Endling literally gatekeeps players from progressing through the story or the map by locking off entire areas, meaning you will retread the same few paths for days on end, passing the time waiting for the next clue to unlock. Clues to the whereabouts of your cub only become discoverable on set days. Yet search as much as you want, you will not find your cub any quicker than another player. You might catch a scent of them which will lead to new areas and clues about where they are. To make the most of each day, I found myself sprinting through the map, often leaving my cubs unsupervised, and only feeding them every couple of days when it became absolutely necessary.Įxploring the map in search of your lost cub becomes the primary drive. That’s because food isn’t all that scarce in Endling, even though humans are actively cutting down forests and polluting rivers. That sounds tense, but it only happened once in my four-hour playthrough. If they aren’t fed before it runs out, they will perish. Once the bar that tracks food is empty, a timer will start above a cub. They can go for extended periods of time without needing food, and the threat of starvation has no impact on gameplay. Taking care of the three cubs still by your side proves to be an incredibly simple task. Restrictive progression makes the lackluster gameplay feel like a chore. Despite jaw-dropping visuals, Endling’s simplistic story and restrictive gameplay fail to deliver on the promise of the game’s opening minutes, leading to a disappointing and tedious experience. Endling’s themes of environmentalism are admirable, but the game’s exploration of the issue never goes deeper than surface-level. This is life in Endling: Extinction is Forever, a side-scrolling survival game from developer Herobeat Studios. With one cub kidnapped by a hunter, you must balance the responsibilities of keeping your remaining cubs alive while also searching for your missing child. The first title from developer Herobeat Studios, Endling follows the last fox on Earth, struggling to keep her cubs alive in a world that grows more hostile daily. These opening moments from Endling: Extinction is Forever are some of the most gorgeous I have experienced in a game. With doom surrounding her, life springs forth. The trees that have lived for centuries turn to ash, and the fox finds shelter in a rocky refuge. She tries to escape the home crumbling around her, desperately hoping to survive for the sake of the four hearts that beat within her belly. As the trees burn, a lick of flame dashes across the ground.

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