Have you ever wondered what it would be like if a fish and bird were in love? What if they could soar through the sky to come together and become a dragon? Well, that’s Entwined.
I, like many others, first saw Entwined at E3 2014. And when I saw it, I wanted to play it immediately. Apparently my immediately was actually somewhere around 11 months later when I finally gave in and bought it on sale for $3. Happily (finally) diving into Entwined, I set off on my journey to join the fish and the bird.
Entwined is a scrolling, twin stick game. Your main objective is to line up the fish and/or the bird with the corresponding gate. Pass through enough gates and they can begin to join together. Complete this part and they fuse to become a dragon, beginning the end of that life cycle. Complete all 9 cycles and you’ll finish the game.
As far as twin-stick games go, the main other one that comes to mind that I’ve played is Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. I really was not a fan of that game – I easily got disorientated and lost my characters a lot. Thankfully, Entwined doesn’t completely go into the same 3D scope as Brothers. While I still had the occasional “whoops” due to messing up who was where, it was definitely a lot easier for me being on a generally more 2D field.
With that said, it can be a bit tricky to make it through the gates properly. The game starts you out pretty simple, and while it never truly gets “extremely” difficult there are definitely points where it gets harder. Sometimes you’ll need to go through a gigantic series of gates with both, and a mistake causes that character to lose some of their meter towards joining. There was also several times where I felt like I definitely hit the gate fine but the game marked it as wrong. This lead to some serious level drag at times as I kept just barely nicking the edge of a gate.
Graphically, Entwined is absolutely gorgeous. It’s especially gorgeous when it comes to the dragon sections. Leading up to the dragon sections, the game is fairly minimalistic with each life cycle having its own theme. The dragon sections play on these themes even more, and at the end it all comes to a head when you get to see everything at once. Sure, maybe it’s because I was on PS4, but I was thoroughly amazed at the graphics in Entwined.
Sound-wise, the game has a soundtrack that fits the theme. When you start each life cycle, the sounds are very minimal. The further you get towards the transformation into a dragon the more the music ramps up until you finally do transform. Like the graphics, I was absolutely amazed with how the sounds were handled in Entwined. Even just hearing the small sounds as you went through the gates was great, knowing you were getting closer to that finishing section.
It really feels fitting that I’m here writing and recommending this game near E3 2015. Even though I did finish it a little while ago, the experience is still fresh with me. Sure, some of the trophies are going to be an absolute pain to go for, but ah well. Entwined is an absolutely fantastic experience and is definitely one of my highly recommended titles. With that said, is it actually worth the full $10? I’m not sure – I’d probably put it closer to worth around $5. Yes, I highly recommend the game, I’m just not quite sure if it’s worth the $10 for it.
Entwined Review Score
4.5/5
Now watch – this game is going to be on PS+ soon since I finally did give in and buy it.
