Review of Endling – Extinction is Forever – A depressing vision of the future

Humanity’s impact on our planet is undeniable. People clearly shape not only the shape of the landscape itself, but also the representatives of fauna and flora living in it. Endling – Extinction is Forever is an environmental game in which this issue should be considered in more detail.. Whether she succeeded, you can read in our review.

• Platform: PC (Verified), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Publication date: July 19, 2022
• Producer: Herobeat Studios
• Genre: Adventure
• Czech localization: Yes
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 2.3 GB
• Game time: 8 ocloc’k
• Price: 735 CZK (couples)

Decide the fate of an entire species in Endling – Extinction is Forever

Each game comes with its own world rendering. Endling – Extinction is Forever is trying to show us a version of the Earth where humanity has completely abandoned ecology and, instead of saving the environment, began to fight against nature with the help of pesticides and flamethrowers. Most of the animal species here have long disappeared, and those that still exist are forced to wage a grueling struggle for their lives every day. The protagonist of the whole adventure is the last representative of the fox family, who will have to decide whether she will save him or, on the contrary, will cause his complete extinction. She has several beautiful foxes in her womb, which she must take care of and thus provide hope for future generations.

From the very beginning, the story of Endling – Extinction is Forever – is a very dark affair. The surrounding world breathes its fumes on you, once clean rivers are full of garbage, and the surrounding areas are not much cleaner. Just a version of the future that I don’t really want, at least not for myself. This alternate Earth clearly shows that it is a dying planet whose best days are long gone. I really like the processing of the maps because there is a certain effort to make the player feel apprehensive about what will happen in the coming decades.

Even if it doesn’t seem that way in the first minutes, in the finale, the essence of the story is directed not so much to the foxes, but to humanity and the end of the path that it is now on. But to be honest, I don’t know if I like the overall tone of this story because I find it relatively convulsive. Perhaps I would have liked it more if the overall focus was on a more intense relationship building between the mother fox and her cubs, which only exists because of the eco-theme, but which, in my opinion, offered much more emotional potential.

Every night is the same

As already mentioned in the previous section, this game is a work in which the main element of the gameplay is the search for food so that the fox can feed her cubs. To that end, you literally come out of your trench every night trying to find something to eat for your cubs. Already after the first two quests, Endling – Extinction is Forever will show you that resources are limited, and therefore you will have to think carefully about whether you will bring a rabbit to fill your belly to the brim, or vice versa, rather bet on the contents of a garbage bag containing not only treasures, but also traps. This will not give them maximum comfort, but you will save the meat for the worst days.

The landscape here and there ends very quickly. where once the river was full of rubbish and fish, after a few nights there remains only a space overflowing with rubbish. In addition, your children’s appetite grows more and more, so they can no longer be content with just a mouse or a bitten apple. Lucky for you, at some point they will start walking outside the hole with you, so you will no longer be forced to return to your shelter with food, but immediately throw the corpse in front of them and then go together for more prey.

While traveling for food, the children of Endling – Extinction is Forever go through a certain form of development that is related to the events you encounter. For example, when one of the foxes cannot jump over an obstacle, she needs help to get out of a dangerous situation. So you jump down and create a gap in the fence for her to learn how to slip through while her siblings learn other survival skills over time. What is particularly interesting is their processing, which works with the idea of ​​adaptation. However, I don’t quite understand why others can’t learn from one. After all, the animal world really works on this principle.

From the start, you only have access to the part of the map that you will control. This will not last long, so in the coming days, the creators will open new pieces of the game world for you. It’s not like you’re always chasing food. There is one more element that will interest the old fox. He is a lost fox who will be lost relatively soon. Sometimes you catch a scent of it, which always triggers a series of three-part images that trigger the clues you find. It is these parts of the Endling – Extinction is Forever adventure that take you away from the monotonous hunt and wandering around a visually interesting, but otherwise rather boring game world.

Endling – Extinction is Forever will show you the culprit of the coming disasters

I’m sure you won’t be too surprised when I state here that a man is in charge here. Endling – Extinction is Forever in the final points to the player himself. The warning on this issue is very well handled here. However, I can imagine that the fox family will have more space. Despite being introduced as the main character, the fox is more of a certain form of conduit that your relationship will cool over time due to the lack of more personal interaction between the individual animals, just like the rest of the rusty family. .

And this is quite a shame, because it is on emotions and the creation of connections that you can build. Overall, at least for myself, I consider the story to be a strong component of Endling – Extinction is Forever because few games actually try to capture that theme in any way. The main problem is the repetitive gameplay, which forces you to do the same thing over and over again until a new smell appears on the stage, leading to a lost cub, smelling which, you return to your old ways of hunting and return to the hole.