Upcoming Xbox Game Pass adventure game could scratch the Everwild itch

If you just can't wait for Everwild, then Xbox Game Pass' newly-announced Creatures of Ava is well worth a look — especially with that 2024 release window!

Opinion by Heidi Nicholas

Published 12 Mar 2024

I’ve been hopefully eyeing up Rare’s new IP, Everwild, (and fruitlessly choosing it as a prediction for every surprise announcement at Xbox events) ever since it was announced in 2019. The few trailers we’ve had for it have been utterly gorgeous, hinting at magical worlds and wonderful creatures, but details have otherwise been scarce. Everwild wouldn't be shown at the Xbox Partner Preview event, but the announcement of Inverge Studios’ new game might have caught your eye. It definitely caught mine, and from what we saw, Xbox Game Pass' Creatures of Ava could do a great job — not just of scratching that Everwild itch, but of giving us a wonderful adventure in its own right.

The Xbox Partner Preview event gave us a look at a game with vibrant, colorful landscapes and the chance to save bizarre creatures. It wasn't Everwild: it was the newly-revealed Creatures of Ava, and this new game ticked a lot of the boxes that I didn't realize I'd been looking for in a game since Everwild's announcement. That isn’t to suggest that these games are identical or interchangeable, but there are some intriguing similarities which mean anyone looking forward to Everwild could find a lot to love in Creatures of Ava. Both feature beautiful, rich worlds with half-familiar, half-alien creatures, but even more key to both games seems to be the focus on preserving natural life.

A harmony with nature and animal life is paramount in Everwild and Creatures of Ava. In Creatures of Ava, we’re working to save the planet’s creatures from a dangerous infection called The Withering. Everwild (as we’ve learned the hard way) is still light on details, but we know from previous dev commentary that the world and its inhabitants is threatened by a swarm of locust-like insects. Creatures of Ava's trailer has our character freeing one creature from the effects of The Withering (before giving it a belly rub) while in Everwild's Eternals trailer, there’s a more nebulous scene with a ritual, a giant deer spirit in the stars, and a previously incapacitated creature happily revived and sent running back into the wild.

When Everwild dropped the Eternals trailer during Xbox’s 20/20 showcase, executive producer Louise O'Connor spoke about the game’s player characters: the Eternals themselves, who have “the gift to sense and feel how magic flows through nature." We see glimpses of their work to protect nature, with the Eternals using rituals to defend a tree from that swarm of insects and to converse with spirits of the natural world.

Since we have more info on Creatures of Ava, we can see how the game’s encouragement of natural harmony goes beyond saving Ava’s creatures. Our character is adventurer Vic, who works with Tabitha, a researcher, and the Naam, the people of planet Ava, to heal infected creatures — healing them, rather than focusing on fighting. One key tool we’ll have is the flute which can be used to tame Ava’s creatures, allowing them to use their skills to help with exploration. An instance of this in the trailer is our character using music to direct a small bird to knock down a bridge. Admittedly, this seems an interesting choice given that we’re an adult human and the bird is a, well, bird, but the trailer also shows us utilizing its abilities to soar above and look around a village, so at least the bird can have a break from physical bridge-pushing labor to do some bird stuff.

Everwild has looked incredible in everything we’ve seen. The not-so-good news is that it doesn’t have a release window yet, and we haven’t heard an update for it in quite some time. As an upcoming Xbox exclusive and Xbox Game Pass title, Everwild is very high on the list of games we can’t wait for. Creatures of Ava is also on our list of upcoming Game Pass games, and while we don’t have a specific release date, it has already been confirmed for 2024. The wait for Everwild, while frustrating, will undoubtedbly be worth it — but if you're looking for a gorgeous creature-saver (with a 2024 Game Pass release window) to look forward to in the meantime, Creatures of Ava looks like your best bet.

Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.