My Lunch in Gaming: The End Is Nigh (Switch)

I love portable gaming. What follows are my thoughts and impressions on what I’ve been playing during the week of JAN/2/2018 – JAN/5/2018 during My Lunch in Gaming.

The End Is Nigh

The End Is Nigh

 

JAN/2/2018

I died immediately with this game. I made the mistake of starting the game without any volume on my Switch so I missed the first part of the introduction. I moved the main character Ash and touched the very first spike in the level that I could. And died. Not a great way to start the game. But by dying, as it turns out, is exactly what The End Is Nigh wants you to do. It triggers the rest of the game’s introduction. We find out that there has been an apocalypse, Ash is the only survivor, and he sets out to find a new friend. With having to first die to start the ‘true’ game was unexpected and also pretty funny. What a great way to start a game.

The End Is Nigh is an ultra-hard platformer by the people who made Super Meat Boy. Each level is on a single long. Meaning that you start on the left-hand side of the screen and have to move Ash to the right-hand side of the screen to go to the next level. Each level has an item to collect: a black tumor.

I am absolutely loving the look of this game. The use of the limited colors for each level looks great. It can be a little hard at times telling where some of the spikes are though. The music is really great too. Ash controls very well. So far I am just using the ‘B’ button to jump and the ‘Y’ button to read in-game prompts.

I was able to make it through the first section of levels called ‘The End’. I only died 56 times in 12:15 minutes. I think I am doing pretty well with this game.

 

The End Is Nigh: Arid Flats 4

JAN/3/2018

So far I have doubled my time with the game. And almost tripled my deaths. However no matter how many times I die this game is still putting a smile on my face. I really like how you immediately get another try at a level after you die. It really makes the whole ‘just one more try’ thing a whole lot easier. I have now cleared the second area of 20 levels called: Arid Flats. This area introduced enemies for Ash to avoid as well as use as a platform to jump off of. I can see how this game can be pretty addictive.

Total play time: 30:53

Total deaths: 156

Total complete: 8%

Oh good. The next section of levels is called the Overflow. So it is a collection of water levels. I did pretty well with the first 7, even collecting the tumor in each of the levels. And then the water turns toxic and kills you (what a shock!) if you stay in it for too long. I really like how this game is very Nintendo in the way that it teaches you a game mechanic, like swimming. It will teach you on the first how to swim. Next it will give you a few levels to get the hang of swimming with more increasing difficulty on each subsequent level. Then once you have the gotten use to swimming the game introduce another new game mechanic, like the toxic water, to continue to increase the challenge of the overall game.

Total play time: 54:54

Total deaths: 260

Total complete: 12%

 

The End Is Nigh: face

JAN/4/2018

The End Is Nigh has a lot of hidden items to find. And I just found my first hidden game cart. I have no idea how to play it yet. I have made it through the Overflow levels and I find myself at a crossroad called The Split. From here I was able to find a hidden path to back to the last level in Overflow that lead to a hidden level which contained the game cart. I can’t wait to try it out. The Split also leads to both the Wall of Sorrow and The Hollows. The Split also leads to a third group of levels but I haven’t figured out how to get to that yet. I’m going to check out the Wall of Sorrow.

I just found a Mega Tumor. So that’s cool. There really is a lot of things to find in this game. But now I am stuck on Wall of Sorrow #3. I’m going to try The Hollows instead. When I go to the map it has a big arrow pointing at it anyways….

Another new play mechanic. Now Ash can break through some walls while long jumping or falling. Also found another Mega Tumor. The levels in The Hollows are starting to get my hands kinda sweaty. Some well-timed jumps are very much needed. And the acid water is back. And the enemies with the skulls that you can bounce on are back. I was able to make it through The Hollows somehow and I am now Golgotha.

Total play time: 1:30:17

Total deaths: 437

Total complete: 17%

 

JAN/5/2018

I am having some issues with Golgotha #8. Sometimes it is hard to tell where to go in these levels. The exit is not as easy to determine. That was the issue I had yesterday with Wall of Sorrow #3. I got to where I thought I had to go in the level to complete it but I was not correct. I’m going to jump back to the first set of levels, The End, to see if I can pick up some additional tumors, game carts, and other random goodies.

Making some progress with The End levels. I found a hidden path in both #12 and #13 that led to a Mega Tumor. Even these early levels are making my thumbs hurt trying to collect all the tumors.

The End Is Nigh - My Map

Okay made it through The End levels again. As stated my thumbs hurt and my hands are sweaty. I guess that is expected from a game like this. Having never played Super Meat Boy I feel like I did pretty well with this game so far. I really like the artistic style of the game, the controls are very tight, and the music/sound effects are great. As my lunch break comes to an end I would totally recommend The End Is Nigh. It is a great game for anyone looking for a challenging, but rewarding, platformer to take on the go with them.

Total Tumors: 69

Total Mega Tumors: 4

Total Game Carts: 1

Total play time: 2:06:14

Total deaths: 617

Total complete: 21%

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Matt Cudney is a gamer Dad who likes to write about video games and draw things from time to time. He can be found online here:

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