Everything features quotations from philosopher Alan Watts and has no clear goal aside from occupying more objects within the game.

[6] When a player bonds with a form for the first time, by moving or singing, that object is added to an in-game encyclopedia catalogued by type.

As he worked with it, he saw the potential about representing nature with real-time systems within Unity, forming part of the inspiration for Everything.

[4] The game was developed by a three-person team, including Damien Quartz, who had assisted OReilly in programming Mountain.

OReilly said such decisions, while breaking the reality of the game are "the most interesting solution to particular problems in order to create a totality" for the work.

[13] The game's idle auto-play mode captured OReilly's idea that nature occurs independently of any human intervention.

[4] Polygon reviewed the game favorably, noting that it is a "magical playpen of being, rather than doing", while also pointing out its confusing, contradictory nature.

[29] An 11-minute trailer, featuring a voice-over by British philosopher Alan Watts, won the Jury Prize at the 2017 Vienna Independent Shorts film festival in May 2017.

[42] The game was one of the primary influences for a climatic scene in the 2022 comedy-drama film Everything Everywhere All at Once, specifically the parallel universe in which the protagonist Evelyn Wang and her daughter Jobu Tupaki are rocks.