Who knew that Jane Austen had an 8-bit adventure? Let’s check it out, and find out how you can give it a go for free if you have an Evercade!

What is the Game of the Month feature on the Evercade?

The Game of the Month feature was initially launched on the Evercade VS, the full size, multiplayer, TV-based variant of the Evercade. Each month, a new game from the Indie Heroes 2 Collection was made available to download for the Evercade VS, absolutely free of charge.

Though downloading a new Game of the Month would erase the previous game – and your saves with it – there was no reason why you couldn’t simply skip an update and new game if you wanted to keep your currently downloaded game and its progress.

The original Evercade handheld didn’t have Wi-Fi functionality, so the feature was locked to the Evercade VS; however, the Evercade EXP has no such problem – so the Game of the Month feature can now be made available on both home console and handheld.

The second round of Game of the Month titles featured games from Indie Heroes 3; as you may expect, the 2024 selection will be appearing in the upcoming Indie Heroes 4 cartridge.

What is Jane Austen’s 8-Bit Adventure, the Evercade Game of the Month for July 2024?

If ever a game was exactly what it sounded like, well, Jane Austen’s 8-Bit Adventure is that game!

An 8-bit platformer, in this game you’re actually cast as Austen herself, trapped in a video game and unable to escape until she’s discovered the missing pages from six of her completed books, as well as defeating numerous characters who aren’t particularly happy with how she portrayed them.

Armed with a quill that you wield like a deadly and surprisingly versatile weapon, you will gather pages, taking them back to the librarian who just happens to be a big fan of your work, and gain new abilities as you progress.

The attention grabbing premise could have been used to just churn out a lazily designed platform game, but there’s some genuinely neat ideas here, and it’s wonderfully playable and enjoyable too.

How do I download the Evercade Game of the Month?

On your console – either Evercade Vs or Evercade EXP – go to the Settings menu, then select the System option.

Then choose Check for Updates; this should trigger the system update which will contain your Game of the Month (as well as other firmware updates or fixes too).

Note that if you’re attempting this on an Evercade EXP, you’ll need to have at least 50% battery or have the console plugged in and charging.

Do also note that your system may shut down and restart automatically, sometimes multiple times, during this process.

Have faith and patience – and just wait for it to go through these steps without interrupting the process as it does this.

Where will I find my Evercade Game of the Month?

On the Evercade EXP, you’ll find your Game of the Month in the EXP menu, selected on the left hand side of the screen.

The VS is slightly different, though it’s in essentially the same place – the icon is a star, rather than the EXP option on the handheld.

In any case, if you have an Evercade VS, an Evercade EXP – or both – what are you waiting for? Go and download the Evercade Game of the Month right now. You can thank me later!

You can purchase the first Indie Heroes Collection from Amazon here, Indie Heroes Collection 2 here and Indie Heroes Collection 3 here.