Rare’s Everwild was one of a number of games Microsoft tossed in the bin as part of wider layoffs earlier this year. It was disappointing, if not a huge surprise given how protracted Everwild’s development had been up until its demise, with lots of questions remaining as to what the mysterious ramble through nature would be like to play.
Now, some leaked screenshots might offer a bit more of an idea as to some of the stuff you’d have been able to get up to in between patting various creatures and swinging a staff around.
The screens, spotted by mp1st, offer a look at the game’s interfaces and menus. The site report they’ve come from an artist’s website and are from a version of the game that existed not long before Microsoft pulled the plug on the project.
One sees the player character standing with their inventory open, with their pockets boasting tools, plants, seeds, mosaics, and figments. It’s the latter that’s caught my attention, as they look to be cute little plant creatures. Given the farm or base building-esque feel of the menu, might these figments have been pint-sized helpers with your gardening ventures? Sadly, we won’t know until someone from Rare chats about the game.
A couple of other screens show the character standing by a patch of grass ringed by an overgrown path. Twinned with the statue and columns you can make out in some of the shots, some exploration or uncovering of old ruins or temples looks possible. Such a thing would match the druidy vibes of Everwild’s trailers, and it’d make sense if the group of eternals the player belonged to were an ancient sect or culture you’d learn more about by exploring their former abodes. Or perhaps you’d be tasked with exploring the old homes of another civilisation who in some way messed up the rhythm of nature and paid for it.
Some of the screens are also very blurry, so maybe you’d find a camera in these ruins and be physically unable to work out how to use the focus, because you’re far too focused on helping some salamander thing gently vomit what I assume to be its kids into a river. That last thing happens in this trailer at around the 1:15 mark, lest you accuse me of ruining your day with made up tales of water-based creatures blowing chunks.
It’s sad that this and dev testimonies are how Everwild’s mysteries’ll be uncovered, rather than by folks who’ve fired up a complete game, but such is the nature of projects which never see the light of day.
