There's no real backstory to the development of Eternal Daughter, so I'll skip straight to the point. This game is hard. And I don't mean pansy Ninja Gaiden hard. I mean that the game will kick you straight to a game over at every opportunity. It is of the classic school of incredibly difficult but accessible level design, and it is much better for it. For a game that aims to be so decidedly retro, going the route of being a showcase of skill first and a storytelling device second definitely drives the point home that this is a game to appeal to the nostalgic in you.

Obviously, as the very first thing you do is see the graphics and hear the music, they are the most important to you. For those that aren't too fond of sprites and chiptunes, Eternal Daughter might not be your thing. Much as I said in the previous paragraph, this is a game where retro is in, and it definitely shows in the graphics and sounds. However, Derek Yu's spritework and animation is top-notch and the music has more musical depth than most chiptunes you'll find. The aesthetic also fits extremely well. Things never feel jarring or out of place unless it was intended to be that way (such as the case of the enemies you face).

The story of Eternal Daughter is a good one. It's definitely an epic fantasy tale, which means that certain things will be instantly recognizable. Things like the plucky female lead, the evil father, the destructive enemy faction, etc. What Eternal Daughter does to push it above and beyond the standard fare is including characters that you genuinely sympathize with, some truly incredible dialogue, and have an ending that, frankly, you never see coming. The ending hits you like a freight train. This is a good thing, though, because most writing in games is terrible.

The gameplay is divided into two portions: platforming and attacking. In a way, the game is similar to Symphony of the Night in how it handles the balance between the two. Your platforming controls are delightfully responsive, which is absolutely necessary in a game of this difficulty. Your attacking controls are fairly responsive too. The big problem most people will have with attacking is that you have to be right up to the enemy to hit them with the default melee attack.

The exploration segment of the game is very fun as well. You are never forced to backtrack, but the option is there for you if you want to get non-essential items and secondary weapons. The progression of the story and your abilities makes sense as well, and all ties back into the exploration elements very well!

Eternal Daughter is simultaneously an extremely simple game and an extremely complex one. There's a lot to discover in the game world, but at the same time there's a sort of internal thread and logic that connects all of it, making sure you never feel out of your element. If you can stand the difficulty curve, Eternal Daughter is one of the best 2D action-adventure games around. You can download the game from our downloads section or Derek Yu's website.

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