More than eleven years ago, designer Toby Alden, creating work under the name brlka, began developing a small, independent platforming game called Love.
The game was a challenging platformer with a simple, retro pixel art style, fitting into the demanding ‘masocore’ genre alongside titles like Electronic Super Joy and Super Meat Boy.
What started as a small project, Love Eternal, has blossomed into a complete game! Developed by brlka and published by Ysbryd Games, it combines a compelling story with challenging platforming. Players can experience the full game on Xbox and PC starting February 19th.
Love Eternal is a spooky and story-focused horror game about Maya, a young girl taken from her family by a sad and self-centered god. The game starts with Maya heading to dinner, but everything changes when a strange phone call interrupts the evening.
Maya is trapped inside an old castle filled with dangerous obstacles like spikes and lasers. Though she’s incredibly small – just a few pixels tall – the castle is enormous and crumbling, making her feel isolated and vulnerable. This creates a creepy atmosphere that brings a sense of horror to the game, Love Eternal, without using gore or jump scares.
In Love Eternal, you control Maya as she explores spooky ruins using easy-to-learn platforming. You jump with a button press, and holding the button lets you jump further. Soon, the game introduces a clever twist: Maya can flip mid-jump to reverse gravity, letting her fall *up* instead of down.
After Maya uses her gravity flip, she can’t use it again until she lands on the ground. However, she can regain the ability to flip a second time by collecting red crystals found in certain levels. These crystals are crucial for successfully navigating the difficult, spike-filled rooms in Love Eternal, and avoiding getting stuck.
Maya’s movements in Love Eternal still follow the same physical rules as the original game from over ten years ago. But thanks to new, smoother animations, it *feels* like she moves differently as she explores the large castle spaces.
The animations in Love Eternal aren’t just about how Maya moves; they also contribute to the game’s lonely and strangely unsettling mood. The game uses beautifully drawn pixel art cutscenes to explore themes of family and isolation, often using surreal and unexpected imagery. It’s a more understated kind of horror that creates a lingering sense of unease without resorting to violence or sudden shocks.
Love Eternal uses a beautiful, subdued color scheme and flowing pixel art, but its echoing soundtrack creates a sense of unease. This combination makes players want to keep exploring, even though the game’s visuals and sounds are unsettling.
The developer of Love Eternal, brlka, is working with the indie publisher Ysbryd Games to release the game. Ysbryd Games is known for publishing unique and visually striking pixel-art games like Va11-halla, World of Horror, and Demonschool, often focusing on compelling stories and thought-provoking themes. They frequently take risks on experimental titles that explore what it means to be human, which makes them a great partner for brlka.
You can download a free demo of Love Eternal on Steam now! The full game will be released on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and PlayStation in February. Please note that while it’s playable on older Xbox consoles, Love Eternal doesn’t support cross-platform play with other devices.
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2026-01-28 23:39