Endling - Extinction is Forever

Endling was written and developed with kindness. The graph is nicely designed. The whole game has no dialog, even from humans, and designers relied on characters expressions to tell the story. We play as a mother fox who does her best to care and grow her 4 cups. By controlling her we're faced with some struggles and challenges that a wild animal mother might have, from the forest too but the game focuses on showing how humans are killing environments and making almost impossible for animals to survive. At first she must find food and bring back to her den to feed her cups, but soon they grow enough to follow her. We then gotta protect them, keep them fed and teach them abilities they'll need to survive and which also helps during the game. We have to deal with wild animals, hunters, pollution and... other challenges. It brings a sad feeling. As the last adult fox, their extinction is certain, but they still do their best to survive. Be ready to watch tense scenes of violence, suffering and death. But the game also has its down sides. The gameplay sometimes broke the immersion, remembering me of the game mechanics. Yes, it's a much better experience to control her and face her challenges than if it was a movie that we'd just watch, but gameplay could be more polished. In example, in most threats the cups are invisible to it, and the threat ignores them who are closer and keeps focused on the mother. Yeah, I understand it'd be much tougher if she had to rush them as we try to control them more directly, but it still breaks immersion when it remembers us they aren't there gameplay-wise. The game was getting repetitive. It was even annoying on some parts, that I kept dying after having almost finished the night and had to restart it. I end up knowing where to go and it gets very boring trying to do the same night over and over. Sometimes I was even preferring if I could give up a cup and move on the game instead of dying and have to repeat the whole night.

This game made me remember precisely what I like about the games that I like, and why I play them. I like a sense of freedom, empowerment, and being able to get away from the troubles of the real world and relax. This game is the exact opposite of that. It is very restrictive, instills a constant sense of fear and worry inside of you, and makes you feel powerless in the face of a big, scary, hostile world. Which is great if you are into experiencing such emotions, but I, I get enough of that in my daily life, and it is not what I am looking for when I play games. In fact, I just had to stop playing this game because I could not take it on a psychoemotional level. So if you are looking for a game that makes you feel these things, then this may be for you. But if you just want to have fun and get away from such things, then this is definitely the wrong choice. Plus points for the game being very creative with its storytelling, telling the story from the eyes of a vixen, without a word needing to be spoken. Meanwhile, from a gameplay perspective, it is very restrictive, forcing you on linear paths with occasional branches, and without even being able to jump, thus making movement mostly one-dimensional. Back and forth, that's it, and with not only one, but two separate time limits to constantly put pressure on you while you struggle to figure out what to do. I consider that stressful, but I also know that some people enjoy that sort of pressure and challenge, so if you like that sort of stuff, then feel free to try this out.

Nice looking game with a refreshing, although misguided message. The issue with this game is that it's VERY short. You'd be lucky to get 5 hours out of this game before finishing it which makes the current $30 price tag ($40 if you want them to plant a tree for you) way too high. With the questionable decision to launch this game at the same time and price as Stray, I suspect the price will drop quickly and soon.

If you are someone who is very emotional this game will break your heart, it is a simple but really nice game and it really wants to share the right knowledge. If you can't handle something like this, please stay away from this game, it won't do you any good. For those who believe that it is important to experience these emotions in a way that leaves a bitter but sweet aftertaste, this game is for you. It will break your heart in the best way I know.