flora might grant the trebhum longer, more powerful legs to scale obstacles, thick fur to endure plummeting temperatures, or even the ability to transform into a literal cube—a transformation that serves both as a clever puzzle-solving tool and a source of genuine humor.
The Growth of a Family
As the journey progresses, the player does not remain a solitary wanderer. You will encounter other trebhum—hatching them from incubation flowers, reviving them with mystical crystals, or coaxing them out of their dwellings. Managing this growing family is central to the game’s emotional core. Not only do you require a specific number of trebhum to clear certain environmental hurdles, but they also function as "extra lives." If your group leader falls, control passes to another member of the group. Losing a companion is a heavy, palpable blow, and the act of reuniting with or reviving a lost member feels like a hard-won victory.
Supporting Data: Mechanical Nuance vs. Artistic Ambition
While The Eternal Cylinder excels in its vision, it falters slightly in its execution of gameplay mechanics. This is a game of high concepts that occasionally stumble when placed under the player’s fingers.
The Control Conundrum
One of the most persistent issues is the movement and control scheme. The trebhum do not feel particularly responsive. While the mutations are visually inventive, the act of controlling a jumping, running, or cube-shaped creature often feels floaty or disconnected. The sensation of movement, which should feel vital to the game’s core theme of survival, often feels like an afterthought.
Communal Simplicity
The communal aspect of the trebhum family, while narratively strong, is mechanically thin. Beyond acting as a key to specific, gating doors and serving as a buffer against death, the AI companions contribute little to the moment-to-moment gameplay. They are mostly passive participants in your struggle, lacking the depth that the game’s complex world-building suggests they should have.
The Narrative Anchor
Where the game succeeds is in its masterful use of narration. The story of the trebhum is not told through standard dialogue or cutscenes, but through atmospheric world-building and a brilliant, enigmatic narrator who reveals the history of the race in fragments. This keeps the player invested even when the mechanics feel repetitive, providing a sense of purpose that bridges the gap between the game’s surreal sights and its sometimes tedious traversal.
The Surrealist Landscape: A Visual Masterpiece
The world-building in The Eternal Cylinder is nothing short of breathtaking. ACE Team has crafted a landscape that feels like a collaboration between Salvador Dalí and Hieronymus Bosch.
Every inch of the environment feels deliberate. You might encounter flying snot monsters, snails that bisect themselves, or rock formations that suddenly reveal rows of human teeth. Despite the sheer absurdity of these elements, they are tied together by a consistent, meticulously crafted art style. The color palette and the landscape design ensure that the world feels like a coherent, albeit nightmarish, ecosystem.
The Cylinder itself stands as the game’s greatest triumph of design. It is a terrifying, glowing, infernal presence. When it begins to move, the sky turns an apocalyptic orange, the ground shakes, and the ambient soundscape erupts into a deafening roar. The developer has managed to turn a simple geometric shape into one of the most frightening antagonists in modern gaming, creating a sense of scale and power that few games manage to convey.
Implications: The Legacy of a Singular Experience
The Eternal Cylinder is a testament to the power of creative vision over technical polish. While it does not reach the heights of a "masterpiece" due to its occasionally lackluster mechanical systems, it is a "singular" experience that stands apart from the current gaming landscape.
A Mirror to Ecological Anxiety
The game works so effectively because it mirrors real-world anxieties. The relentless, crushing force of the Cylinder can be interpreted as a metaphor for industrialization, climate change, or simply the inevitability of death. By forcing players to move through a landscape that is being systematically erased, the game evokes a specific type of melancholic urgency that is rarely explored in such a stylized format.
Future Perspectives
If there is a lesson to be taken from the release of The Eternal Cylinder, it is that players are hungry for unconventional, high-concept experiences. ACE Team has proven that even when gameplay systems fall short of perfection, a strong artistic identity and a compelling narrative structure can carry a game through to the end.
As the industry continues to iterate on established formulas, The Eternal Cylinder serves as a reminder of the importance of risk-taking. It is a flawed, beautiful, and deeply memorable game that will undoubtedly leave an indelible mark on those who play it. Whether you are sprinting away from the encroaching horizon or watching in awe as the Cylinder illuminates the night sky, you are participating in a unique, terrifying, and profoundly human story told through the eyes of a creature that is anything but.
In summary, for £21.99, The Eternal Cylinder offers a spectacle that is well worth the price of admission. It may not be the tightest action game on the market, but it is undoubtedly one of the most imaginative, offering an unforgettable journey that will linger in the player’s mind long after the final credits have rolled.
Rifan Muazin
Neng Nana
