EarthNight

EarthNight is a side-scrolling action platformer set in a post-apocalyptic future where dragons have taken over Earth, forcing humanity to flee to space. Players take on the roles of two characters, Stanley and Sydney, as they skydive from their orbital station back to the planet’s surface. The gameplay involves procedurally generated levels where players must run, jump, and slash their way through hordes of dragons across the backs of these massive creatures, with the ultimate goal of liberating Earth from the draconic invasion. The game features a unique blend of runner and platformer mechanics, vibrant hand-painted visuals, and an addictive gameplay loop centered on progression and upgrades.

EarthNight: A Hand-Painted Odyssey Through the Dragon Apocalypse

In the vast constellation of indie games, few shine with the peculiar, defiant brilliance of Cleaversoft’s EarthNight. Released in 2019 after a protracted five-year development cycle, it is a title that demands to be judged not by conventional metrics, but by its audacious vision. It is a game that takes the maligned auto-runner genre, infuses it with roguelite progression and a staggering hand-painted aesthetic, and sets it against a post-apocalyptic backdrop of cosmic dragons and desperate humanity. This review will dissect its every facet, from its arduous creation to its complex legacy, to determine its rightful place in the pantheon of video game artistry.

Development History & Context

EarthNight is the brainchild of Cleaversoft, a small independent studio, and its journey to release is a testament to the passion and perseverance endemic to indie development. The game was first unveiled in 2014, a period when the indie scene was flourishing with innovative titles, yet the auto-runner genre was largely relegated to mobile platforms, often synonymous with simplistic, free-to-play models laden with microtransactions.

Cleaversoft’s vision was a direct rebuttal to this trend. They sought to create what they termed “the deepest runner game you will ever play,” a title with the scale and permanence of a console experience. This ambition was anchored by two key artistic pillars: the art of Paul “Mattahan” Davey and the music of Paul “Chipocrite” Weinstein. Davey’s contribution cannot be overstated; he meticulously hand-painted over 10,000 frames of animation, a Herculean task that defined the game’s lush, vibrant, and utterly unique visual identity. Weinstein’s score, a fusion of chiptune energy composed on an original Game Boy and more expansive orchestral pieces, provided the pulsating heartbeat to this chaotic descent.

The game’s protracted development saw it miss its initial launch windows, a common story for ambitious indie projects. It finally debuted on Apple Arcade in September 2019 before arriving on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch that December. This multi-platform release, especially its day-one presence on a subscription service, placed it at the intersection of modern gaming distribution models, seeking both a broad audience on mobile and a dedicated one on traditional consoles.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The premise of EarthNight is a masterclass in high-concept sci-fi fantasy. Dragons have not merely invaded Earth; they have conquered it, forcing the remnants of humanity into a nomadic existence aboard a fleet of spaceships orbiting their former home. Into this dystopia step two unlikely heroes: Stanley, a grizzled, bearded freelance photographer (a modern-day hipster adventurer), and Sydney, a fiery 14-year-old Jamaican schoolgirl imbued with dragon spirit powers.

The narrative is deliberately minimalist, eschewing lengthy cutscenes for environmental storytelling and cryptic lore fragments. The story is told through the act of playing. Each skydive is an act of defiance. The treasures you collect—refugee junk and dragon parts—are traded for water, the most precious commodity in this exodus, a stark symbol of what was lost. The true narrative depth, however, is revealed through its groundbreaking multiple endings, which transform the game from a simple slayer fantasy into a nuanced moral parable.

The four endings, uncovered through player action, are:
* The Normal Ending: Achieved by slaying the final EarthNight dragon, this conclusion is presented as an act of blunt-force cruelty, a triumph that feels hollow.
* The Downer Ending: Failing to slay the final dragon results in being devoured, a classic fail-state.
* The Pacifist Ending: The game’s most profound revelation. By sparing every dragon, including the final one, Sydney and Stanley are taken to meet Yaga, the dragon leader. Yaga reveals the dragons are sapient beings driven mad by the “vermin and garbage” (humanity) covering their bodies and were merely acting on the Earth’s will. This ending fosters a new peace, forcing the player to question the very premise of their genocide.
* The Bolivian Army Ending: A secret ending triggered by collecting hidden items, which involves slaying Yaga at the Earth’s core. This provokes a full-scale dragon uprising, met by a last stand of humanity, emboldened by the heroes’ actions. It’s an ambiguous, war-torn conclusion.

These endings elevate EarthNight from a simple platformer to a work exploring themes of ecological disaster, misunderstood conflict, and the cycle of violence. It asks whether the monsters are truly the dragons, or the humans who polluted their own planet to the point of divine retribution.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its core, EarthNight is an auto-runner, but its systems are layered with a complexity that belies the genre’s simple reputation. The core loop is a roguelite descent: choose a character, skydive from your ship, land on a dragon’s back, and run from its tail to its head across procedurally generated levels, before free-falling to the next dragon, deeper into the atmosphere.

The genius of its design lies in its “hand-designed procedural generation.” Each dragon level is broken into three segments (beginning, middle, end), each with multiple hand-crafted variations that spawn according to a ruleset. This creates a sense of infinite variety while maintaining a curated, designed feel, avoiding the pure randomness that can plague other roguelites.

The two protagonists offer fundamentally different playstyles. Stanley is the simpler character, wielding a sword that can attack forward (with the right power-up) and controlling his jump arc. Sydney is the high-skill option, boasting a double-jump, a forward dash, a downward stomp, and the ability to reset her double-jump by bouncing on enemies. Her moveset encourages aerial acrobatics and intricate combo chains.

The combo system is a crucial mechanic. Landing on five enemies in sequence without touching the ground restores health, incentivizing aggressive, rhythmic platforming over cautious avoidance. This turns the chaotic levels into a dangerous ballet where risk is directly rewarded.

The roguelite progression is driven by collecting treasure (converted to water) and dragon parts (teeth, scales, eggs). Between runs, these are given to the scientist on the ship to permanently unlock and upgrade over 25 power-ups. These include defensive shields, extra jumps, screen-zooming scopes, and giant-growing cookies. This meta-progression is essential, as early runs are brutally short. Each death feeds into a rewarding loop where subsequent attempts are slightly better equipped, allowing you to descend further toward the ultimate goal: Earth itself.

However, the gameplay is not without flaw. Critics noted that the breakneck pace and occasionally cluttered screen can lead to “unfair” deaths where obstacles are impossible to react to. The Switch version, in particular, was criticized for performance hiccups when the screen filled with particles, a technical shortcoming that hampered the experience. The dragon-head quick-time event battles, while a novel change of pace, were also seen by some as overly simplistic.

World-Building, Art & Sound

This is where EarthNight transcends from a good game to an unforgettable sensory experience. The world-building is achieved not through text, but through a cohesive and overwhelming aesthetic.

Art: Paul Davey’s hand-painted art is the game’s soul. Every frame is a vibrant, psychedelic watercolor painting come to life. The dragons are not mere beasts; they are magnificent, biomechanical leviathans soaring through candy-colored skies, their backs crawling with bizarre, imaginative enemies that look like notebook doodles animated into existence. The five layers of the atmosphere each have a distinct color palette and mood, from the deep purples of the thermosphere to the fiery oranges nearing the surface. It is a visual feast of unparalleled creativity in the indie space.

Sound: Chipocrite’s soundtrack is the perfect companion. The chiptune tracks, pulsating with the energy of a classic Game Boy, provide an adrenaline-pumping rhythm for the frantic platforming. These seamlessly blend into more atmospheric, orchestral pieces during the serene skydiving segments, creating a dynamic soundscape that perfectly mirrors the gameplay’s oscillation between chaos and calm. The integration of music into the gameplay itself is subtle but masterful.

Together, these elements build a world that feels both apocalyptic and wondrous, brutal and beautiful. It is a setting that begs to be explored, not for loot, but simply to see what stunning visual the next dragon will reveal.

Reception & Legacy

EarthNight garnered a mixed-to-positive critical reception, with aggregate scores hovering around 69-70%. Praise was universally directed at its breathtaking art, innovative concept, and stellar soundtrack. Reviewers from outlets like Nintendo Life (“Auto-runners don’t get much better than this”) and The Indie Game Website (“Its artistry is second-to-none”) celebrated its boldness and creativity.

Criticism was primarily aimed at its repetitive long-tail gameplay, occasional fairness issues, and technical performance on Switch. It was a game that inspired admiration, if not always sustained engagement.

Commercially, it found a niche audience rather than mass-market success. Its legacy, however, is more profound. EarthNight stands as a landmark in artistic presentation within game design. It proved that the auto-runner could be a vehicle for deep, meaningful, and artistically substantial experiences. It influenced a wave of indie developers to prioritize unique, hand-crafted visual styles, demonstrating that aesthetic passion could be a game’s primary selling point. While it may not have spawned direct imitators, its spirit of genre hybridization and artistic ambition echoes in countless indie titles that followed.

Conclusion

EarthNight is a flawed masterpiece. It is a game of breathtaking highs and frustrating lows, a title whose artistic vision is so potent it often eclipses its mechanical shortcomings. Its Pacifist Ending remains one of the most thoughtful and subversive narrative twists in modern gaming, transforming a simple action game into a poignant commentary.

While its roguelite grind may not captivate everyone, and its performance can be inconsistent, to dismiss it would be to overlook a truly significant work of digital art. It is a testament to what a small, dedicated team can achieve with a singular vision: a hand-painted, chiptune-infused odyssey that is as chaotic, beautiful, and profound as the dragon apocalypse it depicts. EarthNight is not just a game; it is a gallery-worthy piece of interactive art that deserves to be experienced, studied, and celebrated for its fearless ambition.