EVO - Search for Eden ROM

E.V.O.: Search for Eden is a side-scrolling platform game where players must navigate a creature of their own design across a number of environments resembling Earth’s past. The game is divided into five distinct geological periods: the Cambrian Period and the Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era (“The World Before Land”) from 500 million years ago to 450 million years ago, then the Carboniferous period (“Early Creatures of Land”), the Mesozoic Era (“Age of Dinosaurs”), the late Neogene period (“Ice Age”), and finally the early Quaternary period (“Early Man”).

Each period has its own map screen, which is divided into various levels. While each era takes historical liberties with both its inhabitants and time frames, the player’s choices for evolution are dependent on the current era of play, ranging from aquatic bodies during the Age of Fish to mammalian physiology during the Age of Man. E.V.O.: Search for Eden tells a mythical saga of life’s evolution on Earth, with a subtext of a creation myth and polytheistic evolution. The player takes the role of one of many billions of lifeforms created by Gaia (personification of the planet Earth), the nurturing and benevolent daughter of Sol, the Sun. Among the creatures known as life, there is a competition to evolve, and the best lifeform will eventually be granted the privilege of entering the Garden of Eden and becoming the husband and partner of Gaia.

As the game progresses, it soon becomes apparent some mysterious external force is interfering with evolution on Earth in a destructive manner. Strange crystals not native to Gaia appear across the planet, and creatures that eat the crystals are transformed into monstrously powerful beings that dominate all other lifeforms, overconsume resources and disrupt the flow of evolution. In each Age, the player character is tasked with confronting the species transformed by the crystals and defeating them so that the evolution of life can continue as intended.