Secret of Evermore/Eien no Himitsu is a game developed by Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) in 1995. The interesting fact about this particular title is not only was it a game utilizing the same engine as 1993's Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 2, it was also developed by Square's North American branch specifically. It was released in American and European territories with a Japanese release originally planned but was cancelled. The music was composed by Skyrim's composer, Jeremy Soule.

Now to dive into the game itself. Secret of Evermore is set in a modern, Sci-Fi world starring a boy and his dog (both not having a specific name), who live in a town called Podunk. In the game's opening plot, the boy and his dog just came out of a movie, and the boy's dog spots a cat and chases after it into an abandoned building. The boy follows the dog into the building and notices all sorts of scientific gizmos, messes with one of the machines and gets transported into another world called Evermore. The boy is greeted by a butler and a scientist in a futuristic lab area and the butler inquires about his appearance into the world, and leads him into another room. In the room, the boy is faced with 2 robot beings and finds a Bazooka to fight them off with. The boy is able to escape from that place into an escape pod and crash lands into the evermore world below.

The object of the game is to navigate your way through Evermore with the boy and his dog through different points of history (think Chrono Trigger but without the time warping) to find a way back home. The gameplay is very similar to Secret of Mana with some differences: You can't chain cast magic, instead of an MP system, the game utilizes an alchemy system where you have to find ingredients in order to use a finite number of spells, magic and weapon levels are not locked behind progression like in Mana where you had to get weapon orbs and recruit new summoned creatures in order to level your weapons/magic further, and the last few notable changes like damage cap is higher (9999) and you can only play the game single-player.

As you traverse throughout the game, you come to learn that there are people like the main character that got transported to Evermore because of an accident in an experiment and they wound up in the places they dreamed of and it is up to you to find the mastermind behind the accident and what their goal is. Each area in the game represents a different time period such as Pre-History, Antiqua (Antiquity), Nobilia (Medieval era) and each area utilizes its own currency, making each area distinct from each other. An additional nice touch to these areas is the fact that the boy's dog transforms into different dog forms per time period era along with the pleasure of listening to the deep, atmospheric themes of each area composed by Jeremy which really adds value to the game.

The biggest attraction to the game is the Alchemy system where you can find and buy ingredients for spells you learn from other alchemists (both mandatory and optional). Like in Mana, you level up spells by constantly casting them on different enemies and they get stronger. Some spells, (specifically certain support magic), do not get stronger in effect when rapidly using them. There are a big list of spells you can obtain and use to your advantage, but the catch is, there is a limit to how many spells you can carry at a time, but the game allows you to turn on and off spells by speaking to the alchemists so you can change things up every once in a while.

I found the beginning of this game very difficult as you had to learn how to approach and fight enemies and balance between fighting and healing. I often found my attacks missing while I was learning to fight and heal when I needed to. The game utilizes a hit percentage system where if the bar hits 100%, you will be able to attack at your strongest. When you power up your weapon, you can hold the attack button to perform a charge attack which will deal more damage. The boy's dog deals more damage than the boy and you can use him to your advantage when you are struggling to take down difficult monsters and bosses. The game's different weapons can be utilized to solve different puzzles to help you get further in the game.

One of my favorite parts of the game is when the story calls for playing as the dog by itself to solve puzzles and progress the story. It added a dynamic to the story's narrative and kept things fresh. Another part of the game I found fascinating is getting a machine that allows you to fly around the world. It's much like the airship travel in Final Fantasy, and the Dragon Flight in Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 2, but you can only land where there are Fireplaces/Fire pits. Speaking of Final Fantasy, there are some Final Fantasy character cameos that make an appearance in the game which is a nice, additional touch.

While the game is fun, and challenging, it does come with its set of bugs and glitches. There are some that prevent the player from completing the game, there are walkthroughs online that warn people about saving in those areas when the bug triggers otherwise they lock themselves from being able to finish the game. The combat has its set of flaws as well, mainly the fact that the hit detection doesn't always work the way you want it to when you try to hit an enemy and the attack doesn't connect. It has improved some since Secret of Mana, but it is still difficult to attack certain enemies despite the hit rate being better.

Overall, I think Secret of Evermore is a good game. It isn't better than Secret of Mana or Trials of Mana (A.K.A. Seiken Densetsu 2 and Seiken Densetsu 3 respectively), but it stands well on its own being an independent title and I encourage Square-Enix to make more titles like this that utilize the Mana series game engine and create different worlds like they did for the setting of evermore. Whether you do or do not play video games and/or interested or not interested in playing Secret of Evermore, I highly recommend listening to the game's soundtrack!